COLOR THEORY José M. Parramón

l , !

üil llürt,'I iin.

ttl$|ii'Lt, I ,$r

Z

.rzN2\/iAR\

José M. Parramón

COLOR THEORY

A wonderful experiment

COLOR T}TEORl

I switched offthe light and walked intoa dark room where the¡e were threesüde p¡ojecto$. Each projecto¡ had acolored filter: one red, one green, another blue. On the wall hung a whitcsheet that se¡vcd as a sc¡cen.In the dark, I pressed the button of thefilst projector; the light came on and ared ci¡cle appeared on the screen (fig-ufe 3).Then I switched on the second projec-tor. A circle of green light was prc-jected beside the red (figure 4). Iñoved the red beam onto the g¡eenand a brilliant, lum¡nous yellow shapeappeared. (YELLOWI Any amateu¡painter, howeveÍ limited his experi-cnce, knows that grcen mixed with ¡edgives you b¡own, a dark brown, a kindof chocolate color; but . . . yellow?)I switched on the third projecto¡ withthe blue filter and moved the blue cir-cle on top of the yellow. Thc mixturcof red, green, and blue created a patchof WHITE LIOHT (figure 5).At that moment, it felt as if rny wholcexperience as a painter had collapsed.I felt an urge to show someone this ex-traordinary phenomenon. Extraordi-nary to me, a painter, who wanted totest with his own eyes the strange the-ory of Thomas Young, a famousnineteenth-century E¡glish physicist,

Threc beam6 of light, oDe d¡rkblue. one intense red. and ar¡other¡ntense gre€n, wh€n superimposedon one another, give á cl€¡r, bril-l¡ant white light; in oth€r words,they reconshuct ¡ight its€lf.

l l

t(. i COIoR I l tFo l t \

Lieht and its colors

l rn . rg inr thr t i l is a \üf i rn! ' f r i lc rnr) (n l :\ o u i r ¡ c i n r l l r . o u I r r \ l h . c i r r l l l r \drnr I i i t hrL\ lu ! r iL ine. i rLnd l r \ ls l r rnqf I r r l ( lo \ . thc \un i \ \ t i l l \h in i | lgi r i l t ' r I l s i I t o t h c \ . . 1 l i r l l r . . 1 ! i r r .r i r d r L L n l u l t r r n r r f i ¡ c s l r u ¡ p t r r | \ u l r r rl i rs l ic i Ich r ) l .o1or i t r . r in l ) ( \ \ .I n r h . ¡ i \ 1 i r l r r c . i I r \ \ r i l l l l L r i n ! . . \ .\ o L r I r i r \ i l L r ( r d \ k r ¡ ( \ \ . \ \ l r c n r i | i r r( l r o t \ r r r c i \ ( r : r \ s j ¡ ' n r t h r . u n . t h r \r r c ¡ l f , r ¡ r i l l i o r t ' o l ! l ¡ s f r ' f r s . ( l i \

I t r \ i n l l h e l r ! h l r n r ( ) l h c \ r \ L o l o r \ L , ll l r f f i r i | l h ( , s. \ h o L ) l l N o l r r f ( l r . ¡ \ r i r r s r ! r i . I \ i r i r (N.r \1oI r \ rprr ) i lucc( l t l )L ' t ) l r . rxrnrr f ( ¡no l t h r f r i r r h o \ \ i n h i \ h ( ) L r \ e 1 l f \ l r L r th i n r s r l l u f r n ¡ c l ) n r I l . l . l \ , l i t r k r L ) ( ) ¡ r¡ ¡ r i l 1 . 1 i n i r l h i n h ! i r r ( i l l l ! h 1 . t h rc q u i \ r l r n t o l r s i r g l ( s u n r i r \ . r h f r ) L r r hi r l l l l ! h ( ) 1 . I h . r h . j f t . r . r l , t . ( l t h .f i r \ \ \ r t l l r I n \ r n i r r r i i | | l g u l i r r i ] i i \ rr o ! l r n ( i n l l r n r ! . i l r o r l l \ | c r \ f t h ú\ \ h i t . l i S h t i n r o l h . . o l ( ) r \ L , i l h . \ f i 1, ' ¡ r l r ( l i r u r . h ) .

Ia

( olot ! ol thr \ rLt¡unt

\ l r ¡gcrr l r ll{rd\ el l t ¡ t

l )ark hlur

\ c i ü s L r t r r . r h c I h ! \ r i r \ r \ L , r L r ! , l r L I . , r lt \ p c r i n r f n l l l r l 1 \ , r \ t l r r L , l . l \ , ' r r ! , ,N , r \ \ l L , n \ \ \ l l r l e \ ü $ l L i r r , i : \ i , , / \ ll i g h r i n t o t l r f \ i \ r o l t ' r \ ( ) 1 r h ( \ 1 , ! .l J L r n r . \ ' ( r u n ! r r , ¡ r ¡ ¡ s r r ¡ r ¡ , r / l r : : h t l l rprotc( t fd \ i \ .o l ( ) r l , r iu¡ . , i l hrhr , , r ll o p ( ¡ l o r r c i l | ] o l h c f . l h . \ i \ r d l o r \ ( ] l l l r r\ t f r l r u m . i t I r r l ( J h l r i I e d i r \ h i t r l i ! lTo ur) i lerst i I r r i thr r t ¡hrs i , :u l Ihcr t , , I r .n L r n . \ h c \ i | l l o u s f ] 1 r ¡ s c . ( l i r f k ! o l { i r \( ' f c r r . r l i ! h r ú r c r ) | t , r \ h e n I r i \ e ( 1 . \ , i L rh i 1 \ . t { ) r . n r . ! n h c . l h i L l t l r r . c r . L , ¡ r s r r et h c ( ' ( ) l o r s ( ) l I g h t . I l t d r t r e r , ' l o t s 1 ' r oje(1. i j l r \ hc. rnr \ o l l i i rh t Ih . r i r l r r i rer h . r l l e c t s o l n i r t u r . r l h g h t l . r l l l h L L \ .\ o L r ( i r n s ¡ \ t h r l u h t n t o u r ¡ L t l , r n t , : , ' lo r L i l l i q h l l ( i ¡ ¡ ( ) r h . r . I h . r r r \ l u r . \ l l

t l

COLOR THEORY

ct\,e you a more luminous, Iithtef li+h!color. tor tnstance, by mixing the lighrcotor g¡ee¿r and the üght color ¡ed vouwilfobtain a lighrer light colo¡ yello9,.Young also demonstrared another im_porta,nl color faclor. By experimentingwrtn hls cotor lamps, he showed bv theprocess of elimination that the sü col-ors of the spect¡um could be reducedto three basic colors of the same sDec-trum. He fouDd that with iust th¡ee co-lors,_red, g¡een, and d;rk blue, h€could reconstruct white Iisht lfisure 7).And he realized rtrat by-mixin-g thosetnree cotors ¡n pairs. be could obtainthree others: cyan blue. magenta, andyellow. As a resuk of this exDeriment-Young was abfe to identify the primaryand secor¡d¿ry colors of the sDectrum.You can sec thcm in the rouare below(figure 8).

COLOR THEORY

,}

Absorption and reflection of light

All objects receive the three primarylight colors: blue, red, and green.Some objects reflect all the light theyreceive, while others absorb it. Mostobjects absorb part of the light and re-flect the rcsl. This law of physics canbe summed up as follows:

All opaque obj€cfs, *hen they areilluminated, have lhe property ofreflecting all or pa¡t of the lightthey receive.

