The Color Wheel

Meet Joe. Joe wants to be an artist, but first Joe must learn about the color wheel. Let’s start with the wheel. How many pieces do you see? Correct, there are six pieces in the wheel. Now, let’s add some color. We will start with three different colors. We have red, yellow, and blue. These are called primary colors. Joe is going to paint three pieces on the wheel. Mm, not quite Joe, you want to leave a white space between the colors. That’s right! Now how do we get the other colors without buying more paint? You got it! We mix two primary colors together. These new colors are called secondary colors. First, we mix red and yellow to make orange. Orange will in between read and yellow on the color wheel. Next, mix yellow and blue to make green. Green will go in between yellow and blue. Finally, mix blue and red to make purple. Purple will go in the last spot between blue and red. Congratulations! You just made a color wheel, but how can you use it? Each primary color has a secondary color that compliments it. They are across from each other on the color wheel. Red goes with green. Yellow goes with purple. And blue goes with orange. Colors also have temperature, meaning they can be warm or cool. The colors in the upper half of the color wheel, red, orange, and yellow are warm colors. They are used for things like fire and the sun. The colors in the lower half, green, blue, and purple are cool colors. They are used for things like trees and water. Warm and cool colors can also show feelings. Like warm for happy and cool for sad. So, Joe, do you feel ready to be come an artist now, thanks to the color wheel? Hurray!