1. Color Studies
What Is Color?

2. What Is Color? Color defines our world and our emotions
Color can also be described by two very different methods or points of view - objectively and physiology

3. Physical Factors Hues The name of a color: red, yellow, blue
Value of Hues
Their lightness and darkness in relationship to their surroundings

4. Physiology
Color is a sensation of light that is transmitted to the brain through the eye
Light consists of waves of energy, which travel at different wavelengths
The tiny differences in wavelengths give us a multitude of colors

5. Light Passes Into The Eye
It comes in contact with the covering near the back of the eye known as the retina
Rods
Allow the brain to see dimly lit forms
Do not distinguish hues, only black and white
Cones
Recognize red (long), blue-violet (short) and green (middle) and relay these color messages

6. The color messages are transmitted to cones of the fovea
Fovea is an area at the center of the retina whose cones transmit to the brain
The brain then assimilates the red, blue-violet, and green impulses and mixes them into a single message that Informs us of the color being viewed.

7. Sir Isaac Newton
A pioneer in studying light under laboratory conditions to provide a logical framework for understanding color.
His early research into color phenomena resulted in his discovery that sunlight is composed of all the colors of the spectrum.

8. The Visible Spectrum
Using a ray of light directed through a prism, Newton observed that the ray of light was bent, or refracted, and the result was an array of projected colors, each with a different range of wavelengths
The colors are Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet.

9. Pigments
When light strikes a surface, certain wavelengths are absorbed and others are reflected by its pigments, or coloring matter.
This process gives the surface color.
For example we see red when only red wavlengths of reflected off of the surface of an object, such as a red apple.

10. Factors In Perception
Some of the factors that affect our perception are:
Media and Techniques
Eye and Brain
Psychology and Culture

11. Media and Techniques
Our perception of color in works of art is strongly affected by the type of medium used
Painting alone offers a variety of different types of media:
Oil
Acrylics
Water

12. The support employed also plays a big role in our perception:
Canvas
Board
Paper
Even brands of paint can provide differences
Textures can offer a unique variety of color variations

13. Eye and Brain Memory also exerts an influence
Most of what we see is based on the memory of a color
In addition certain colors are perceived more easily than others
Yellows and greens are seen before other hues
Red and violet are the most difficult to perceive

14. Psychology and Culture
Memory, experience, intelligence and cultural background all affect the way a color’s impact can vary from individual to individual
This is to say that the perception will mean different things to different people
For example: In most Western Cultures black is related to death but in China and India white is the symbol of death

15. Local, Optical, and Arbitrary Color
The quality of light further determines the quality of any color that we see
Artists, architects, designers, and photographers use color in three ways to impose these sensations
Local or Objective Color
Optical Color
Arbitrary Color

16. Local Color The most natural color
Reproduces the effect of colors as seen in white daylight
Blue Sky
Red Barn
Green Grass
When the artist has a highly realistic style, the composition is rendered in exact colors and values

17. Optical Color
Reproduces hues as seen in lighting conditions other than white daylight
In the rain or thunder
At sunset
In indoor lighting
Composition is rendered in a somewhat naturalistic way

18. Arbitrary Color
Allows the artist to impose his or her feelings and interpretation of color onto the images
Natural color is abandoned for the artist’s choice
It is most often seen in 20th century art, especially among the Expressionists

19. Concepts to Remember Color is usually seen before imagery
The physiology of the eye and the brain’s reaction enable us to perceive light as different colors
The color imparted by an object is produced by a mixture of wavelengths reflected from its surface

20. Our perception of the color of an object is dependent upon several factors, such as illumination, media, techniques, quantity, relationship to other colors present, memory and culture
Most color usage employs one of three aspects of color - local, optical, or arbitrary

21. Classwork
Observe at least 3 objects under at least 3 different lighting conditions
If you can, take some color photographs
How do the different conditions affect its color?
You must write one to two paragraphs for each object explaining the different lighting conditions and how the color of the object changed under the different lighting conditions.