All light sources have an inherent color.

Photos (darn them) tend to throw things off- we see things covered in “white light” yet, did you ever create a painting say, of a sunset, and when you added white for the brightest part of the sky it just looked “off” or even did not seem very lit? Why do some paintings glow with light and some just seem chalky?

Guess what? White paint is a cool color.

So if you are painting something warm and glow-y or sunset-ish, white paint will not help ya.

All light has a temperature. And ALL colors lean toward either blue or yellow. Now if you know which sticks/mixtures lean toward blue, and which toward the yellow, this is very helpful in building up temperatures. But light can be more than yellow-based or blue-based. Sometimes the light is inherently green or orange or even purple.

There are 4 kinds of light- Indoor cool, Indoor warm, Outdoor cool and Outdoor warm. That’s it. Indoor light depends on the bulbs. How they are made, and what kind of light they are putting off? Fluorescent lights have a very cold, almost greenish feeling to them, while standard bulbs (not the twisty kind) are yellowish and decidedly warm. Outdoor light depends on the sun and the time of day and how light is being filtered from the sky.

What happens when a green floodlight is spotlighted down on a red object? What color is the highlight? (Law of Light students know…)

Just realize that light will affect the color of any object. Color is complex and yet oh so fun.

If you want to learn more, my Color Workshop is on June 25th from 10-4pm. I’ll have ya all twisted up thinking about color and how to paint it. I would love to have you join in.