Color Theory & Light Physics

Colors are actually just light bouncing off things and hitting our eyes in different ways. When you paint, you are playing with light to make people feel happy, sad, or excited. Red might feel hot like fire, while blue feels cool like a swimming pool. By mixing colors together, you can create every single thing you see in your mind. It is like being a magician who uses eye-tricks to make a flat piece of paper look like a sunny day.

Colors are just light bouncing off things. Red is not in the apple. Red is what the apple rejects. The color you see is the color the object did not want. Beauty is what gets reflected, not what gets absorbed. Think about that.

Color theory explores interaction of pigments (subtractive) and light (additive). Artists manipulate chroma, value, and hue to simulate atmospheric perspective and emotional resonance, exploiting how the eye perceives contrast. The painter does not add color. The painter controls which wavelengths of light the surface sends back to your brain.

SOUND: The clink of a glass jar as you rinse your brush: colors dissolving.

SMELL: The heavy, rich scent of linseed oil used in oil paints.

TASTE: The coolness of peppermint tea you drink while painting.

TOUCH: The slippery feeling of wet watercolor paint on your skin.

SIGHT: The bright pop when you put a yellow dot next to a purple one: complementary magic.

BODY: Feeling the drag of thick paint versus the glide of watery paint: viscosity in your wrist.

Music: Hey There Delilah by Plain White T's

Music: Highest in the Room by Travis Scott

Part of Painting & Drawing — ART — Education Revelation