The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California
Coloring Finishing And Painting Wood
55. Secondary Colors.—Red. yellow, and blue pigments when mixed together in pairs produce new hues called secondary colors. Bed and yellow make orange; yellow and blue produce green; and red and blue give violet. The above refers to mixing of pigments or dyes, and not to combining colored lights. Sargent tells us that blue and yellow lights blended together produce white; and that disks of the same colors when rotated produce gray; while pigments of a similar blue and yellow when mixed as stains or paints produce green.
The artist and mixer of paint or stain should keep these facts in mind and not be confused by the many color theories of the scientist who works with lights rather than with pigments. The artist or wood-finisher who mixes pigments or dyes in making other colors considers red, yellow, and blue to be the primary colors; and orange, green, and violet are regarded as the secondary colors. Some writers and colorists use the term purple in place of violet; and, generally, the colors purple and violet are considered to be the same or nearly the same.
56. Tertiary Colors.—By mixing the secondary colors, orange, green, and violet, in pairs we have a new series of hues known as olive, citrine, and russet, which are called tertiary colors. Orange and green mixed in the right proportion produce citrine; green and violet make olive; and orange and violet combine into russet. In mixing colors for citrine, which is also called citron, four parts of orange and one part of green are required. Olive is made from four parts of green to one part of violet. Russet is obtained by taking four parts of orange and one part of violet.
57. Quaternary Colors.—The quaternary colors are obtained by mixing together the tertiary colors in pairs.3 By combining pigments of citrine and russet we have buff; russet and olive produce plum; and citrine and olive make sage.
58. Complex Mixed Colors.—Many other colors can be produced by mixing primary, secondary, and tertiary colors together in various proportions. The color which results from any mixture depends upon the chroma or brilliancy of the primary colors used as the original pigments, and also upon whether black or white has been added. The strength of the color can sometimes be changed by dilution with various liquids, as by adding water to water-colors or turpentine to oil-stains.
59. Neutral Colors.—Black and white, while not colors in the ordinary sense, are known as neutral colors. They can be used for contrasting effects with any of the other colors and make a color harmony.