No one has unmvclcd thc mystery o[why objects have the cokrrs you see inthcm, and no othcrs. Why is a tomatored? You do know that when a tomatois illuminatcd, it rcccivcs thc thrcc p¡i-mary colors*blue, green, and red-absorbs the blue and green l¡ght rays,and rcflccts the rcd ones. As a rcsult,

you see it as red,In fact, even this page is receiving thethree invisible light colors-blue,green, and red. When the light colorshit the surface of the page, theybounce off; this reflection is the sum ofthe three light colo$, which is thewhite of the page.If an i l luminated object is black, theoppositc will occur. ln theory, whenthe th¡ee primary light colors hit ablack illuminated object, they will bctotally absorbed. This leavcs the objectw¡tholt light, ¡n the dark, so to speak,which is why you see it as black.At the bottom of this page (figure 9),you can sec thc cffccts of absorptionand reflection on various colored cubes(whitc, black, rcd, yellow, and magen-ta), Notice the colors that rcflect andthe colors that absorb, giving eachcube its particular color.

COLOR THEORY

You have seen the colors of light_painf the objects they come in con-tact with. When the three pdñary col-ors of light are mixed in pairs. theycrcate th¡ee other l€¡ter colors, whicheventually reconstruct light fsclf-thecolo¡ lvl¡i¡e-whcn they are all mixedtogcthcr.But it is obvious that you cannot-paint with light. Or rather, you can-not create light colors by mixilg dark

Moreover, you cannot avoid the six col-ors of the spectrum if you want toachieve this ir¡¡itarion of thc effectsproduced by light.And so, what are yoü to do'? lhc an-swer is to simply vary the primacy ofccrtair colors in relat¡on to others. . -still keeping thc six colors of thc spcc-trum as the basis. For example:

Your pdmary colo¡s will be thes€condary colors of light and viceverso; your second¡ry colorc willbe the primary colors of light.

No* I will explair why this inversionof values takes place.

Addit¡ve and subtracfive synthes¡sThe mixtures of pigment colors alwaysmea¡. subttuctin| l.8rr, i.e., alwaysgoing from light colors !o dark colors.If you mix the pigment colors cyanblue, magenta. and yellow-three ob-viously luminous colors-you will ob-tain black. You obtain thc opposite cf-fects when you mix the light colors (fig-ure$ l0 and l1).

Fig. 10, Additive synthesis.. \

Fis. Subtractive synlhesis,

COLOR THEORYI

Light, color, and pigments

:q l2 Wñen lgh t''p¿ nls an oqect. ndoes so by addiñq dil-rerenr colored rays oi9t1r at by addrt)ve sm-

F 9 13 Whe¡ youpá nl" wrth prgme¡t

coors. you do so bysll)ü¿cl ñg rght ob-tanng the colors byslolf¿cron, of s!¿tr¿c-

How light "colors" an objectAatditive synthesb: To obta¡¡ the sec-ondary light cobr yellow, thc light col-or rcd is added to the light color green;when thcy are mi\ed. a lighter light col-<x. yelloh,. is produced. Thus, yellowis obtained by the rrrlditiw rynthesis ofthc light colors r¿rl and g¡c¿x.

Hol' pigments "color" an objecaSubtractive synthesis: To obtain the sc-conda¡y pigment color green, you mixcyan blue and ycllow. ln colors oflight, blue ahsorbs red and yellow ab-sorbs blue. The only color they bolhreflect is g¡¿e[, which is obtained bvthe subtroctive synthetis of blue and rcd .

Knowing about thc origin and thethcory of colors will help you undcr-stand'how the polychromc of shades,

tones, and colors, in the model below.are classified into primary and secon-dary colo¡s (figurc l4).

l 6

COLOR THEORY

F¡9. r5. Th s co orwheel shows voú lhecrassifcatio¡ ol pig.me¡l colofs, st¿rti¡grrom the thfee pfmérycolors (¡dlcated by rheetter P). Whon mixedn parfs, l¡e prmary coors pfoduce rhe lh.€esecondary coore ( ¡d-car€d by rhe letter s)When the secondarycoo6 ar6 m xed wrhIne pnmary colofs, youg€t re arv coorc lrndc¿ted wrh rhe lelterf)

Mixing magentawith lellow

creates a /€d

Mixing lellou)\aith .!an bluearezles a grcen

Mixitrg clan bluewitli magenta

creates á da* blue

Br m¡rrnr ¿ primary colot with the closest sccondary.fcrr. J trliary pigmenf color:

IIffi'l¡.rü lrÉn

(>:tt

color, you can

Finally. by mixing the rertiaricswitb thc secondaries, you cancreatc dnothcr darker rangecallcd the "quaterna¡ies-' Youc¡n continue this process andproduce an inf inite number ofshades.rrI

t7

COLOR THEORY

Complementary colors

By underslanding the theory behindcolor and light, yol¡ can obtain any col-or on your palct lc. Next, you wil l nccdto know how pigment colors comple-mcnt one another.

COMPLEMENTARYPIGMENT COLORSIntense blue eompleme'¡E Jello'tt'Red coñplements clan blueGreen complements mageñta (and

Now. you might be saying, what use isthis informalion about conplementarycolors while I m painting?Well. . . bok at i t this wayr i f you ob-serve the prcvious table of pigmcnt colors carcfully. you will nolice that thecomplementary colors arc always op-posite onc another in al l possiblc com"binations (dark blue complements yel-low-or vicc vcrsa. don't forgct-redcomplements cy¡n blue. and so on).' fo put ¡ l another way. bccause they¡re complenrcnlary, thcy have theleast in comnron. And to a pai¡ter, thismea¡s lhc chance to create su¡prisingcontrasts. to paint cxlraordinari ly lu-minous shadows or inlcnse back-grouDds,lt ¡ lso means the possibi l i ty ofpaintingwith a raogc of broken" colors. ob-tained with a mixture of uncqual pro-porlions of comple|nenlary colors andwhitc. But this is a subiect thal I willleave for lalcr-when I discuss toninS.tcndcncies and r:rnges. and.tbe art ofharmonizing colors.

Flgs. 17, 18, and 19The rheory of compe-me¡léry coors can besummeo up n meseoagGms: w¡en M0p mary colo6 lmagenla ánd cyan bue) aremxeo, you oD¡an a sécondary color lrnrenseblue). whosé coñpler¡ent is the prmary co-or that was not ñclud-ed ln the prevous m¡x-1úre (y€low). 8eádñ9each dragr¿m you cansee th¿t ntense bue sthe complement oi ye.low; red ¡s the compe-ment ol cyan bluet andgree. s me compe-me¡¡ or ñagen6 áno

Fg 20 f re úse . r.omplementár t .o o .s6 owsvoL lo olrt¡ n |remóstdensecoorconr fásrs Ar rne Deg nn ngDt llr s .e.trúrY thepost ñipress o¡ stsa.athe ióúvrsrs emphas

,ed coor .o r t rás ts¡ rne , o¿. r ngs ane x d ¡ D e o r r i s s q es rn s rerrorlrc: o.o l Andre D¿r¿ n spá nr .g t l t s ¡m, ¡s re .6rdgÉ Lpivale .o ccion,

1 E

( . O I O R T I I F O R \

MAGFNTA ls thc compl€meflt of GREENCY^N R¡,UE ls the comphmcnt of RE[,(and vicc rersa)

COMPt,¡)MIJNTARYPT(iNINNT COI,ORS'l heJ ¡lrc thc s¡me as the primarylighl cobr$-bluc, groe , and rcd.S¡nce lhcso (ohrs trkc s$l¡1' l ighi ,rvhcn f i r i rcd lhr l (rc¡ l r black.

l !

.n '' {/¿. ' . ! l. \ . O I - O R T I I I ] O R \

Color theory: summary

P.r int ing Ni lh pignrcrrt col)¡ \ is the op-posite proross to tho on{r:rppl icd to l ighl .Nl i \ ing pigment colr)rs ¡ l$. t ts invoh{ 'staking .r$át l ight. subtracl¡re stnthesis.For instance. br mi\ ing thr thrce pr i-marr llgr¡¿r¡ colors, t{Ju (reálc bl¡ck.

