Colour theory in art

There are the blue (Cool) colours which tend to recede like in the shadows of a face and the red (warm) colours that seem to come forward like rosy cheeks. In the bands of colour in the example below the cool blue can be regarded as the sky in the distance, the greens can be regarded as green fields in the middle distance, the warm reds at the bottom can be earth colours like in the trees and fence posts and the land in the foreground which are nearest us. All colours in a portrait work in the same way, cool colours in receding parts like in the ears and the warmer colours in the parts nearest us like the nose and cheeks, there are lots of other nuances of colour in between. The nose is the most obvious point in a portrait because it protrudes out and so is generally a little bit warmer than the other cooler blue receding parts.

You can see the coolest colour at the rear or top in this example and the warmer colours gradually come forward from the yellows and oranges through to the bright reds. Warm colours like reds and oranges feel as though they come towards us while cooler blues and purples tend to recede.

A point to bare in mind when studying colour theory in art is that generally there is more cool colours in a portrait than their are warm colours and I think this is true of a landscape. A lot of artists make there portraits a lot too warm and they look like they have been sunbathing, the portrait opposite is all basically warm yellows and reds. There is nothing wrong with this but I think it could do with a contrasting cooler colour like a cool blue in the background to give the portrait a bit of relief and contrast.

The sketchy portrait opposite has mainly been painted in cooler colours but has relief with warmer tints in the face giving it contrast and warmth. The same hint of warm colour in his face is also echoed in the tie giving it a unity and balance. See the right side of his face and how much cooler it is and achieving this simply by adding a cooler colour of the same colour (Tan) or even adding tints of blue...So what we want in any painting is a balance of warm and cool colours over the entire rectangular shape of the paper or canvas...we hope you have learned something here.
 

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