Color Theory ~ Back-to-Basics II

Last time, I took you back to your childhood days of color theory and we learned about the primary colors.  It is always fun reliving the days of our youth...don't you agree?  Just to refresh your memory, let's pick up where we left off.

  

When red and yellow mix together it makes orange.  

When yellow and blue mix together it makes green.

When red and blue mix together it makes violet.  

This new set of colors produced by mixing two primary colors together (in equal parts) are known as secondary colors.  

Orange, green and violet (violet is also referred to as the color purple) are triadic colors (think triangle again).  They are equally spaced on the color wheel and are opposite of the primary colors (red, yellow and blue).     

In theory, these secondary colors (orange, green and violet) should be clear and bright when they are mixed, but most of the time they come out looking muddy.  Have you ever mixed red and blue food coloring to your icing and wondered why the violet (purple) comes out looking flat and gray...not the vibrant color like you envisioned?  

There is a reason why we don't always achieve the right colors when we mix primary colors together.  What I am about to tell you...just might blow your mind.

True primary colors don't actually exist.

Primary colors are either imaginary sensations that you can't see (colors that lie outside the range of visual colors) or they are imperfect (not pure in color) because it is not possible for them to mix all the colors...therefore they aren't really "primary". 

Food colors are actually a mix of one or more color dyes and each brand uses different formulas to create their colors.  So, not all color is created equal. The result of mixing primary colors depends entirely on how the pigments or dyes work together.  I will be discussing the differences of each brand of food coloring later on and you won't want to miss it...trust me.    

Let's move onto the remaining set of six colors that make up the color wheel.  

When red and orange mix together it makes red-orange.    

When yellow and orange mix together it makes yellow-orange.

When yellow and green mix together it makes yellow-green.

When blue and green mix together it makes blue-green.

When blue and violet mix together it makes blue-violet.

When red and violet mix together it makes red-violet.

 

This new set of colors produced by mixing a primary color together with a secondary color are known as........................................................................

The suspense is killing you isn't it...well, you'll just have to find out next time!!!  

Have a wonderful and colorful week:-)

  

Color Theory ~ Back-to-Basics

Welcome to Cookies and Color!!!  The place to come for all your cookie and color needs.

Ask yourself these questions.  Do you love making cookies, but cringe when you think about having to mix icing colors?  Ever wish you had a magic wand that could do all the dirty work for you, one tap and voilà!...color?  Well, you're not alone!!!  Color mixing can be frustrating, especially when you aren't quite sure what colors work together to create that one magic formula.  The key to mixing beautiful colors is understanding how color works...this is where I come in and save the day.    

I am going to show you all sorts of fun things about color!!!  You will learn everything from the basics of color theory to coordinating your own color palettes.  There will be cookie challenges to put your color knowledge to the test and giveaways as a reward.  So pay attention or you might miss out!!!

Let's take a trip down memory lane...shall we?

Think back to when you were wee lads and lassies sitting in your school chairs...elbow deep in bowls of red, yellow and blue fingerpaints.  Do you remember what happened when you took two of those primary colors and swirled them together on your paper?  Not a mess (smarty pants), a whole new color magically appeared before your eyes...yes?  No?  Maybe?  Perhaps you can't remember back that far, so allow me to refresh your memory with a little cookie demonstration.  

My 7 year old daughter had a hand in creating this lovely masterpiece...literally.  I have had my fair share of colorful, sticky fingers over the years and she kindly volunteered to do the job.  Who am I to argue with a budding artist and a potential cookie sidekick?  

As you can see, when we mixed two primary colors together, three new colors were created (orange, green and violet).  Theoretically, when we mix all three primary colors together we should get something close to black, but instead we got a very questionable color (swamp water, for a better lack of a word).  We will talk about this theory in depth another time, so stay tuned.

You may remember seeing one of these back in the day when you took art in school, only it wasn't made out of yummy cookies.  The very first color wheel was created during the 18th Century and is still a useful tool for us today.  This edible piece of art, shows that there are twelve colors that make up the color wheel. The three primary colors (red, blue and yellow) create the other nine colors that you see on the wheel.  Red, yellow and blue are known as triadic colors (think triangle), which are three colors that are equally spaced around the color wheel.    

Red, yellow and blue (also known as the historical primary colors) can not be produced by mixing, but can produce other colors when mixed together.  In theory, you could create any color imaginable using this set of primaries.  

 

If only that were true!!!  Imagine what we could do with the money saved on extra food coloring.  I see myself in a HUGE cookie room with an endless supply of PME tips, shelves of sparkly Disco Dust in every color imaginable, copper cutters hanging from the ceiling like twinkling stars and..................................................................................................................

 I digress.

So, let's recap! 

Based on what you saw on the fingerpainting cookie (shown above), you can see that when red is mixed with yellow it makes orange.  

When yellow and blue mix together it makes green.

When red and blue mix together it makes violet.  

This new set of colors produced by mixing two primary colors together are known as........................................................................................................

Ouch...I have Blogger's cramp, so find out next time!!!  

Have a wonderful and colorful week:-)