U,,$(\ f r . lht c¡r lors of the sptctnrn¡ canl) f lL 'und lr , r h in the colors of l ight and ¡n

,11.i

¡f\

UUUZSZ coloR rHEoRy

Yello*

7D¡rk bluc

oMagent¡

o

PRIMARY

ú

COLORS OF LIGHT

PRI]IIARYRed

vST]CONf)ARY

Clan blüc

. Thesc llght colo$ ¡rc the s¡m€ plgmentcolors (right) us€d by ¡ psinaer.

M¡gcnts Yellol{

--

. This coincidence ollows an a.listto imitate the effects of lighi in ¡l-lúm¡noled objects and io repro.duce all lhe raues of color lhalnalure has lo offer.

I O T E C A UNIVER PLANTEL MEXICAI

CONTRAST

Contrast through tone and color

Pigment colors ¡rc aclual ly a poorcomparison to ¡he colors rnd l ightsf()und in nature. l he f(rllowing iesl Nillsho\y tou an €xample of thc diffcrencebetwccn natural and piBmenl color inS.Imagine a Nhite wal l lhat has a smal lhole. which boks into a bldck spaccw¡thout l ighl . I f tou were ¡o pr int .with black painr, a shape cqual t () tha¡of the hole Dexl to i t . vou would seelhat lhe black painr would l ransforminto a dark Sray and n(f the rcal blackof dürkncss ( f igurc .18).ln ordcr to imi l ¡ te thc real conlrnsts.Nhich exist between thc colors in na-lure. you have lo use a ser ics o[ rulcsbascd on lhc frc lors of contrast be-lwecn lor¿r and aoLr'.1.A contrast prcduced lhrou-qh lír,¡r doesnot involvc color l instsad. i t de¡ ls rvi ththc l ightncss or d rk¡css of a cctor.For inst nco. ¡ bl i rck hosidc ¡ wb¡tc. ad¡rk gfirv rDd ir light gr¡v. or ¡ conr't ) inar ion of bl i rck. gray. and whitc ¡rccxirmplcs of ioD¡l conlrasts, A darkbluc and ¡ l ighl bluc i \ ¡nolhcr toni t l

¡ lo$c!cr. i l lou pr int d¡rk rcd be-side u dürk bluc. ] rou obtain thc con-lr¡s l ( ' l onc cok)r l \ ' i lh ¿nothcr. A colorcontrrst is bascd on thc di f fcrenccsthal c\ is l bclNccn t$o colors. Final ly.i f the bluc is d¿rrk and thc rcd is l ighl ,lou achicvc ¡ doL¡ble contrast gi lcn by.o1¿r'¡nLl /rr¡¿, rt thc samc lime (figurc19 ).

II

.tu

COLOR AND CONTRAST

The law of simultaneous contrast

' 1cn you have an are¡ of l ight color'J i rnother arca of d¡rk color. and- prrnr the s¡me coloro¡ topofbolh. \el low lemo¡r and r red tomato i t t- r¡se-vou \r i l l Bel thc opt ical i l -. ,n lhal lhe ycl low of the lemon. or- rdd of the lomato. placcd on the

. : r surfacc is darkcr than the same: lhced on the black background

:-:r . 50 ¡nd 5I) . I 'h is is known as.it||t:¡]us aoüLfa\L

'Ile lbllo\\'ins conclusions can be ¡dd'

cd t{) lour slud\ of color l

A cobr appe¡rs darkcr whcnthe color around it is lighter.A color apprars lighter whenthe color around il is darker.

+l

COLOR AND CONTRAST

Maximum color contrasts

To obtain a maximunr conlras! thro(ghtone. you jusl h¡ve rc painl black next10 while. But what about f inding thcma\¡nrum conlr irsl through co¿o¡:which colors should !ou use? Blue andgrccnl Red and yellorv? Videt . lndrcd l

The number of complemenlarv colorsis al¡nosl int lni¡e. I l is not rcstr ic led. asone might bel ievc, to an cxclusivecombin l ion ofthc pr imary ¡nd secon-oafv colors.Fronr \h¡t \ ,ou have learncd so far.

Nlarimum color contrasts ran beproduced from the juxtapos¡lionof complementarJ colors (ligure

hcrc are some points to remcmber:Whcn placed sidc by side. two colorscan be enhanced in thci¡ tone and intheir color. On lhc other hand. thephcnomenon of successiYe images irlsotakcs into account the maximum colorcontrasl provide{i by the conlplcmen't i lr ! colors. l l becomes evident lhal rcolor cfeates the appearancc of ¡tscomplementary color in ¡ts neighbor-ing cobr or shadc.It was thc color physicist, Chevrcul.who discovered and stundardizcd thislmporlanl phcnomenon.

F g 5 4 H € n r M a t s s e1r 869 r954) Po¡¡¡¡f o¡Madr¡ne M¡rrsse, a sokhown ¿s Porrfár¡ Fov¿ Fne Ars l . ¡useJm.Cope¡hage¡ t rsr (heposr mpress o¡ sls ¿ndt h e ¡ l h e ; d ! v s r s p a n t

co¡(asrs Dy l!rrapos.ns compemenr ¡ ry co .

Yo! see n r¡ s pd nl i9

,11 '

COLOR AND CONTRAST

A color will cast its coú¡plem€n-tary color onto a neighboring col-or or sh¡de.

Test for yourseif this unique phenom-enori developed by Chevreul with the¡riangles on this page.First, sta¡e lbr half a minute at thegreen triangle on the yellow back-ground, and then at the green trianglcon the dark blue background (figures56 and 57). You will noticc immediate-

Induction of complementary colors

ly that although the two g¡eens aleidentical, the one situated otr the yel-low rectangle has a slight bluish tone,while the one on the blue rcctangle hasa slight yellowish tone. The f$t rect-angle (figure 5ó) is receiüng an induc-tion of blue, the complementary of yel-low. The inductiori also gives the tri-ansle a blue¡ creen tha¡ the secondrectangle. The effects are reversedfigure 57.

Fgs 66 and 57 lf yoLrlook ior half a m nute alrhe rra¡gle oñ thó bluebackground and lhen althe tnañgle oñ lhe yel-low background, youwillseé |he induclion olcor¡plemeñbry coors

There ,s a y€lowishto¡€ on lne tnangrewith tha b!e b¿ck-glolnd, ¿¡d a blu¡shtone on lhe rrianglew¡lh lhe yellow back-

I

45

COLOR AND CONTRAST

From theory to przictice

Delacroix once said, "Give me mud andI will paint the sk¡n of a venus - . .with the condition that I can paint a¡-ound her the colors I want." Deldcroixknew that with ceftain colors in thebackground, it is possible ¡o crcatc adelicrte flesh color.On one occasion, someone beggedRubcns to accept as a pupil a youngman who was vcry kccn and very will-ing"He will setde tor anything. To beginwith. he could hclp you paint the back-grounds, . , .""Ah. he can painl backgrounds?" Ru-bens asked. 'Bring him along rightaway; I have been painting for years.and I havc never been able to paint abackground properly."Rubens. l ikc ai l great art ists, had a

premonition of the modern colortheories. That is why hc thought

that thc task of painting ab¡ckground. while appear-

ing simple. was in factvcry complex.

You are now going tostudy thesc thcorics

from a practicalpoint of view.To do this. you

wil l be us¡ng asan example, an

il painli¡g by thcorr Parnung oy rncartist Fr¡ncesc Serra.

Fi8/r¡¿ -58. Here is an inage

of a young model. dressed in a whiteblouse and a browD skirt against awhite background. This is an cxampleof simultaneous cont¡ast. Against awhite background, the tone of the faceis dark, grayish, and leaning towardgreen- The blouse looks more graythan whi¡e; the book is also part of thisbrownish, grccnish tonality.FiBurc 59. This is the result of the in-duction of thc background colors. Ihave paint€d the same figu¡c on a red-dish backg¡ound; I have also modifiedthe color of the skirt, giving it a mo¡ec¡imson shade. The resuhs are bad.The red background, leaning towardcrimson. is the worst colo¡ for the olivegreen color of the face and the blouse.Since the crimson color casts its con-plementary color. green, onto theneighboring shade. it only udds morcgreen to the cobr of the figure.Now, I wil l show you an example witha ycllowi$h background, with a rangeof golden colors,. including ochres.s i ennas . ye l l ows . . .Fig¿¿re ó0, No good eithe¡. First of all.the background becomcs too impor-tant. In the second place, when the co-lors of the figurc receive the inductionof the yelbwish backgrou¡d, they be-come morc gray. The backg¡ound co'lors casl thcir complementary color.bluc (the compleme¡tary of yel low).making thc color of the face and thcblousc paler and more faded.

