COLOUR

 It is a characteristic of human visual perception that occurs when cone cells in the human eye are stimulated by light. 

Each colour is transmitted with a different wavelength.

Cones in our eyes respond to one of three ranges of wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum. 

Depending of the nature of colour, we can distinguish between coloured lights and colour pigments.

COLOUR PIGMENTS

All  paint colours are made from a pigment and a binder (agglutinant).

A pigment is a coloured powder. It absorbs and reflects different wavelenghts of light, depending on the colour.

Pigments come from minerals, animals, plants, and nowadays they can be synthesized in a laboratory.

A binder is a substance that makes the colour particles stick together. Depending on the type of binder used, different types of paints can be created: watercolours, crayons, gouache, pastels, oil paints, acrylics…

PRIMARY COLOURS

Magenta, cyan and yellow. They are colours that cannot be created by mixing any other colours.

SECONDARY COLOURS

They are created by mixing two primary colours.

• magenta + cyan = BLUE
• magenta + yellow = RED
• cyan + yellow = GREEN

COMPLEMENTARY COLOURS

They are pairs of colours that are on opposite sides of the color wheel.

• MAGENTA - GREEN
• CYAN - RED
• YELLOW - BLUE