What do colors represent to us and how do they work?

Something new, 50 x 70 cm,
 Acrylic/mixed on canvas,
KBOTHA 2013

By Janna Tirronen, Interior Designer

What are colors and how do they actually manifest? Sunlight - the white light - is the mother of all the light and color in our world. It lights all the matter in the world, each tiny cripple and hole where it possible can have access to. The white light consists of the spectrum of all the rainbow colors and is just reflected differently depending on the surface and abilities of the object it hits.  Color manifests from items, according to it's absorbing abilities. For example what we see as color green is actually created when white light hits a surface of an object and the only color this item can not absorbe from the color spectrum is - green! 

We all like colors, some we like especially much and some not really. What colors do we know, and what do colors represent?

Primary colors: red, blue, yellow
Secondary colors: (combination of two primary colors) orange, violet, green
Complementary colors: are also called "clashing colors" as they are situated exactly opposite of eachother on the color-wheel. For example green is on the opposite side of red. Yellow on the other side of purple and blue on the other side of orange. (In the fine Arts complementary contrasts are the most important so called quality-contrasts, because a complementary contrast is able to satisfy the eye of the recipient immediatly. The secret of a good artist is to choose the color a bit next to the complementary color, for example: deep orange with lilacs instead of yellow, light blue with orange instead of indigo with orange - just have a look at the color-wheel to proof it :-) Anmerkung KBOTHA) 
Harmonizing colors: appear next to eachother in the color-wheel. Harmonizing colors work well together but if too close they can appear washed out or not having enough contrast. A harmonizing trio would be something like: blue, light blue and cyan or maybe red, orange and yellow.
Color-triangle: Imagine to draw a color triangle on the color-wheel, all the three colors of the triangle will match together - perfectly. For example; red, blue and yellow and green, purple and orange. This you can apply when searching matching colors, for example, for your clothing or interior. All the colors match with basic white, black or gray. (Light-dark-contrast = gives a dramatic effect, Anm. KB) How do colors effect on us?
Green: inspiring color
Blue: soothing color
Light Pink and Rose: relaxing and calming colors
Red, Yellow and Orange: are agitating colors, colors of activity and they also trigger hunger. For this reason you can find many restaurants painted in red.What is your favorite color?

(Text: Janna Tirronen, siehe -->> my-insidestory.com)

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