Understanding the Color Wheel

  Being the first blog of the new year, let me wish you a late happy new year. This coming year I will do my best to bring you even more information from the painting industry. We'll see how it goes, I'm a painter, a writer I am not.

  Color can be found everywhere. It's in and a part of everything in our lives, from where we live to what we do,wear and drive. It's also all around us in the natural world. Color around us can have a dramatic affect on our emotions and is know to elicit physical and behavioral responses, as well as influence perception. I will cover the psychology of color in another article. Now onto The Color Wheel.

  The Color Wheel is a circular arrangement of colors in the order of the light spectrum and consists of warm and cool colors. Warm colors are reds, yellows, and oranges. While cool colors are blues purples and greens. Warm colors are tinted with more yellow than blue, while cool colors are tinted with more blue than yellows. Three types of colors on the color wheel are Primary Colors (red, yellow, blue) Secondary Colors (orange, purple, green) and finally Tertiary Colors, which are created by mixing one primary and one secondary color. Secondary colors are created by mixing equal parts of 2 primary colors. For example, yellow and blue make green (thank you ziplock)

  When 2 colors are opposite each other on The Color Wheel, they are known as Complementary Colors. Each pair of Complementary Colors contains one primary and one secondary color. When mixed together in equal portion they create gray/black. In smaller quantities though they affect the chroma or intensity of a color. When placed side by side, complements make each other seem brighter and more stimulating.

 Other relationships on the color wheel are, Analogous Colors, Triad Colors and Monochromatic Colors. Analogous Colors are three colors side by side on The Color Wheel. Analogous Color schemes are usually have a soft feel and have a calming affect. Triad Colors are colors located equidistant from one another on the wheel. Triadic color schemes are usually strong and are stimulating to the eye. A Monochromatic Color is one color in various tints and shades. Monochromatic Color schemes can create a quiet, restful effect. Colors can also affect one another in more ways. The same color will appear lighter if surrounded be a darker color, or will appear darker if surrounded by a lighter color. Also, when surrounded by a complement, the same color will appear more intense and vibrant, or more cal and subdued when wrapped by an analogous color.


 I hope you found this article helpful in your search for the perfect color. Now that you have a basic understanding of how the color wheel works you can be more prepared when it comes time to paint your home. Find the colors that suit you and work best together and give me a call and I'll make sure they look amazing on your wall. If you need help choosing colors, again give me a call and I'll be glad to help bring some color into your life!

By Jeffrey Hartford