COLOR 



1483 



COLOR 



in a world of color. The teamster with his 

 cart and horse, the driver with his auto-truck, 

 the packing-case on the sidewalk, the letter- 

 box on the lamp post, the postman with his 

 mailbag, the farmer in his fields, the cows 

 grazing in the pasture, the trees on the hill- 

 side, the road across the meadows, all appear 

 to us as color shapes. 



How to Use Color. We cannot make colors 

 as beautiful as those of the rainbow, but we 

 can imitate or represent these colors with 

 pigments. Pigments are coloring matter, and 

 are found in many places. Some pigments 

 come from the earth, and we obtain them in 

 clay banks and mines. Yellow ochre is a pig- 

 ment of the first kind, and cobalt blue comes 

 from minerals. Plants and trees provide us 

 with many dyestuffs and pigments, and the 

 great group of aniline dyes is obtained from 

 coal tar. 



We cannot use pigments just as we find 

 them. If, for example, we should spread yel- 

 low ochre on a house, the first rain would 

 wash it off. Pigments must be mixed with 

 something to make them adhere. If we mix 

 yellow ochre with linseed oil, we form oil paint, 

 which is permanent. If we mix yellow ochre 

 with glycerine and gum arabic, we form a sub- 

 stance which will dissolve in water. This we 

 call water-color paint. If we mix yellow ochre 

 with chalk, we form colored crayons and pas- 

 tels. In all these mixtures, the pigment is the 

 same, but the mixing medium determines the 

 kind of paint formed. 



Since color is so universal and since we can- 

 not escape from it, even if we would, it is of 

 the greatest importance that we understand 

 the laws that govern the use of color. We can- 

 not pick out a suit of clothes or a necktie, a 

 dress or a hat, without exercising a choice of 

 color. What can help us to make the right 

 choice? 



It is knowledge of color combinations and 

 harmonies. The color chart can be used as 

 an aid in the study of color, just as the piano 

 is used in the study of music. If we strike 

 but one note on the piano, we do not produce 

 music; but if we strike at the same time two 

 other notes related to the first note, we produce 

 a harmony of sound which we call a chord. 

 So, with the color chart, if we select from it 

 any one color, as for instance, blue, we do 

 not obtain harmony; but if we take that same 

 blue as one note, and use with it two other 

 related notes, as a lighter blue and a darker 

 blue, we obtain a color chord. Let us study 



the color chart and use it as a guide in our 

 selection of colors for any purpose. 



There are three colors, yellow, red and blue, 

 which are, in pigments, the sources of all other 

 colors. That is, from mixtures of these three 

 colors all other colors are obtained. For this 

 reason, yellow, red and blue are called primary 

 colors. 



The union of any two primary colors pro- 

 duces a new color called a binary color (binary 

 means made from two). That is, the union of 

 yellow and red produces the binary orange ; the 

 union of yellow and blue produces the binary 

 green; the union of red and blue produces the 

 binary violet, or purple. Orange, green and 

 violet, then, are called the binary colors. 



A color hue is the step between a primary 

 and a binary color. In the color chart you will 

 notice that yellow appears at the top of the 

 circle. Between the primary yellow and the 

 binary orange (on the left) you will see a color 

 that is made of a mixture of these two. It is 

 the hue yellow-orange. Between orange and 

 red is the hue red-orange. Between red and 

 violet is the hue red-violet. Between violet 

 and blue is blue-violet. Between blue and 

 green is blue-green, and between green and 

 yellow is yellow-green. This completes the 

 color circuit. 



The colors that you see in the outer circle 

 of the color chart are as bright as they can be 

 made with pigments. They are called colors 

 in full intensity. Any tone of red, for instance, 

 that is lighter than red at full intensity, is a 

 tint of red. Any tone of red that is darker 

 than red at full intensity is a shade of red. 

 People often confuse the two terms tint and 

 shade in speaking of the different tones of a 

 color. 



There are certain colors that seem to 

 strengthen or emphasize each other when they 

 are seen together. Such colors are said to be 

 complementary to each other. In the chart 

 the colors are so arranged that color comple- 

 ments are opposite each other. Yellow, for 

 example, is placed opposite its complement, 

 violet; red is opposite its complement, green; 

 blue is opposite its complement, orange; yel- 

 low-orange is opposite its complement, blue- 

 violet; red-orange is opposite its complement, 

 blue-green; and red-violet is opposite its com- 

 plement, yellow-green. 



Although when seen together complementary 

 colors emphasize and strengthen each other, 

 when mixed, as in using water or oil colors, 

 they produce the opposite result. That is, 



