Why do we not start colour studies with mixing?
The foundational series of colour exercises designed by the Colour Literacy Project focuses first on seeing and describing colours – in all of their wonderful variations. In our Eye-Opener Exercises, we see straightaway that colour is contextual, and then learn how to sort and arrange colours, while recognizing that organizing colours is best done 3-dimensionally. Our STEAM exercises focus on light by exploring the spectrum, and how we perceive colours. With our approach to colour literacy foundations, we have purposefully moved mixing coloured media away from the beginning of our colour explorations. Often studies of colour begin with mixing paints, which becomes the point of reference for how colour behaves, instead of recognizing that the behaviour of coloured paints is indicative of a specific type of process. Many misconceptions about the nature of colour arise when we only consider colour’s behaviour within the context of paints.
In our STEAM exercises, we explore colour mixing within a comparative framework. To understand mixing, we need understand that there are different types of mixing processes, and different media can be mixed using each type of process. The process, the specific media used and even the brand of media used all impact the final result. We can notice and describe these colour differences using the language and skills we developed in our Eye Opener exercises.
It is important to recognize that we do not mix colour, rather we mix coloured media. We perceive various colours, as our visual system absorbs and interprets light distributions which enter our eyes. In each type of mixing process, the media interact with light in slightly different ways. This means that the light which is sent to our eye depends both on the mixing process and on the specific medium used. Thus the perceived colour of a mixture depends both on the process and the medium. By exploring colour in a variety of media, using various processes and approaches for mixing, we broaden our scope of understanding colour and the behaviour of coloured media. Ultimately we can then use colour and coloured media in an informed way.
