Is it warm or cool?

I’m not sure if you’re like me and sometimes wonder which colors are warm and which are cool? Knowing which colors are warm and cool is one tool to create balance and a sense of fullness within a painting. In addition, warm colors appear to move forward while cooler colors recede into the background. That's why when painting a landscape we tend to use warm colors in the foreground then move to cooler colors in the background

 

We all thought we knew the basics:

• Warm hues = yellow, orange, red
• Cool hues = violet, blue, green, brown

In reality there are warm and cool colors of EACH of the hues available to us. For example, we have warm & cool yellows, warm & cool reds, warm & cool blues, etc.

 

So how can we tell which ones are cool and which ones are warm in our primary colors and our secondary colors. How do we determine the bias towards warm and cool?  There is only one way to do that. You have to paint a color swatch of each of your primary tubes of paint and let your eye be the judge. The eye will tend to the see warm colors first.

My opinion is that it is difficult to talk about absolute when talking about warm and cool colors, for example any red will look warmer when compared to any blue. You can have a warm and a cool yellow but both yellows are warmer than any blue. Greens can be called warmer than blue because greens have yellow in them.

For those of you that really want to know, here is a cheat sheet from the W&N website

 

Warm Colors:

Cadmium Yellow Pale

Turner's Yellow

New Gamboge

Cadmium Yellow

Winsor Yellow Deep

Indian Yellow

Cadmium Yellow Deep

Cadmium Orange

Winsor Orange

Winsor Orange (Red Shade)

Cadmium Scarlet

Scarlet Lake

Cadmium Red

Winsor Red

Rose Doré

Quinacridone Red

Opera Rose

Quinacridone Magenta

Permanent Magenta

Cobalt Violet

Permanent Mauve

Winsor Violet (Dioxazine) Cobalt Blue Deep

French Ultramarine

Ultramarine (Green Shade)

Winsor Blue (Red Shade)

Cerulean Blue (Red Shade)

Winsor Green (Yellow Shade)

Oxide of Chromium

Yellow Ochre Light

Yellow Ochre

Gold Ochre

Quinacridone Gold

Brown Ochre

Magnesium Brown

Burnt Sienna

Light Red

Venetian Red

Brown Madder

Potter's Pink

Perylene Maroon

Perylene Violet

Caput Mortuum Violet

Burnt Umber

Vandyke Brown

Sepia

Titanium White (Opaque White)

Cool Colors:

Lemon Yellow (Nickel Titanate)

Bismuth Yellow

Cadmium Lemon

Winsor Lemon

Lemon Yellow Deep

Transparent Yellow

Winsor Red Deep

Permanent Alizarin

Crimson

Alizarin Crimson

Permanent Carmine

Permanent Rose

Rose Madder Genuine

Indanthrene Blue

Cobalt Blue

Antwerp Blue

Prussian Blue

Winsor Blue (Green Shade)

Cerulean Blue

Phthalo Turquoise

Winsor Green (Blue Shade)

Terre Verte

Perylene Green

Permanent Sap Green

Olive Green

Terre Verte (Yellow Shade)

Green Gold

Raw Sienna

Indian Red

Raw Umber

Indigo

Payne's Gray

Neutral Tint

Ivory Black

Lamp Black

Mars Black

Davy's Gray

Chinese White 

 

 

Any thoughts on color warmth?  How much does it come into play in your paintings?

 

Danielle