Color Basics

Before you get bitten by the creative bug, I thought a little knowledge on colors would help.

Let's begin with the Color wheel. The color wheel is designed so that virtually any colors you pick from it will look good together. The color wheel is made up of twelve colors.

Primary colors: Red, Yellow and Blue

Primary colors are pure colors which cannot be created by mixing any other colors.

Secondary colors: Orange, Green and Violet

Secondary colors lie between the primary colors on the color wheel.

Tertiary colors: Blue-violet; Red-violet; Red-orange; Yellow-orange; Yellow-green; and Blue-green

Tertiary colors are created by mixing a primary and a secondary color.

Neutral colors: Black, white and gray

Using black and white with a color makes many more colors.

Tint – Tint are lightened colors. Add color to white to get a tint.

Shade – Shades are darkened colors. Add black to the color to get a shade.

A Combination of colors is called a Color scheme.

Warm color scheme: Red, Orange and Yellow. Colors found on right side of the wheel from Red to Yellow-green.

Cool Color scheme: Violet, Blue and Green. Colors found on left side of the wheel from Red-violet to Green.

Complementary or Opposite colors: Colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel are considered to be complementary colors. Red-Green, Blue-Orange and Violet-Yellow

Hope this helps you in choosing colors for your home décor, clothing, accessories, art, craft etc. Although these are just basics of color, you can create and try many more variations. Be creative and have fun!