Hi Adrianne,

Addyholly7@ @aol.com wrote:

> Hi Don:
> 
> I enjoy viewing your website.  I'm having a problem.  I just can't get a grasp on how to use your color wheel.
> 
> I notice a difference in your subject verses the finished painting.
> 
> The subject appear drabbed and muted and your finished painting appear bright with brilliance!
> 
> The secret seems to be the colors you are using.  But how does an artist begin?
> 
> Let say I wanted to paint park scene filled with flowers, benches and water.
> 
> How do I decide what colors to use in order to get the look of brilliance and not a look of mute and drab.
> 
> I just don't get what you're trying to convey.  I've spent hours reading about your color concept.
> 
> I hope you can explain in as simplest terms as you can for me.
> 
> I'm anxious to get started.
> 
> Adrianne

It's a concept Adrianne. Once you are able to paint a full color painting with the transparent primaries you can add secondaries and a few tertiaries.
So you start with PY153 transparent yellow, PR122 transparent magenta and PB15.3 transparent cyan.


These colors are pure and can make any color you can see.


The next colors just make it a little easier to mix any color, an opaque light yellow, a yellow oxide, a translucent bt. sienna to neutralize ult blue, an orange, a red light and a darker warm red oxide. Next a transparent diox. purple and opaque cobalt blue plus a clean Thalo green Y/s.  That's a very complete palette. There are no dirty colors like alizarin crimson or viridian or Prussian blue, if I want them dirty I can mix them dirty.

But first you have to be able to mix what you see with the correct primaries.
I made a sample card with these colors in water colors, $15. The same pigments are used in any media.
I would suggest you get the samples and try a small w/c painting.
http://www.realcolorwheel.com/orderpage.htm

Then get the whole set in the media of you're choice. The Pigment Color Index Numbers like PR122 are printed on most all tubes of paint today. I give my choice of brands in W/C, oils and acrylics on this page.
http://www.realcolorwheel.com/mypigments.htm

The Real Color Wheel will help you in this way.

Here is a 5" traveling, printable RCW to print out. Change the BMP into a TIF, use the ColorMatch Icc Profile to convert it to a CMYK and print.
On the CD which is the full color course like on the web ($35) are the 5",  8", 11" and 32" printable versions. They are available as laminated hard copies, $10, $20, $30, $200. Kinko's makes a big price jump after 11x17 gloss paper.  All colorwheels are also printed on canvas for framing.

There is a 5"x5" RCW for a high quality bmp print out,  Set your printer for 400 dpi.

http://www.realcolorwheel.com/rcwfullbmp5x5rcw400dpiWeb.bmp.zip

Here is the RCW back copy with pigments only.

http://www.realcolorwheel.com/rcwbk475350dp102004gifWeb.gif.zip

Here is a wallet sized reference card.
http://www.realcolorwheel.com/RCWcard.htm

I have a laminated 5x5 RCW CMYK printed with heat based inks with the pigment colors printed on the back for $10.
Otherwise the color pigments are on this site.
http://www.realcolorwheel.com/tubecolors.htm

The full Real Color Wheel Painting on Location course site is on CD for $35 and includes the laminated 5x5 inch Real Color Wheel matching pigments printed on the back. The CD is always current and inclusive.

This link (also in the course) is to an interactive RCW describing all the colors.
http://www.realcolorwheel.com/tubecolors.htm

Link to opposition (compliment) colors.
http://www.realcolorwheel.com/complementsneutral.htm

Here is a link to my site tree and full online color course free.
http://www.realcolorwheel.com/sitetree.htm

It's really nice to know what colors neutralize any other color you see. Shade any color naturally with out adding black pigment. I know it sounds to good to be true, but it is.

Here's page that has the pigments with the RCW numbers to match each color section.
http://www.realcolorwheel.com/mypigments.htm

This is how and why the RCW color wheel works.

In omnipresent lighting, shade lighting or in bright sunlight, daylight will give these results.

Take the red tomato and it's shade/shadow color.
The shade color of an object is always the opposite of the most saturated local color. The shadow color of a red tomato is cyan, red and cyan mix a neutral dark, that's the basis of the tomato's shadow.

Other colors may influence it by their approximation or reflection but that will not change the basic shadow color.

This holds true for every color object there is.

Red and green, yellow and purple, blue and orange are opposite only on the INCORRECT Red-Yellow-Blue color theory you were taught. They do not mix neutral darks.

This color wheel is based on the similarities between elements, crystals, chemicals and pigments. Crushed crystals are pigments, elements represent colors and chemical colors have the same color paths as both.

The yellow crystal becomes dark brown. Do you have any pigment colors that are duel-tone in this fashion? Nickel complex is a chemical name for one of these colors, Indian yellow. It makes the primary painting triad to dark. Just know that brown (dark yellow) and ultramarine blue (yellow's opposite) are complements that represent the yellow and blue opposition. Primary cyan gets darker by adding it's opposite red, green is opposite magenta.

The sun in the morning, when it is the brightest yellow, has blue shadows, when it's red at evening it has dark cyan shadows. Both are complementary sets of colors.

This page is about chemical colors and their color paths.

http://www.realcolorwheel.com/RCWDS.htm

For the crystals and elements of color, go here.
http://www.realcolorwheel.com/crystal.htm

I hope all this helps,
Aloha,
Don Jusko