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Light and Colour Terms used to describe light and colour Acknowledgements to the original sources for many definitions can be established by checking the number at the end of each definition (1,2,3etc) against the list at the bottom of this section.Achromatic Having no colour or hue i.e. consisting of blacks, whites, and greys. (4) Additive Colour The colour that results from the mixture of two or more coloured lights. (3) Analogous Colours Colours that are closely related, or near each other on the colour spectrum or wheel, especially those colours that share common hues. (2) Aquamarine A pale blue to greenish blue colour (1) Binary colours Colours made by mixing two hues. Examples are orange, green, and purple. (1) Brightness The degree or intensity of lightness in a colour (1) Brilliance Brilliance is the combination of high lightness and strong saturation of hue. Prepared by mixing a large amount of hue pigment with a small amount of white. (1) Brown The combination of all three primary colours but dominated by red. Variations of brown are:- Madder; Ochre; Burnt Sienna; Burnt Umber; Mars, Raw Sienna; Raw Umber; Rowney Transparent; Sepia and Vandyke (2) Cerulean blue A particular blue pigment (1) Chroma A term for the saturation of hue but not the darkness or lightness of colour. (2) Chroma key Indication of the level of intensity and saturation of a hue. A high chroma key is bright and pure. A low chroma key is dull and murky. (1) Chromatic pigments Pigments that are neither black, white, nor grey (1) Chrome yellow A yellow pigment (1) Citrine A yellow colour (2) Coherence Coherence is a quality of being ordered or integrated. Cold Colour A colour within the range from blue to green which, when contrasted with other colours, appears to indicate distance and therefore depth. (2) Colour Aspect of any object described in terms of hue, brightness, and saturation. (8) Colour Wheel A circular grid that represents the colours of the spectrum. The grid shows the relationships colours have with each other (complimentary, opposite, etc.) (1) Complementary colours Colours that are directly opposite each other on the colour wheel, such as red and green, blue and orange, and violet and yellow. When complements are mixed together, they form the neutral colours of brown or grey. (1) Composite colour A colour formed by mixing two or more hues or tints. (2) Cool colours Colours whose “visual temperatures” make them seem cool relative to adjacent colours. Cool colours generally include green, blue-green, blue, blue-violet, and violet. (4) Cyan Blue-green colour (1) Dark A shade; a colour having low lightness and low saturation, and reflecting only a small fraction of incident light. (1) Dead Colour A term for colours used in underpainting. (3) Deep colours A colour, which has low lightness and strong saturation. (1) Earth Colours Pigments that exist naturally in the earth in form of clays, rocks or earths, for example the ochres and umbers, browns and yellows. (2) Fluorescent colours Colours that are especially bright and have the unique effect of "glowing" under ultraviolet or black light. (1) Fugitive Colours Pigment or dye colours that fade when exposed to light. (3) Grey scale The range of steps between black and white that can be separately identified within an image. (1) Halftone The transition colour that a painter uses to move from light to dark. (12) Hue That property of a colour identifying a specific, named wavelength of light. (4) Intensity The relative purity or saturation of a hue (colour), on a scale from bright (pure) to dull (mixed with another hue or a neutral (4) Intermediate colour A hue between a primary and a secondary colour on the colour wheel. (4) Intermediate colours Colours that have been produced by mixing unequal amounts of two primary colours. For example, adding more red to the combination of red and yellow will produce the intermediate colour of red-orange. Intermediate colours are located between the primary and secondary colours on a colour wheel. Also known as tertiary colour, (1) Lightfast Resistant to fading or other changes due to light. (3) Lightness The dimension of a colour correlated with luminance. Pure white has the maximum brightness, and pure black the minimum brightness. (1) Local Colour The actual colour of