COLOR AND COh'TRAST

Figurc 61. Here is F¡ancesc Ser¡a'smagnificent painting. lt shows you thebest background color match. The onewhich, through the induction of com-plcmentary colors. ha¡monizes andmatches the color of the head, theblouse, and the ski¡t. The colors arenot only pleasing to the ey€. but theyare also oriBinal and a¡tistic.Francesc Serra s picture is undoubFedly brilliant. It shows an cxtraordi-nary knowledge of color aDd the theo-ries you are learning in this book, which,in short, may bc delined as follows:

Another important lesson can belea¡ned by studying this painting bySeÍa. It shows you that in painting, asin drawing, the artist needs to work onthe whole painting at once, looking atthe cntirc picture, staining and paint-ing the entire sudace, and graduallytransforming or matching the colors.For example. you must never paint andfinish a figuIe without staining in thebackground with a color that will bccompatible with the figure.Remember, Chevreul himself wotethis definitive phrase on the subject:

Putting 3 brushstroke of color ona canYas is nol just staining thecanvas with thc color on lhebrush. lt is also color¡ng the spacearoünd it rdth its complementaryc0ror.

Beering in mind the rule ofthe in-duction of complementary colors,you can modify s color by chang-ing the .color of the backgroundthat surrounds ¡t ao ¡as comple.mentary color.

fHI USE AND ABUSE OF WHITE AND BLACK

The color gray is 507o white

To paint the light blue of a cloudlesssky or the dark red of a flower, itseems natural, in thcory, that youwould have the help of white andblack. But beware! By r¡sing white orblack for a light blue, a dark red, andso on, you can fall into the "g¡ay trap," cspecially when you are painting withopaque colors. such as oil, tempera,pastel, and so on. Remember thatwhitc is a color ¿nd will be treated assuch in the mixture. Emilio Sala, theart teacher, was right when he wrotc:

Th€ greatest dilticulty wilh oilp¡lnt¡ng is 10 make the white vsn.ish.

The fact is that white creatcs gray;white is a basic componcnt-no lessth¡n 5070, togethcr with black-of thecolor gray.

Adding Ph¡le to ¡ p¡rt¡cular colormc¡ns, both in th€ory and in pr¡c.tice, turning the color ao gr¡y.

Have you cvcr heard about thc cxper-¡ment with coffee and milk'¡ Ifyou takctwo glasses of coffec, with the sameamount in each, and add wat€r to oneglass and m¡lk to the othe¡, you will sccthat the water makes the color of thecoffee lighter, leani¡g loward red. or-ange, gold. . . . It reacts in a similarway to the r¡ixture of w¿ter with atra¡¡sparent color sr¡ch as a wafercolor.While in the other glass, lhe milktransforms the color of the coffee intoa dirty sienna, a di¡ty ochre, a graycrcam. . . . It reacts similarly to them¡xturc of a white color-an opaquecolor-with another cqually opaquecolor (figurc 63).This experiment will help you to un-de$tand an ¡mportant rule:

Adding white 10 a m¡xlure is notth€ only w¡y to obaa¡¡ a lighaercolor.

h

{I

THE USE AND ABUSE OF WH]TE AND BLACK

J\

l# { rrr* .".*r" .AND BLACK

The color gray is 507o black

You will sce that the use ofblack is justas dangerous as the use of white. Takca bdght yellow, such as the primarypigment color, and darken it by addingblack. Nolice what happens:when I mix the yellow with thc black,the ye)bw becomes dirty. a gfay. As Igradually blend in the black. i t givesme a shade that is clearly green. ¿ dirtygrecn. which in no way corrcsponds tothe idea of darkening the yellow.In ord€r to banish this error once ¡ndfor all. you have to imitate the mix_tures creatcd by light in nature itsclfIndeed, the solution is lo bc found inthe spcctrum of colors itself. In thecase of yello'"v. for example. you cansee in thc spectrum that the da¡knesscomes from the rcd side. As the redsarc transtbrmcd inlo oranges. theygradually become l ighter unti l theyreach the cnlor ycl lo$ . . ¡nJ then ltblends with thc greens and the blües(tlgure 64). So. if you wcrc tu bre¡kdown the ¡ange of the color ycl l()w.you wor.¡ ld bcgin with bl ck, then a ! l_olet red. an or¡nge slcnnit. i l slcnnl. anorüngc )cl low, a d¡rk yel lrrw. ir neutr r Iye l l ow . J l emon !e l l os l n m ix tu rc o fycl low. grccn..rnd whitc). ¡rcl f in¡l lya whitc (f igure 65).To conlirm this thcoty. figurcs 66 and67 show a graphic ex mple of how tol ighten ̂nd darken lhe color ycl low

BlarkOrangc

t

52

THE USE AND ABUSE OF WHITE AND BLACK

Fg 66 BAD: Theábuse oi wh te ¡¡dback is show¡ here i ¡the ovefal graying oithe coor ye low Thepa n t ¡g i s aso spo iedby ihe green lo¡es thlrappear n ¡ne snaaowsT h s s ¿ q o o d e x a m p eol what not to do whe¡pa¡ r hg wth opaque

Fs 67 GOOD: Th¡spa¡r n9 is q! te d ffe.e¡r when you use a lthe colofs oi ¡h€ sp€c,lfum to dárkon a.d lghten the yelow qual ty of¡he mode, l acqunes agreatef fealsm ¿ndmost of a l , a grealer

-53

' Painting with the colors of the spectrum

The lange ofcolors provided by the so-lar spectrum shows you the best mix-tures to use to lighten and darken theprimary color, cyan blue. You can scefor yourself- in the diagram of thespeclrum, that on the lig¡t s¡de. theblue is verging on grce¡. Wlile on thcdark side, it ends in an intense. darkblue leaning toward v¡olet, which is rep-¡cscnted on color chafts by ultrama-rine blue. So you can see that in ab¡cakdown of the color blue. there isa greenish tendency (a bluish green) inthe l igl¡t parts. a neutral tcndcncy inthc center. and a violet te¡dencJ. ablue lhat includes purplc. in thc darkparts. It is even poss¡ble to see in thedarker parts a deep vidct Llclorc yourcach thc total ly b¡¡ck zone.Now I will compare the subjecl of¡ jugand some blue flowers. first p¡intcdonly wilh blue. black. and whitc. andthen with al l thc neccssary colors re-quircd for the subjcct (f igures 70and 7 l ) .


' : : 1.1(

Coh¡ l tblu€BL¡ck


Fs 70 BAD: A b luesubject p¿ nred exc!svey wrh b¡ue ándmxed w lh whte andback , gves an mag€ke th s one. lt has poor

coorng; rne fe rs ¿ pre-domrnance 01 graysthat m¿ke lrre lfuecoor oJ the objects

:g 7 l GOOD He¡e ls

. r nted wth ¿ 6nge oires ' ke ¡he one r lus -

'ned l¡ Jig!re 69.r¡pafe ths rmag,.

