Color Wheel

All of us know about colors. But how much? Generally everybody knows about the basic colors like Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Purple, Violet, Pink, etc. But only a few of us know that the colors extent well beyond these very popular colors. There are so many colors which we are not aware of. This blog is dedicated to the colors that we know and that we don't know much of. Many new colors can be created by mixing of colors. There is actually a color wheel which will make us understand the colors more effectively. There are many color wheels which exist and are accepted. But the color wheel which I'm going to talk about here is the RYB color wheel. These are the colors which many artists use as primary colors for their painting. According to this color wheel Red, Blue and Yellow are the Primary colors and various secondary and tertiary colors can be derived by mixing these colors. Secondary colors are those which can be created by mixing two primary colors together. Tertiary colors are those which can be created by mixing a Primary and a Secondary color together.

The Color Wheel

The Secondary colors here will be Green, Violet and Orange. And the Tertiary colors are as given below.

Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Colors Apart from these there are various color combinations which can be derived from this particular chart.This chart shows some hues and Tints of the colors. Hues and Tints are the variations which can be derived from the same color. Ex. Pink is the hue of Red whereas Maroon is the Tint of Red.For those who wonder what is a Hue and a Tint, Hues are the color value of a color when it is mixed with the neutral color white. Tints are the color values of a color when it is mixed with the neutral color Black. Red when mixed with white gives you Pink whereas when mixed with Black it gives Maroon. This can be done with all the colors to get their various Hues and Tints.

Color Schemes:

Now that we have known something about colors we can actually use this information to enrich your homes with your imagination and creativity. Let us see the color schemes and how we can use them to make our homes better.

Analogous colors:Colors next to one another on the color wheel are called analogous (it means "related"). Analogous colors share a common color and usually appear to be in harmony. Ex. Green is made from a mixture of blue and yellow and is therefore analogous to blue and also to yellow.

Complementory Colors:Complementary colors are directly across from one another on the color wheel and share no common colors. Blue and orange are examples of complementary colors. Based on these color schemes some color harmonies have been developed. But you must be careful in selecting the colors. Some of the color harmonies used at home are.

Monochromatic color Harmony:
A monochromatic scheme consists of different values of one color.

Analogous color Harmony:
Also called harmonious colors, are colors that are adjacent to each other on the color wheel. Some examples are green, light green, and yellow or red, orange and yellow.Complementary color Harmony:
Complementary colors are colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel, such as blue and orange, red and green, purple and yellow. These colors, when used side-by-side, make each other appear brighter. When they are mixed, they neutralize each other. Split-complementary color Harmony:

A color scheme that includes a main color and the two colors on each side of its complementary (opposite) color on the color wheel. Triadic color Harmony:
A triadic color scheme consists of three colors, such as the basic triad of red, yellow and blue primaries. Tetradic color Harmony:
Tetrads are any four colors with a logical relationship on the color wheel, such as double complements.

All about colors

Everybody likes colors. It may be any color but there cannot be a person who does not like color.
Each color has its own significance. We can actually determine a person's characteristics to certain extent with the color he/she likes. Colors do have a significant influence on Human Beings. The colors we choose also can reflect our mood. Eg. We decorate a party with all the bright colors but in a mourning it is mostly black and white. When we are happy we tend to choose a bright color and when our mood is a bit low we are prone to choose more subtle colors. Here are some of the colors and what they mean.

Red - Passion, strength, energy, fire, love, sex, excitement, speed, heat, arrogance, ambition, leadership, masculinity, power, danger, gaudiness, blood, war, anger, revolution, radicalism, socialism, communism, aggression, summer, autumn, stop, Mars (planet), respect, Aries (star sign), December.
Studies show that red can have a physical effect, increasing the rate of respiration and raising blood pressure; red also is said to make people hungry; the red ruby is the traditional 40th wedding anniversary gift; red sky in the morning, shepherd's warning; red sky at night, shepherd's delight.

