Colour Theory Projects (Monday and Tuesday Groups))

We started the course last week and due to the fantastic demand for places we now have 2 watercolour groups at Whickham - the Monday Group and the Tuesday Group. This blog, which is the virtual learning environment for this subject, is for both groups.

This week both groups looked at colour theory: 3-primary colours, 6-primary colours, neutrals, and coloured greys. The theory resources and task guides are listed opposite (Colour Theory and New Colour). The practical resources (exercises) are shown below so learners can complete their tasks at home.

Colour Wheels (3/6 primaries)
Core Task: study, mix, test and paint two colour wheels (primary and secondary colours only) as shown below (top - 3 primaries, lower 6 primaries - warm and cold). NB note the named colours on the lower wheel when choosing from your palette. You may also need to apply several layers (called glazes) of the same colour to get sufficient depth but you must allow a layer to dry before adding the next one on top:

Core Task: from the upper colour wheel mix the inner segments which are the six neutrals*. These combine a primary and a secondary (by mixing together the opposite colours - orange and blue, yellow and violet, red and green). To vary the opposite neutrals, mix slightly more of the nearest colour e.g. in the blue-orange mixtures, to get two different neutrals the segment near to the primary blue has slightly more blue added in the mix and for the one near the orange needs an orange bias in the mixture.

*A pure neutral is made of equal amounts of the constituent colours e.g. 50% blue and 50% orange (with secondaries also consisting of 50-50 mixes, so 50% yellow and 50% red, 50% blue and 50% red, 50% blue, 50% yellow)

Extension Task: mix a range of coloured greys. Coloured greys are probably the type of colours you will mix most often. These are not pure neutrals as the mixture of primary to secondary varies e.g. 90% blue and 10% orange, 20% yellow and 80% violet and so on. Draw a grid like below and paint the 3 primary colours at the top and the 3 secondaries at the bottom. Then mix the two opposites (also called complementary colours) in varying amounts. The more cells in the grid the better. However many you have in your grid, the middle line will be 50% primary and 50% secondary.