. rh ln€ pr€vrous oñs' I 70) Ana lyze rh6r o rng o i ths pcrure' I you w l l seorens, d iferont b ú6s,. 'pes ¿n0 voers , ¿s, as back , whrch'ohas zes lhe slblect

sF."ffi'ü;,¿ff:¡;t

55

rHL t sL AND A8l stl?!ll!!li i¡9 q!¡\¡

Finally, here is a breakdown of red'usins the colots of the spectrum as amod;l once again. with black Theremusr be a mixture of black and vlolclfottowed b) crimson. red. orange rcd.o¡ange yellow, pink (pink. yes, but onethatls t;ghtl) hnged with yel low,-csyuu wil lsee. since this is the color tnatlnrders on ¡ed in the sPectrum whenthe red becomes lighter)' followed fi-nal ly b) $hite {frgure 73)The Dai¡t inq of tomatoes. wlth the useof onlv ¡cd, black, and white in figure74. and with the use of illl colors in thered spectrum in f igure 75. shows youonce aqcin that i t is be\l to maKcwhite v;n¡sh as much as Possible"'In short, the important thing is to dis-cove¡ the chromatic structllre ot a col-or as it lightens and darkens. This te¡-dencv. as You alreadY kno$'. may neinfluánced'by the color of (he obiectsthemselves. the ¡onalcolor. and the rL'f lectcd color, which arc condlt loneo lnturn, by thc color and intensity of thel isht and the intervenrng atmospncreK'eeoing these factors in mind. youhav; tt iudsc if the l ight 3reas lean to-ward veilow, red, or blue Then Youmust ;roceed accordingly. completingthe mixture by adding white As far asthe dark areas are conce¡ned You

ilt

Fig 74 BAI .e!

Fig. 75. GOOD rñ€

must reúember that:

Black, in itself, is not enough torepresent a lsck of lighl

56

' I HE L SF AND ABLSL OT WHIfF AND tsLACK

Flg 74. BAD] yes . .Judging by the shapeano rhe dr¿wina, theseare tomatoes But not¡eally. Tomaioes don rhave ihat dirty brow¡¡sr co|or, orth€l aravishred. This is ¿ póor'ex-arnpe parnted by anamareur w¡rh no expeF€ñce, who just tghr,ened $e red withwhne and darkoned it

Flg. 75. GOOO: Thess¿re tomaloest 8y r¡ix-rng red and yelow (6ndwn l€, or colrsa)i fedano cfmson, and btuoa¡0 sren¡¿ and gfe€n,rn€ lrue cótor ot thoslqect was prodlcedrns rs a peted et .m-p¡e oi th€ sot¡r spÉc-üum, ¿nd rhe b¡éak-dow¡ ot red ¡6pfo-

57

Twelve colors are enough

For the purpose of this study. I havechosen a selection of oil colors. Oil isthe king of paints, f rom which thenames. definitions. and cl¡ssificationsuscd in othcr mediums such as wate¡-color. tempera. pastel , colored penci ls,ancl so on have been established.In figure 77. you can see a selection oflhe n1osl *idely used colors. But re-member that the cobr charts prepa¡edby oil paint manufactu¡ers include a fargreater number of colors.The enornlous color rrnge used by themanul¡clurers respond. f i rst , to theartist s nced :rnd ability to choose thecolors he considers to be in currentuse. and second. to the opportunity tochoose and extend the normal rangewi!h onc or more special coloN.I give a btal of tburteen colors- in-cluding black i lnd white-which areconsidcrcd thc most widcly used. ButI should also mention that this rangccan bc fcduccd to tcn colors only.-li) givc \rou an idc of this smallcr sc-lcclion. I havc mrrkcd the ten most nec-ossary colors with aster isks. Thcrcforc,i l you h¡d to reduce the color range,you could do wi lhout thc other four

Spcrking of this l ist . Ict me now try toi [ ]s$er ¿rr ear l ier quest¡oD. The ama-tcur i i rund i t strange that. s ince i t ispossible 1o compose al l colors just withlhe thrcc primary colors---<yan blue.Ir ] ¡gc¡t¡ . and yel low-why should thear¡ ist make his l i fe and his palette morecomplicated by using any more?wcl l . in rhc f i rst place, as you can seemerely by going through the colorrangc. ycl low. red. and blue cleár lypreclomlnate.And so. in theory. thc pr imacy of thosethree colors rcmains intact,I should also sar that this type ofcolorrange. used by someonc who knowswhar hc is doing. makes the task ofmixing ¡nd composing colors inf ini tely

lf yoLl wcre paintin8 with jusl the threeprimary cobrs and wanted to obtain ayellow ochre, for example, you would

have to mix blue and yellow in un€qualproportions and then add a Iittle whiteto the mixture.ln shof. cach of these nonp¡imary .ol-ols has a particular color tendency, ex-tremely difficult to obtain if it has to beimitated with a mixture of primary cofors. Chemically, this imitation is notpossible. because the chemical com-position of each color is differcnt. Yeflow ochre. for example, is composed ofspecially composed natural earths;while in bluc. thcre is iron ferrocyan-ide; in pu¡ple, there is cochineal lac-quer; and in yellow, there is cadmiümsulphate. These three chemical com-pounds, no matter how they arcmixed. cannot give the exact shadesupplied by the chemical compositionof yel low ochre.ln thc following pages, you will sec abricf study of each of the colors in thechart on thc oppositc pagc. Thcrc isalso a discusion about the shadcs andqualities of each color when they arcmixed with othcr colors. Thc studyproves that it is practical and necessaryto paint with more than three colors.

Cadmium lemon lellorr Permatr€nt gra'€n

Cadnriul

Cadm¡um Jellow medium*Yellow ochre*Burnt siennaBurnt umt)€r*Light vermilion+Deep madder*

Emerald green*Ultramarine blue deep*Cobait blue d€ep*Prussia[ blu€*Titanium white*Ivory black

l'e otl

USE AND ABUSE oF WHITE AND B;(.K

Cadhiuh b.non

ye ore

ft"*",-"H.

COLORS COMMONLY USED BY ARTISTS

A studv of the colors

This study rcfers to common colors.For the mosl part. these tones andshades are common to any class of co!or media. In any box of watcrcolors.tubes of ternpera. of case of pastels orcolorcd pencils. you will lind the samecadmium yellow l ight. yel low ochre.cobalt blue. ultramar¡ne blue. and soon. They are manufactu¡ed with thesamc shadc. or one very similar. andthey usually have the same name.

Titanium whiteThere are gcnerally three classes ofwhite in oil painting, classified by thenamcs srlv¿¡ \'hie, zinc v,h¡tc. and ti-tan¡um white. l¡ is useful to know thatsilver white is morc opaque, covcrs

morc and dries more quickly than thezinc b'hite. Silver lvl¡i¡¿ makes il pos'sible to achieve morc texture. withpaint made f¡om thick pastes. but thedisadvantage ¡s that it causes cracks orfissures becausc of its thickness. Z¡rc)/¡¡f¿ is mo¡e transparent and morefluid. but ¡t d¡ics much morc slowly.which m¿kes it difficult to wo¡k on apainting while it is drying. The con'posit¡on of ¡i¡¿ni¡¡m ry/¡¡l¿ is some-where betwe€n the two. which is wh\it is more w¡dely used than the othersln any type of opaquc media, such a.oi l . tempera, or p¡stel, wh¡te is oftcruscd, because it is a part of most mir.tures. This ¡s why rvhite paint is man-ufacturcd ¡n large tubes (figure 7li).

