The immediate next question is: then what are the “correct” primary and secondary colors? What does the “correct” color wheel look like? With those questions, I continued my research. Now we have confirmed that the conventional color theory is not right, but it is not the end of the research. If you do the experiments yourself, you will know that I am telling the truth. If we stretch, we might see they are almost complementary. From this experiment, we have concluded that 2 of 3 of the conventional given primary/secondary color pairs are NOT complementary. In order to show the results more vividly, I put the true neutral grey next to the mixed colors. 3) Blue/orange mixing is really close to a neutral grey. 2) Yellow/purple mixing gives a dirty red color, and it does not give neutral grey either. 2 Complementary color mixing experimental resultsįrom the results we can see: 1) Red/green mixing gives a dirty yellow color, and it does not give us neutral grey. The results of the above color mixings are shown as Fig. I have added a little white to make the mixed color easy to see. The first test I conducted was the complementary relationship.įrom what I have learned, I mix (1) red (cadmium red medium) and green (permanent green), (2) orange (cadmium orange deep) and blue (cobalt blue), (3) yellow (cadmium yellow light) and purple (manganese violet). I started to examine my understanding of color, and tested the correctness of theory with experiments. My rational mind felt uncomfortable when I saw how artists dealt with color so ambiguously. Before I turned into a full-time artist, I worked as an engineer for many years.

However, this kind of color practice bothered me. All of those theories, I have learned, do not have much of a practical use, and color became a highly experience-based empirical practice. Many teachers give a formula to mix certain colors, and many artists have a special palette and use specific brands of paint to get the color effects they want. It is not as simple as the three primaries, and mixing a correct color was a difficult thing. After I started, I realized that color was not easy. So, I used this color model in my painting practice. Since everybody talked about the same thing, it must be correct. Even now, if you ask an artist to teach you about color, you probably hear the same thing. I never doubted the correctness of this color theory because all the teachings are the same. I also learned that if we mix two complementary colors together equally, we will get a neutral grey. So red and green, yellow and purple, blue and orange are three pairs of complementary colors. They are the two colors on the opposite sides of the color wheel.

From the color wheel, I have learned the complementary colors.

Color wheel worksheet 3 primary color