![]() ![]() : a color produced by mixing two secondary colors We’ve all heard that we can’t assume everything we read on the internet is true, and this Merriam-Webster definition is a perfect example. Somewhere along the line, people started referring to intermediate colors as tertiary colors, leaving the true tertiary colors out of the conversation completely! Combine this with how quickly information (true or false) spreads on the internet, and it becomes hard to know what to believe anymore! Makes sense so far, right? Well, herein lies the great debate…. Knowing how to tone down a color (or how not to, if that’s not what you’re trying to do!) is an important skill for any painter. Why is it important for our students to know this? Because mixing the three primaries (or mixing any color with its complement – the color directly across from it on the color wheel, thus mixing all three primaries) will result in a neutral (grayish or brownish) version of the dominant color. Since the term “tertiary” relates to having three parts, that makes sense to me. So, you could say that in its simplest form, a tertiary color contains some combination of all three primary colors. In other words, each tertiary contains two portions of one color, and one portion each of two other colors.” A tertiary obtained from violet and orange contains blue and red, mixed with red and yellow. A mixture of orange and green consists of red and yellow, and yellow and blue. “Any two secondary colors mixed together form a tertiary color.” He further explains, “Consider that when you mix violet and green, you actually mix red and blue with blue and yellow. Here’s how Ralph Fabri defines tertiary colors: ![]() a color, as brown, produced by mixing two secondary colors. This is the same definition we find on (based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. “A tertiary is made by mixing two secondaries.” It’s easy to see how an understanding of intermediate colors would be helpful when mixing colors or when talking about color. Intermediate colors are always named with the primary color first and the secondary color second. “Depending on how much of each primary is in these mixtures, the result can be a yellow-orange or a red-orange, a yellow-green or a blue-green, a blue-violet or a red-violet.” Ralph Fabri, author of COLOR: A Complete Guide for Artists, expands on this idea, saying, The same result can be achieved by mixing a primary with a related secondary (a secondary next to it on the color wheel).” “An intermediate color is made by mixing uneven amounts of two primary colors. In her classic book, Art Is Fundamental, Eileen S. Two additional color mixtures our students need to know are intermediate colors and tertiary colors. The rest should be just as straightforward, but sadly it’s not. Then the secondary colors, orange, green, and violet, are made by mixing two primary colors together (red + yellow = orange yellow + blue = green blue + red = violet). The artist has three primary colors – red, yellow, and blue the colors which cannot be mixed from other colors. To make sense of the whole tertiary color conundrum, you just need a basic understanding of the color wheel… So, what is a tertiary color and why should we care? did Lenin really say that, or has it just been credited to him so often it’s assumed to be true?) This may be exactly what’s going on with The Great Tertiary Color Debate! Vladimir Lenin once said, “A lie told often enough becomes the truth.” (Hmmmm…. that great supplier of information at your fingertips, making it fast and easy to find answers and share them with the world! But what if those answers being shared are incorrect?
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