COLORS COM

,'-,|

PF

E* '-" i 1' "( "*"".7,.,e r,,^F"'81'^lriQ

f-t*'{COLORS COMMONLY USED BY ARTISTS

Yellows

Cadmium Icmon ycllowand cadmium rello$ mediumLook al thc No \cl lows coming out ofth!- i r tubcs ( f igurc 80) and not icc them rkcd diiierencc in sh¡dE betweenthcnr. The citdmiunr lemon yellow (fig-urc 80 A)is l ighlcr. with a sl ight grcen-ish lonc: rhc cad¡niunl \ 'c l low medium(fiSurc lif) Ii) is d¡rker and leans l()wardorirnge. lho\c lcn( lcncies conf irn theIc\$n in thc pre\i()u\ chaplcr (see figure65). \ \ tcrc i l is er ipl i r ined rhüt. bccauscoi lc l lo*"\ placcnrcnl in thc spectarn, aliShl \ello$ leanr toward qrcen ¡nd ad¡rk Ic l l (xr lcans ro$ard rcd.As lou p¿rint . r 'ou have to remcmberthcs{ 'basic di i lercnces bcc¡use. as vous h u l l s e e i n ¡ n o n c n t . ¡ ) c l l o w ( o r t h ecolor loLr h¡ppen lo he Lrsing) nixed\\ i th othcr coloft ñi l l a¡\¡ \ 's ref lccl rheoriginal r 'c l lou or color usccJ.Lcl us l )egin b! looking rt f igurcs 81ln( l 3l : thc\c vcl l ()ws arc mixcd with*hi lc. In thc cadnrium lcDron yclk)w.thc cr¡ l ¡rr is nrr int .r incd (thourh i t turnsimncrccpt ibl \ t (xy¡Kl erccn): but $i ththc cirürr iunr ycl low nrcdiuln. thc or ig-inul cok) is l r l lcrcd to a crc my color.Thcn nole lhrt b\ r¡li\inl¡ .¿rlr¡irnlcn¡¡n t t l l t ¡ : . o( l ¡ t , v l t i t . , . \nd rcd, i lis |ossibl i , t ( ) obl i t in a $i( le range olI lcsh colors ( l igurc ¡ i l A).Ne\t . notrce lhc mixlure of cadmium!'c l low Dediu|n Ni lh red nnd cr imr)n:\ou ca¡ sce th¡ l thc cad|niunl vel l )$lnediunr rakfs lhc br i l l iance ir \ \ 'av fronrthe ()rrngcs. pirrr icul¡r lv whcn nr iredt\ i lh ,¡¡ l r1¿¿, (r cr inr\on shadc) ( f igurct i t A ) .Bu1 lhe inf lucncc ol each color r \ lhcmosl rot iccirhlc in lh! rni \ turcsol dr¡ .r '¿/¿/ r . : r¿r lr i ¡n! l thc lhrce blucs: . i ) / )r¡ l r .uln¿nnt i , r : . ! t1d P,r/rr id/¡ . Stud\ ' thc\eparts ol l igure's Nl i rnd t i l . S.. ho\ ' thecadnrrtm lc lon vc11o\\ achicvel i a lu-minous |ar ict \ of grecn\- l igh¡ andbri l l i i ¡nl : s hi lc in ¡hc nl i \ ture\ \ \ i th ¡hcc¡dIniunl \ f l lo$ nredium. thr gr ' r fn\

N"otc. too. lhat Nhcn the sreens rrcmixcd *ith (rúd¿ ó¿k ritld ultmntut¡n¿ó/¡f t , . ther bccom!'{ra! : ¡hc reason ior

this is that the blues are complemen-larv to the yellows (figure 8l B). Thcmixturc that goes thc darkef is the ul-l ramarine blue mixed with the cad-mium vellow medium (figure It2 B).which conf irms the general rulc thal .when mixed. complenentafy colorsproducc black-Study al l thcse effecls. Remcmber i ¡rlutu¡e lhc possibilitv of iUuminatin€t"with the cadmium lemon vcl low or' 'darkening wi lh goldcn oranges withthe cadmium yel low medium. Keep innl ind ¡he di f fcrcnr ranges of greens:lhc fact that to obtai¡r a l ight. br ightgreen. you have !o usc cadmium lemonyel lo\ \r 1o achicve goldcn. sap grecns.use thc cüdmium yel low med¡um. Rc-mcmbcr. too. that !hc\e grecn-greensrre bcsl obtaincd '¡rrlh tnerukl grecand PÍussian blue; sincc ultramarineá/re is the complemenl of yellow, ¡t wi¡l

FIG, 80 B

give you dirty, grayish greens.

61


F ig .81 :CADMIUM LEM

CADMIUM YELLOW

Prüssianblu€

,",,-Gf'---'t Ultramar¡ne blue

Cobalt blue


Ochre and siennas

YellorY ochre and burnl si€nnatsy mixing vellorv ochre and maddc¡ (acr im$n shadc) ¡nd a l i t t le whire. youcan obt¡ in burnt s icnna (f igure 84 A)tand by mixing burnt sienna with yellowand a l i t t lc whi le. you can ge! lel lowochre ( f igure 8,1B). These are two simil r colors. with the diffcrence beingthc tenclencv of one toward yellow andthe other to$ard cf imson. This simi-larity att¡cts the mixtu¡es of rhese col-ors with othcr cok)rs. In mixtu¡es withochre. yel low lv i l l appear. With burntsie¡rna. the tendencv lv i l l be toward a

Bolh colors conl¿t in white; thcre isnrore in the ochre than in the burntsicnna. And both colors contain blue.which mc¡ns that the two coloÉ caotunr grrY. In t igure 6,1 C. you see thatthc ochre nr ixcd with white and redgivcs ¡ i lesh cobr.When ochrc is mixed with red or acr inrcn sh¡r lc. a r¡nge of earth colorsnnd s¡!nn¡s, csserr l ia l to an art isfs pal-ol lc. is ohtaincd.Mir iccl rv i th cncr¡ ld green. the ochreproduccs brownish but luminousSrccns. i rs i t docs lvhcn mixed withPrussi¡n bluc-¡ l rhouSh with this mix-turc a Ll¡rker grccn is obtained.Fin¿rl l ) , . whcn mixed wi lh cobat bluend ul l raDraf iDe bluc. yel luw ochre

produce\ cr i ly ish browns,Now look a1 the mixrures obtainedwith buf¡t s icnn¿: the s¡ lmon coklrproduccd hy thc ¡ddir ion of whi lc ( f i -Surc i i5 A)t th! 'monorone th¡t comcsironr nr ir in! t i l \ \ i th \c l lo\ \ . rrd. rndcrrnsoDt rnd rhc r ichne, is of ¡hc !rrr \Lones obt i l incd h\ nr i r ing i r rv irh emr' iald green and bluc ( l igure S5 B). \or-rce th¡ l $i lh encr¡ ld r trccn ( i r i complement¡rv color). black or r d¡rkertone rs produccd (f igurc S5 C). Fronlthcse color\ $irh rhe \ .1r ian¡s pro! idedb) lhc cobalt . rnd 1l l ¡ram r inc blue\_ ave¡! r ich rangc of g¡ i r \s a¡d bro\\ns isobl¡ iDed. \hich is essenrial for paint,ing shadows areas th¡t ¿re not completelv black.

Raw siennaThis color is simila¡ to yellow ochre.with the only differencc being that it isdarker within the same shade.When raw sienna is mixed with whi¡c,yellow. and red (figure 86 A). you canobtain a wide range of flesh colors.Raw sienna can also be darkened bygraying. When mixed with blues, youcan produce an exceilent quality ofgreenish grays (figure 86 B).

FIG.83C


:.'-i:-:

COLORS COMMONLY USED BY ARTISTSreRed and crimson

Cadmium red and úadde¡when you compare these two colon,you'llnotice the marked bluish tenden-cy of madder (or crimsonFa primarycolor that cannot be reproduced withother colors (figures 87 A and B).You have aheady seen tbe resultsthese colo$ give when mixed with yel-lows and ochres (figures 81, 82, 84, 85,and 86). However, it is worth exam-ining these brushstrokes of maddercombined with lemon yellow and white(89 A). They p¡ovide a wide range offlesh colofs, cteams, oranges, and¡eds. which are very useful for darken-ing. Also note the luminous pink prod-uced by the mixture of white and mad-der (89 B).As for the mixtures with greens andblues, both the cadmium red and themadder can be darkened when mixedwith emerald green-since this is thei¡complementary color, especially formadder.In the area indicated as C, where theblack is darkest, you can see that themadder has been mixed with emeraldgreen and bufnt umber (be careful notto confuse bufnt umber and br¡rnt sien-na). Make a note of this combinationfor obtaining a perfect black.

madder + cmerald green +burnt umber = black

This deep black seems more perfectthan black itself. It is a black tha¡ hasa ce ain tendency toward crimson.green, or brown; a black !ha! ¡s prob-ably more in tune with thc dominantcolo ng of the model-greenish. crim-sonish, brownish-within a black ¡on-ing.Let us now consider violets and pr¡r-ples obtained from mix¡ures of red andmadde¡ with blues and a bit of white.Violets and purples a¡en't as cleanwhen they ar€ composed using redrather than madder. In the violets andpurples obtained from madder, the cof

or is cleaner; the pu¡ples appear trans-parcnt even in the shadow areas (D).Finally, notice how the mixture ofmadder with Prussian blue produces aviolet almost as da¡k as a black (E).To a ce¡tain degree, this black is the re-sult of the rule of complementa¡ies:Prussian blue has some green coloring,and geen is the complement of madder.

