Color Theory II: the Color Triangle

The objective of this course is to teach you Faber Birren's principles of color. Visually and psychologically, colors are separated into three primary forms: hues (the 12 colors of the color wheel), black and white. Together, they make up what Ewald Herny calls the "color triangle" (Principles of Color; Faber Birren; 1987). Tints, tones and shades, derivatives of the primary forms, make up the secondary forms. Gray, one of the secondary forms, is the most neutral of all forms. It is the antithesis of pure color because it contains no hue. Where pure color harmonizes with white and black, tint, tone and shade harmonizes with gray.

All "straight-line" sequences in the color triangle are natural and concordant (see Color Triangle Schematics). Any combination of colors following one of these sequential paths will result in a harmonious effect. While both primary (hues, black, and white) and secondary forms (tints, tones, and shades) are best combined along color harmony principles (of the color wheel), the primary form is best expressed using the primary and secondary colors (red, yellow, blue, green, purple, orange), and the secondary form, which is more muted, is best expressed with tertiary colors (red-orange, yellow-orange, yellow-green, blue-green, red-violet, blue-violet).

Photographer's Gray Chart (White, Gray, Black Sequence): There is harmony in this sequence because black and white are tied together by gray. The natural progressions which are more acceptable to the human eye are white, gray, black and black, gray, white; whereas a progression of white, black, gray or black, white, gray will seem unwieldy.

 Exercises for Five Color-Triangle Effects:
1. El Greco Effect (Shade, Tone, White Sequence): This sequence focuses on the application of pure dark values and grayish light values. The effect is unnatural and leads to unconventional or unfamiliar arrangements. El Greco used this sequence in most of his compositions: deep rich shades of gold, green, blue, and crimson working up to chalky white. When a dominant tint is used throughout a composition, all other colors are drawn together in a harmonious relationship. El Greco used white to tie his composistion together.

Since you have only 2 class periods to explore this sequence, this exercise will focus only on how using one color (white) will give coherence to a composition. Paint all shadows cast by objects with the colors of the objects plus black; paint all shadows of the objects (due to lighting) the color of the object plus black. For example, paint the shadow of a blue box with a mixture of blue plus black; paint the shadow cast by a red object on the blue box with a tinge of red.

2.

Chiaroscuro or da Vinci Effect (Tint,Tone, Shade Sequence): This sequence is considered the most refined and eloquent of all the sequences in the color triangle. Shadows are not created by adding pure black; neither is highlights (excluding reflections) created by adding pure white. They both scale through adjacents along the color wheel. (Leonardo da Vinci was the first to use this sequencing to create the chiaroscuro effect). Colors in highlight and bright illumination tend to shift in hue toward yellow, following one of two sequences: (violet -> red -> orange -> yellow) or (violet -> blue -> green -> yellow). If only white is added to a color for highlight the result will be chalky; add a bit of yellow to cancel the chalkiness. Colors in shadow and dim illumination tend to shift toward violet, following one of two sequences: (yellow -> orange -> red -> violet) or (yellow -> green -> blue -> violet). If only black is added to a color for the shadow, it will appear colorless and flat. Add a darker tone of the same hue to enrich the black. For example, to darken cadmium red, add alizarin crimson and black; to darken alizarin crimson, add violet and black.

3.

Rembrandt Effect (Pure Color, Shade, Black Sequence): This sequence is used to produce depth and richness. Highly intense and lustrous effects are obtained through the use of warmer colors (yellow, orange, red) in small areas and/or details and cool colors (green, blue, violet) in large areas (this is known as proportional contrast). Rembrandt is renowned for using this sequence.

Color juxtaposed with black will appear more lustrous. First, cover your canvas with a dark ground (e.g., a mixture of raw umber and hydrangea blue), then sketch in the subject by removing the dark ground with a brush dipped in paint thinner. When painting, depict the object with a slightly darker value than the background, before bringing it successively lighter, until reaching the true lightness of the object itself.

4. Turner Effect (Tint, Tone, Black Sequence): The opposite of pure color is gray. As shown in Turner's works, colors can be made to appear luminous by contrasting them with grays and softly colored tones instead of contrasting them with black and deep shades. Treating lighter value as pure and deeper value as grayish, the sequence of tint, tone, black, or tint, tone, gray will give a luminous or intensity contrast. This sequence may be of adjacents, opposites, split-complements, or triads.

Luminosity (radiating or reflecting light) requires subtlety in the application of color. The area(s) to be luminous must be relatively small in size to allow the major field or ground to form an effective setting. The luminous area(s) should be lighter in value to everything else in the composition. They should also be the purest color in sight and have the strongest chroma. The apparent light sources must seem to pervade the entire painting. And dark areas should be painted in deep atmospheric gray, not black.

5. Impressionist Effect (Pure Color, Tint, White Sequence): The simplest and most accepted sequence is pure color, tint, white. The impressionists and neo-impressionists were devoted to this sequence. However, some, like Renoir, occasionally added black for accent. Generally, warmer colors and tints were used for feature elements while cool colors were used for receding elements (this is known as temperature contrast). Prior to the impressionists, most artists used ochers, browns, somber shades of green, maroon, and blue.

Natural harmony: When combining colors, hues that are naturally light in value make the best tints (yellow, orange, yellow-orange, green, yellow-green), and hues that are normally dark in tone make the best shade (red, red-violet, violet, blue-violet, blue). Values following this natural sequence are attractive. When the values are reversed, discord follows. Tinted yellow, tinted orange, shaded red, shaded violet seems natural; whereas shaded yellow, shaded orange, tinted red, tinted violet seems unnatural and ungainly.

Material: In addition to the material you have from the Beginning Oils (see Basic Material for Oils for list) you will need cerulean blue (HH 105, 10 ml), ivory black (H 154, 20 ml), mauve (HH 135, 10 ml), cobalt violet deep (HH 131, 10 ml), one F8 canvas board and five F8 canvasses. A summary of what you need for this course is also included at the bottom of the class schedule.