Color Mixing Part 1: The Power of Compliments

The thing that never ceases to amaze me is the power of complimentary colors. Time after time the answer to almost any color mixing problem is found by looking across the color wheel. For those unfamiliar with the color wheel let me illuminate. When light is sent through a prism it is refracted or separated into its parts. The parts of light are color. Think of a rainbow. For clarity, artists depict these colors in a wheel. The primary colors, red, blue and yellow, are placed evenly around the wheel. The secondary colors are placed between the primaries from which they are mixed (orange goes between red and yellow, green goes between blue and yellow, etc.).

The basic theory goes like this:

1. There are three primary colors: Red, Yellow and Blue. In theory these colors can not be mixed from any others. These are the colors from which all other color are made. The holy trinity of color.
2. There are three secondary colors: Orange, Green and Violet. Each secondary color is created by mixing two primary colors.
3. The colors that are next to each other on the color wheel are called analogous colors.
4. The colors that are opposite on the color wheel are called complimentary colors. Pay close attention to these relationships.

For those who get more from pictures than words, (and lets face it isn't that why we do this?) let's look at the diagram below.

Color Wheel

There are two ways to use complimentary colors. First is how we create shadows, both cast shadows and the dark sides of objects. Second, is to create depth without necessarily, using contrast.

1. Shadows: The common misconception by beginner painters is that you make a shadow by adding black. In reality, all that this makes is a mess. No, worse, a dull mess. The best way to create a shadow is to add the compliment. If I were to paint a lemon, I would start with Cadmium Yellow Light. For the light side I would add a small amount of White. For the dark side, I would add (to the Cad. Yellow Lt.) its compliment, Violet made from Ultramarine Blue and Alizarin Crimson.
   
2. Depth: Most students who have done any painting at all know how to create depth in a painting by using varying tonal values, darks and lights. few, however know that there is an equally powerful method for creating this illusion, I call it an illusion because it is impossible to create actual depth within a two dimensional surface. The second way to create depth is by using complimentary colors. By placing the subject, let's say the same lemon, in front of its compliment, violet, you are creating the illusion of depth. Now imagine the same lemon in front of one of it's analogous colors, orange. The depth is now lost. Try to think of it this way: the further away something is on the color wheel the further away it will appear to be in your painting.
   

This is the theory part of color mixing. Next, we'll talk about how this theory translates into actual paint.

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