^ $

FIG.87A

FG. 878

68



Burnt umber and emerald green

Burnt umberBu¡nt umber is a color similar to black,w¡th thc only differencc being that ithas an carthy. dark brown shade. Thisshade is visible in mixtures with whiteand yelklws (f¡gure 9l A).Notice thc peculiariry of th€se color-ings: the burnt gray when the umber ism¡xed with whire; the yellows that turnloward ¡ sour green. a kind of yellow-¡sh ol ive green.Burnt umber should always be on yourpalette. It is not only indispensable forobtaining black: it is the ideal color forbrcaking up slr ident slrokcs. and thebest color for producin8 grays (91 B).while thiscotor may be dange¡in thchrnds ofan incxpericnccd pAintcr, i t isaD invaluable instrument in the handsof a professional. rvho is c¡pabl€ of us-ing ii in thc right mersure. taking intoirccount that il is a nccessary color anda useful subslitute fbr black-without

With the blues and white, üis colorgives dch ranges of bluish greens,which when mi,xed with yellows canproduce all k¡own and possiblegreens. It also produces velvety blacksin combination with bumt umber,madder, and Prussian blue (92 B). It isa color that appears transparent inmany light and dark shadows; a colorthat is present on the palette of everyexpen anrst.ln shoñ, emerald green is the onlygreen you need to obtain all imagin-able g¡eens.

being co|)plete¡v black.Bccause burnt umber ¡s andark color. il is easy lo useposc another perfect blackfhis combination:

burnt umbe¡ + medder +Prussian blue = black

_fhis black, as you úay have realized.gives the artist a chance to enhance abluish or purple tint that may be in thecoloring of the model.

Emerald greenAs w¡th the other primary colors,green is a necessary color._fhc emerald ¡ond¡¡fl has a slightlybluish grcen, which is useful in obtain-ing a wide range of greens in combi-nation with yellows. You can alsoproduce a range ofgreen blues by mix-ing cobah. ultramarine, and Pruss¡anblues.Mixed wirh while. it givcs a bluishgreen color (92 A). which. whe¡ mixedwith lemon yellorv. makes a fine lu-minous qual¡ iy of pale greens.

eminentlyIt fo com-based on FIG.90A

FIG.90 B

70

COLORS COMMONLY USED BY ARÍSTS


Blues

Cobalt blue deep, ultramarine bluedeep, Prussian blueln order for you to distinguish thecharaclcristic shades of each of theseblues. I have broken them down withwhite and thcn mixed them with mad-der and a little white to makc three vi-olets.

Cobslt blue deep, a blue blueThc proof lh¡l cobalt. a luminous andtransparent color. is lhe finest "blueblue is that it always appears in shad-ows. lmagine a radiant l,hitcwashcdwall in ful l sunlightt i f you examine itscolor sl¡ucture. you wil l f ind that theshadows on ¡he wall. whcther they aregray. bluc. or violet. \ \ , i l l include cobaltblue in thcir composit ion. Picture astain of luninous bluc-a l ightblue-placcd in nature. bathed in sun-l ight. in ful l radiancc. ¡nd./ou wil l seecobah blue appear again. I ! is a neutralcolor bluc. madc of l ight and brighF

Ultramarine blue deep, ¡ violet blueA gr l otr laincd with cobalt blue deep¡nd 8r¡y obtaincd with uhramarinebluc deep can be diffcrentiated bc-cause thc l i i t lcr shows a ¡eDdency to-ward crimso¡. This justjfies the usc ofL¡ltr¡nafine blue dcep in any opaqueor dark sh¡dow. tsul f irsr vou must seeif the blue. or the dark parts that re,quirc blue. in your subject havc a tcn-dency tolv¡rcl the r.,l¡ml b/¡¡c ofcobaltor thc r ' l¿1¿l b¿r¿'of ultrdnarine.

Prussian blue, a radiánt bluc' lh is is a very intense blue that candonrinate another color. but can also.i f used wi lh cuut ion. producc cxtraor-dinary l rrnsp¿rent shades.In conbinal ion wi lh white. i t has thequal i ty of graying a¡rd. at thc sametime. of i l luminal ing i lny color. Re-mernbcr whcn vou painl dark tones orIones in shndow Dot to abuse it. Mix it'"\,ilh othcr blues.

And black? Is there no black in oilcolors?Yes, there is, but why run the risk ofgraying aod dirtying everything? Whenit can be better obtaincd, with a finercolor sense, by mixing crimson. burntumber, emerald green, and Prussianblue?ln any case. it can be said that ivoryblack used wilh care is a useful. evenmagnificent, color.

'72


COBALT BLUE DEEP

It i:!

HARMONIZING COLORS

The meaning of "range"

Mus ic . . . pa in t i ng . . . comb ina t i onof sounds . . , combination of col-ors , . , an obvious analogy, However,litlle attention is paid to analyzing thelaws of harmonization that governpainting. You will see that, alongbroad lines, they arc compa¡able to thelaws of music. The first and most im-portant coincidence is in lhe word

In facl. the wo¡d /¿nge comes from thesystem of musical notes invented byGuido d Arezzo in the twelfth century.Hc cstablished th€ classic order of asclle of sounds represented by thenofcs do. re, mi, Ja, so, la, ti, do. Con-srdering that this system is pe¡fect. youcan say that:

The word ra¿ge originellJ meanta succession of sounds ordered ina particular way, which was con.sidered p€rfeca.

By analogy. in painti¡g the wotd ranSeapplies to the succession of spect¡umcolors. This is based on the ideá thatthis color succession, as it appearswhen light is dispersed, presents a per-fect order. And so, it is not strangethat by extending this concept. you canapply the term to any scale o¡ orderedcolor succession, such as the ones yousec on this page. For instance, the ex-ample of a tr¿r'm color range (figtresl09 and 109 A); ^ cool ranSe (ll0 andll0 A). and a broken color range (llLand 111 A).

88

HARMONIZING COLORS

89

IIARMONIZING COLORS

The ranges of colors

I will now discuss the ranges of colors.ln order to hav€ a better understand-ing of how to apply this t€rm to paint-ing. you should look at the oppositepage, figure I14. This is a rep¡oductioriof the spect¡um, with its inñnite va-riety of colors, tones, and shadesi it isperfectly ordered and basically in-clüdcs the primary, secondary, and ter-tiary colors. From left to ¡ight:

Magcnta, crimson, red, orang€,yellow, l¡ght gr€en, green, emer.ald green, cyar blue, ullr¡¡¡¡¡¡inebl¡¡e, dsrk blue or purple, andv¡olet,

You should think about translatingthese coio¡s into tones, for example,into a series of grays whose values arein acco¡dance with the o¡der and to¡-alit¡es of the spectrum (figure 115). Bydo¡ng so, you w¡ll also obtain a perfectsuccession of ordered elemer¡ts; in thiscase. a r¡nge of g,'au.In addition, you can see that the ñean-i¡g of the word range can rcfer notonly to the ordered succession of thecoiors in the spectrum, but also to ¿part of thc spectrum----even to a singlecolor of thc spectrum broken down¡nto a scale. or range, of different ton-alities. Hence, you can come to the fol-lowing conclusion:

RANGE ¡s a¡ry succession of J,er'fectly ordered colore or lores.

