Colour Theory Flashcards
Hue
The purity of a colour.
Intensity
The amount of brighness or dullness of a colour.
Achromatic
No colour - the black to white scale.
Opaque
Solid colour that you can’t see through.
Value
The lightness and arkness of a colour.
Sgraffitto
Scratching into wet paint to reveal the colour underneath.
Complementary
Any colours opposite one another on the colour wheel.
Analogous
Three colours side by side on the colour wheel.
Monochromatic
A colour scheme that use tints, tones and shades of a single hue.
Triadic
Colours an equal distance apart from one another on the colour wheel.
The dominance of a single colour, visual importance:
Totality
When colour appears paler towards the horizon:
Atmospheric Perspective
Involves the use of only one hue:
Monochromatic
Cool colours refer to:
Green, blue, and purple.
Transparent colour refers to:
See-through colour
Translucent colour refers to:
Light can be seen through the colour.
Opaque colour refers to:
Solid colour that you can’t see through.
Warm colours refer to:
Red, orange, and yellow.
Chiaroscuro
“Bright-dark” - when something or someone is put in the spotlight.
Buon Fresco
Painting on wet plaster.
A Secco
Painting on dry plaster.
Scumbling
Using a small circular gesture to create a mist-like effect.
Optical Colour Mixing
When dots of pure colour are placed side by side and blend in the eye.
Dry Brush Technique
Paint is applied with the very tips of the brush to create texture (like grass).
Underpainting
The first layer of paint appleid to a canvas which acts as a base for other layers of paint.
True or False? There are no “real” colours in nature.
TRUE
True or False? Violet wavelengths are the longest.
FALSE
True or False? Red wavelengths are the longest.
TRUE
True or False? Sir Isaac Newton wrote “Optiks” in 1704.
TRUE
True or False? Colour is a property of light, not an object itself.
TRUE
True or False? Black objects reflect light rays.
FALSE
True or False? White objects reflect light rays.
TRUE
True or False? Blue objects reflect all ight rays except blue ones.
FALSE
True or False? Some colours are more susceptible to change than others.
TRUE
True or False? Reds advance and blues recede.
TRUE
True or False? Transparent colour is when light can shine through (i.e. stained glass)
TRUE
True or False? Black and white are colours.
FALSE
True or False? Optical Colour Mixing is when dots of bright colour are placed side by side and from a distance appear to blend in the eye.
TRUE
True or False? Hue refers to the purity of a colour. The primary colours are the most pure.
TRUE
True or False? Henry O’Tanner was an Asian artist who won international acclaim.
FALSE
Warm colours are red, ___, and ___.
Orange, yellow
Cool colours are green, ___, and ___.
Blue, purple
When light is totally absorbed, the result is ___.
Black
A ___ is any colour with white added.
Tint
___ wash allows you to lift colours with a tissue to create an atmospheric background.
Transparent
A rainbow is an example of ___ colours.
Spectral
___ developed the Optical Colour Mixing technique.
Seurat
A ___ is any colour with black added.
Shade
___ is the colouring matter in inks, pencil crayons, and paints.
Pigment
The complement for red-orange:
Blue-green
The complement for yellow:
Purple
The complement for yellow-green:
Red-purple
___ painted his bedroom with undertones of yellows and greens as a reflection of his physical and mental illness.
Van Gogh
How does the eye see colour?
First, light enters through the cornea, the outermost part of the eye. Then the light bends to the pupil, which controls how much light enters the lens. After, light focuses on the retina, the layer of nerve cells at the back of the eye. Following that, rod and cone cells in the retina send a signal along the optic nerve to the visual cortex of the brain. Finally, after the brain processes the signal, the eye can see a colour.
What are some similarties between Henry O’Tanner and Picasso (during his “Blue” period)?
Both used the theme of music (O’Tanner’s “The Banjo Lesson” and Picasso’s “The Old Guitarist”) as well as using blue tones.
What are some differences between Henry O’Tanner and Picasso (during his “Blue” period)?
O’Tanner usually uses warm tones (it’s his only piece that uses cool tones). Henry used some orange to ffset so much blue, and Picasso did not. Picasso’s painting (poor, homeless guitarist with tattered clothes) had a mood of sadness thanks to his depression after his friend’s suicide while O’Tanner’s (a grandfather teaching his grandchild how to play the banjo) was joyful and spiritual to show happiness and fulfillment.
What is colour?
Colour is light reflected off of an object and received through the eye.
Are dogs colour blind?
They are not. Their chromatic ability is signifcantly less than humans because they have more rod cells than cone cells (cone cells are responsible for seeing colour) and dogs are dichromatic (can only see two primary colours - yellow and blue) while humans are trichromatic.
Describe Sir Isaac Newton’s Theory of “Optiks” (1704).
Sir Isaac Newton discovered that when he shone white light light through a triangular glass prism, the light separates into the spectral colours (ROYGBIV). Then, when shone back through the prism, the colours converge to reform white light. This showed that light is made up of the primary colours, which can be mixed to form more colours through diffraction (Newton’s “inflexion of light”). Optics is the science behind light and how it interacts with the world (how rainbows are formed, how light reflects off mirrors, how it refracts through a glass of water, and how it separates and recombines through a triangular glass prism).