Blue - Seas, skies, peace, unity, harmony, tranquility, calmness, coolness, confidence, conservatism, water, ice, loyalty, dependability, cleanliness, technology, winter, depression, coldness, idealism, obscenity, tackiness, air, wisdom, royalty, nobility, Earth (planet), Virgo (light blue), Pisces (pale blue) and Aquarius (dark blue) (star sign), strength, steadfastness, light, friendliness, July (sky blue), February (deep blue), peace, mourning (Iran), truthfulness, love.
In many diverse cultures blue is significant in religious beliefs, believed to keep the bad spirits away.

Green - Nature, bad spirits, spring, fertility, youth, environment, wealth, money (US), good luck, vigor, generosity, go, grass, aggression, inexperience, envy, misfortune, coldness, jealousy, disgrace (China), illness, greed, corruption (North Africa), life eternal, air, earth (classical element), sincerity, hope, Cancer (bright green, star sign), renewal, natural abundance, growth, health, August, balance, harmony, stability, Islam.
During the Middle Ages, both green and yellow were used to symbolize the devil. Green is believed to be the luckiest of colors in some western countries including, Britain, Ireland (where it is also the national color) and the U.S.

Yellow - Sunlight, joy, happiness, earth, optimism, intelligence, idealism, wealth (gold), summer, hope, air, liberalism, cowardice, illness (quarantine), hazards, dishonesty, avarice, weakness, greed, femininity, gladness, sociability, summer, friendship, Gemini, Taurus, Leo (golden yellow, star signs), April, September, deceit, hazard signs, death (Middle Ages), mourning (Egypt), courage (Japan). Yellow ribbons were worn during times of warfare as a sign of hope as women waited from their men to return.
During the Middle Ages, both green and yellow were used to symbolize the devil.

White - Reverence, purity, snow, peace, innocence, cleanliness, simplicity, security, humility, sterility, winter, coldness, clinicism, surrender, cowardice, fearfulness, unimaginative, air, fire, death (Eastern cultures), hope, Aries, Pisces (star signs), January.




Black - Modernity, power, sophistication, formality, elegance, wealth, mystery, style, evil, death (Western cultures), fear, anonymity, anger, sadness, remorse, mourning, unhappiness, mysterious, sex, seriousness, conventionality, rebellion, unity, sorrow, January.

Pink - Spring, gratitude, appreciation, admiration, sympathy, femininity, health, love, June, marriage, homosexuality, bisexuality (both in the form of a pink triangle).

Orange - Hinduism, Buddhism, energy, balance, heat, fire, enthusiasm, flamboyance,

playfulness, aggression, arrogance, gaudiness, overemotion, warning,

danger, enthusiasm, autumn, desire, Sagittarius (star sign), September.Orange has less intensity or aggression than red

and is calmed by the cheerfulness of yellow.

Purple -Envy, Sensuality, spirituality, creativity, wealth, royalty, nobility, ceremony, mystery, wisdom, enlightenment, arrogance, flamboyance, gaudiness, mourning, profanity, exaggeration, confusion, homosexuality, pride, Scorpio (violet, star sign), May, November, riches, romanticism (light purple), delicacy (light purple).
Purple is the color of mourning for widows in Thailand, favorite color of Egypt's Cleopatra, and the purple heart - given to soldiers who have been wounded during warfare.

Brown - Calm, depth, natural organisms, nature, richness, rusticism, stability, tradition, anachronism, boorishness, dirt, dullness, filth, heaviness, poverty, roughness, earth (classical element), October, Capricorn, Scorpio (reddish brown, star signs), down-to-earth. Brown can stimulate the appetite, wholesomeness, steadfastness, simplicity, friendliness, and dependability.



Gray - Elegance, humility, respect, reverence, stability, subtlety, wisdom, anachronism, boredom, decay, decrepitude, dullness, dust, pollution, urban sprawl, strong emotions, balance, neutrality, mourning, formality, March.