Figs I t2 and I13J M. Panan6n, Fohe sidetal), prvate colé.-¡ o ñ F e r e G ¿ c l a s s cetample ol ¿ @l col-of r¿nge, wm a pre-doñnance oi bluesano grens n he ong-na colo.s Below 6lh6sáme panr ng fepfo-duced . báck añdw¡lre, corespond n9lo lhe de¿ ol ¿ raDge asa slccesson ol perlect y ordered coors o¡

90

HARMONIZINC COLORS

Figs. 114 and l15 fheco or Bñge or lne speclrum; below l rs ara¡ge ol ochres andtellows, which can be€presenreo oy a r¿¡geor glay co/o¡s fhe yebw ano gray ¡angescor€spond ro rhe de¿ol a súccession ol per

Í !

9t

The ranges most often used in color harmonization

I will illustrate this lesson *ith the fol-lowing iñagesl

Flgure 116. Here is a spect¡um range,in the fo¡m of a circle, composed oI theprimáry colors, yellow, cyan blue, andmagenta (the t¡iangles in high reüef);the secondary colorr, green, da¡k blue,and red (the üar¡gles on the sa6e levelas the outer circle); and between eachprimary and each secondary color, thetefiary colo$, light g¡een, emeraldgreen, ult¡amarine blue, violet, criñ-son, and orange (the triangles in lowrelieD, Study the complementary col-

ors iD this table; they a¡e easy to locateif you ¡emembe¡ that they are alwaysthe colors ir direct opposition.

Flgüre 121. I¡ this palette, o¡ ¡ange,you can see the mixture of each colorin the spect¡um rat¡ge.

Ftgurei 117, r1t, U9, 120, Finálly,hele you have a chance to see andstudy various examples painted witheach range of colo¡s.

92

IIARMONIZING COLORS

h

HARMONIZIN-G COLORS

Melodic range

Lct n1e begin with the f i rst and sim-plef r ange. or harnronizat ioni

gray appears with a slighr touch of

Final ly. look at thc picturc to see howthis palette was appl ied.The ntelatlic runge o\\es its name l() themeaning of thc musical term ltr¿Lr.1r.Bec use. i t is indeed the song . . .solo. with no accompirniment. l l is ihesong \ ,ou sing to rourself . thc samcsong tha! vocal ists sinc. indcpcndcnl of

ln f igures 1l l and l2l . vou can see ex-alnplcs of mclodic r¡rnges p¡ inled wi lh¡n ochrc-sienna color and Ll lack ( lcf t)¡nd a bjue and hlack color (oppositc

P¡gc ) .- lhc results obtai¡rcd with ¡ nrclodic

ran¡c arc su|pr is in, : in spi te ol i ts s im-pl ic i t i . l1 shows rou that i t is possiblclo ol) l l in a grcal $cLrl th of shades.brrr ing in mirrd lh¡ l lhe colors al l originir te l ronr ¡ s ing| | . colof. with tho ad-( l i t i (nr 1) l \ , "hi le ¡nd black. In fncl . thesccrcl oi thc Inclo( i ic rrnge is b¡scd onpn)t)cr ly rdminrstcnng lhc whi lc rndthc bl¿rrk in rclx l ion ro lhe color r¡n8e(scc lhc bl !rc i1luslr¡ l ion). Firsr. younrusl rrnrcnrbcr thr l by Drix ing whi lelunll blircli rou pft¡dLrce i¡ ncw color irncLrl ful ! r i r ,"- in( jcpcndcnl of thcrrnge color. Ancl seconl l . feüentberthir l l )oth thc \ \hi lc rnd the black.\ \hcn mi\ed $irh rgi !cI lcolor. wi l l ¡ rod-i l ! thei f shLrde to producc a somcwhat( l i l l ¡ rcnl cold (Do you fecal l the les-r)n on pirres 50 lnd 51. with thc cx¡nplc ol the bl¡ck and whitc cotTee' l )I his tvpc ol ch nqc i r ¡he color ransecirn c¡usc ¡r lo l ol dan¿ge when ]rourrc doing i¡ ful l -color paint ing. But in¡ monochron¡t ic p¿rint ing. such as theone on rhis piue. i ¡ is highl ! benef ic iaiand ¡clvantrgcous 1() use.r range l ike¡his Ll¡c. lo clrrroboralc thesc re-n¡fks. look a¡ lhc p¿lct tc ranSc in f isufe 1l l . Not icc holv the tones were ob-t¡ ined onl\ ' * i th the color blue. Thecolor ¡ppcars ful l r s¡turatcd \rhcn i t isnr\cd r \ i th $hi lc Whcn i t is mixedwith bhck. i t Lrecomes a darkef or l ight-er grav. Studr caref i ¡ l lv the ovcr iL, !cfa! shade\ that are a producl ofblackrnd $'hi te and the other sbade\r the

The melodic range is composed ofa single color. broken down into1rro diffe¡€nt tones, and ¡ncludesblack and }hi te.

':i '

HARMONIZING COLORS

F gs r22 and 123 (eí r )M chelángelo, Mádo,ú wnh Child MiclÉ-angero made rhs dfáw-¡n9 on ¿ lighr yetowochre p¿per Dfawngwth s€nna and báck

cha lk and br ¡g ¡g ou tlhe wh i res wth whtech¿ k, he acheved a

tion Q¡ lhe opposii€page, vou c¿n see ¿ponrart oi wnsto.Churchil that pa nlecwth b ack ahd b lue wá¡e.color, using also thÉwhite oi rhe papef fh ss ano¡ner oxampe oT ¿co orharmon zarionpa¡n1ed vi rh a ñe¡odic Én

,::,:f

HARMONIZING COLORS

a mixture of complementary colorsW}len you mix two complementary col-ors, g¡een and red, for example, doyou know what happens? You get avery dark, almost black color. Supposeyou mix them in unequal parts . . . youwill obtain either a dirty ¡ed, leaningtoward sienna, or a grayish green witha reddish tendency-acco¡ding towhether there is a predominance ofgreen o¡ ¡ed. Finally, imagine that youtone down both colors with white andthen mix them together.By doing so, you will obtain a widerange of g¡ays: some stained with ¡ed,others with green, othe$ with sienna,some even with an och¡e tint, andso o¡,The harmonic ¡ange of grays isachieved through r¡ixtures of comple-mentary colorsi instead of using onlytwo complementary colors, all thecomplementary colors are used. Thefollowing is the formulal

The h¡rmonic rango of gr¡ys,through th€ m¡xture of comple.mentary colors, ¡¡ composed ofpairs of complement¡ry cololsmlxed ln unequal proportlons andgrayed with white.

This cornbination gives a range of neu-tralized grays, extremely etf€ctive andof high artistic quality. A range inwhich the t¡ue dominant color isgray . . . but with enoug¡ color for th€picture not to look subdued, úonoton-ous, or di¡ty. See for you$elf, look atthe colors on the ¡ange palette (figure135). Notice how the white is decisivein eliminating strident notes, attenuat-irrg color , btrt nof tone, and enhancingcont¡asts. This is how you obtain anexceptional picture, with subtle har-monization that is delicate in color, yetenergetic in ton¿ (figüres 132 and 134).Finally, remember that the choice ofcompl€m€ntary colors and dominantcolors depends on the subject.

100

HARlrfo\ lZI\G ( () l Ik.

Flq 134 J M P3 ' :ñú, Leñohade, .'vare collecl on The .¡lreme qla ¡¡es ol i.¿gfays, ¿ ñxrúre ocoñpl¿meni¿ry coloi5r ¡ unequarpañs s ravecwith white, É eviden:here wlth aLl its expressive possibLities Theres no need lor back to

obtain these delc¿leshadesr just rhe comb nation ol the compernenlary colofs wrn

Documents

COLOR THEORY José M. Parramón