Colour has always been crucial to art, it’s history goes back to the early cave paintings of Neolithic Man. Understanding colours, and how they relate to each other, is a useful tool for anybody working in the creative industry.
Even so, colour can be interpreted in different ways. Black is usually associated with the colour of death in the west but, in China, death is represented by the colour white. But on the whole, we like to look to our surroundings for the meaning of colour. Below are a few of the more common colour interpretations:
The sun is known to have an uplifting effect on us, so it’s not surprising that yellows and oranges are considered as happy colours.
Green represents the colour of nature, and because of this is seen as a restful and can represent growth and life.
Brown is the constant, it’s seen as reliable and reassuring, being the colour of earth.
Red is an attention grabber and being the colour of fire, heat it commands respect. This is why it’s used on traffic lights to represent the command STOP.
Blue can be seen in the sky and seas, it has a reassuring effect and also represents distance. Blues are commonly used as background colours because of their ability to recede when placed next to hotter colours.
However, this is a parred down view on the subject, as not many colours are actually ‘pure’ but include traces of others within them. A yellow, for example, can contain traces of blue, in which case it’ll also have some of the characteristics of blue. On the other side of the coin, yellow also can be tinged with red, so making it a slightly more forceful colour than pure yellow. How these colour react to each other and how to manipulate them, is an important part of painting.
The visual effect of a colour can be distorted depending on the context in which it is seen. Yellow will seem washed out and pale next to white, but strong and bright next to black. Colour also represents tone and can be attributed to groups. Lemon yellows, golden yellows, oranges and yellow earth colours can be substituted for one another in mixtures or used to shade each other when describing form. In addition, many colours will have an undertone, that is to say they have some element of another colour within their mix. As an example, red may range from having pronounced yellow undertones to blue.
Rob Tyrrell is an artist specialising in pet portraits, visit his site on how to choose the best pet portraits from photos for your needs.
Tags: art, Color, crafts, design, family, interior design, painting