an object or surface, unaffected by shadow colouring, light quality or other factors. (3) Luminosity A quality, or sense of illusion, of a glowing of light coming from within a painting. (2) Magenta A colour also known as fuchsia and hot pink; a moderate to vivid purplish red or pink, named after the town of Magenta, in northwest Italy. (1) Mauve Colour that is between pale bluish to deep purple. Derived from what the French mauveine. (1) Monochromatic A colour scheme limited to variations of one hue, its tints and/or shades. (4) Neutrals Colours not associated with any single hue i.e. Blacks, whites, greys, and dull grey-browns. A neutral can be made by mixing complementary hues. (4) Opaque Impenetrable by light; neither transparent nor translucent. (4) Optical colour mixture Apparent rather than actual colour mixture, produced by interspersing brush strokes or dots of colour instead of physically mixing them. The implied mixing occurs in the eye of the viewer and produces a lively colour sensation. (4) Pale colours Colours having high lightness and low saturation. When prepared by mixing pigments, a large amount of white is mixed with a small amount of a hue. (1) Pearlescent A kind of light that seen in the sun's glow at dawn, giving a pearl-like quality. (1) Polychromatic Having many colours. (4) Primary colours Those hues that cannot be produced by mixing other hues. Pigment primaries are red, yellow, and blue; light primaries are red, green, and blue. Theoretically, pigment primaries can be mixed together to form all the other hues in the spectrum. (4) Puce Brownish purple. (1) Purple A mixture of red and violet hues. It is the only colour on a conventional twelve-colour colour wheel that is not natural to the visible spectrum (as the spectrum consists in differences in wavelength, purple is a created colour that bridges the wavelength gap between the upper and lower ends of the spectrum). (1) Refraction The bending of light from one course in one medium to a different course through another medium of different refractive index. (3) Refractive Index The relationship of the speed of light through a vacuum and the speed through another substance. (3) Saturation A colour's purity or intensity of hue. A pure hue has the highest saturation. (1) Secondary colours Pigment secondaries are the hues produced in slightly dulled form by mixing two primaries. (4) Sepia Dark reddish brown. Usually refers to pigments of inks used in drawing, printmaking, and photography. (1) Shade A hue with black added. (4) Sienna Yellowish brown. (1) Sinopia Reddish-brown (1) Subtractive Colour Colour resulting from the absorption of light rather than the emission of light. (3) Tint Term for a hue lightened with white. In addition, in a mixture of colours, the tint is the dominant colour. (3) Ultramarine Blue pigment originally made from ground lapis lazuli. (1) Value The lightness or darkness of tones or colours. White is the lightest value; black is the darkest. The value halfway between these extremes is called middle grey. (4) Vermilion A red pigment. (1) Viridian A green pigment. (1) Warm colours Colours whose relative visual temperature makes them seem warm. Warm colours or hues include red-violet, red, red-orange, orange, yellow-orange, and yellow. (4) Xanthic Relating or tending toward a yellow colour. "Xanthic" has its roots in the Greek word "xanthos" which means "yellow." (1) Acknowledgements The following sources helped produce the definitions shown above (1) http://www.artlex.com (2) http://www.Askart.com (3) http://www.Rexart.com (4) http://www.Ackland.com (5) http://www.MindConnect.com (6) Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques" (7) American Artist magazine, 12/2002 (8) Britannica (9) Donald Martin Reynolds, "Masters of American Sculpture", p. 13 (10) Daniel C Boyer, Artist (11) Marika Hershkovic,(Ed), "American Abstract Expressionism" (234) (12) Lydia A Miniter, Oradell New Jersey (American Artist, 6/2002 (13) Cynthia McBride, McBride Gallery in Annapolis, MD (14) Kimberley Reynolds, "Illustrated Dictionary of Art Terms" (15) "A Studio of Her Own" by Erica Hirshler (16) Gordon McClelland and Jay Last, "The California Style" (17) Christies (18) Neal Auction Company (19) "Eva Hesse: Post-Minimalism into Sublime." (20) Cynthia McBride
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