Tertiary Colors

Anyone who is interested in painting and knows about the color wheel chart, will be familiar with tertiary colors (which is a combination of primary colors and secondary colors). Many painters and artists mix their own colors instead of using ready-made ones, because by doing so, they can get a hue and shade of color that they personally want. Knowledge of the color wheel helps in this regard, as it makes it easier for a person to determine how he is going to get a particular shade that he wants.

Tertiary colors are useful for many painters, and by mixing the color themselves, they can get a shade of that particular color which they want, rather than a ready-made shade. Most artists or painters that you speak to, are very likely to know all about the tertiary color scheme, as this aids them in coordinating colors.

The Color Wheel

The color wheel is simply a visual aid to let people understand the various combination of colors. This has been created for the benefit of a layman being able to tell what colors need to be mixed in order to get a certain desired color. This color spectrum of sorts is divided into 12 parts, or 12 colors, and the various color combination can be deduced from this.

Primary Colors
There are 3 primary colors - yellow, red and blue. These are placed at 3 distinct locations on the color wheel. Assume that the color wheel's circle is a clock, and then place the color yellow at the 12 o'clock position, the color red at the 4 o'clock position, and the color blue at the 8 o'clock position.

Secondary Colors
The concept of secondary colors is that when you mix two primary colors, you will get a secondary color. Thus, there are 3 secondary colors as well - orange (yellow + red), violet (red + blue), and green (blue + yellow). Again, if you assume the circle to be a clock, the color orange will be placed at the 2 o'clock position, the color violet will be placed at the 6 o'clock position, and the color green will be placed at the 10 o'clock position.

Tertiary Colors
Now when you mix a primary color and a secondary color, you will get a tertiary color. Seeing the circle in its present state you will see 6 vacant spots, between a primary color and a secondary color. You have to simply combine these colors, to get your tertiary color. This list will tell you, all that you need to know.

• Yellow-Orange (at the 1 o'clock position)
• Red-Orange (at the 3 o'clock position)
• Red-Violet (at the 5 o'clock position)
• Blue-Violet (at the 7 o'clock position)
• Blue-Green (at the 9 o'clock position)
• Yellow-Green (at the 11 o'clock position)

Learning this concept also teaches one the various facets of color harmony and color psychology, and this is certainly something that all aspiring painters will find useful. One needs to merely mix two colors in equal amounts to get a new color and with the knowledge of this color wheel chart, this task becomes very simple.

This is a concept also known as the Subtractive Theory of Color, and has been around for many centuries, helping artists and painters from all around the world. The use of tertiary colors has enabled artists to paint more vivid pictures, because they have a greater number of colors at their disposal.