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COLOR

COLOR, according to the Oxfords Advanced Learners’ Dictionary, is a visible quality that objects have, produced by the way they reflect light.

According to the Chambers dictionary, Colour is a visible quality objects have which can be seen, only when light falls on them

ALL THINGS HAVE COLOUR.

Colour appeals to our sensation of sight.

For example,

The sun’s yellow-

The grass is green-

The sky is blue-

The sand is brown-

The traffic lights are red, amber, green-

There are so many other things with beautiful colours.

The peacock-

Flowers-

The rainbow-

WITHOUT IT?

Colour is one of the most vital things in the world. Imagine no object in the world had colour. That the flowers weren’t coloured and our clothes were all colourless. Wouldn’t it be very dull? Imagine the traffic lights weren’t coloured. How would you know which one meant go and which meant stop? What if all the flags of all the different countries weren’t coloured. Would you be able to differentiate them?

Colour helps to make the world interesting and fun. The world would be dull with just lines and form and no colour.

Also, colour helps us to remember things easily. When you try to remember something, your brain paints a mental picture of it and then you remember. Don’t forget that colour is a vital aspect of a picture.

THE FACTS?

Isaac Newton , a famous English scientist invented colour (1642-1727)

Colour is made from organic or inorganic materials.

Colour, is as old as man. In ancient times, cavemen used red and yellow ochre to paint pictures of animals they hunted and captured such as mammoths, deer, bison. Twigs and reeds are improvised for paintbrushes.

HOW TO MAKE IT?

As mentioned earlier, colour can be made from organic or inorganic constituents. Below is an experiment to show how to make colour.

Materials needed- Tree bark/ flowers/ leaves, alcohol, beakers, paintbrushes and paper

Method-

Collect a reasonable quantity of flowers, leaves or tree bark, depending on the colour desired.

Blend any of these items in a blender and put the pulp in a beaker

Add water and alcohol to the pulp and boil for a few minutes.

Filter out the liquid

Note- Tree barks produce brown, red flowers produce red and green leaves produce green.

Learn to make a canvas painting of your own-

YOU WILL BE NEEDING THE FOLLOWING- Emulsion paint, scumble glaze, primed artist' canvas ( from art shops), paintbrush, kitchen towels.

METHOD-

1. Dilute your chosen emulsion paint with scumble glaze, in equal quantities. Randomly wash colour over canvas with paintbrush.

2. Blend colours with kitchen towel to remove brushmarks.

HOW WE SEE IT?

A single ray of white light is made up of 7 different light they are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.

Hence white light has many wavelengths and frequencies. Light of a single frequency is called MONOCHROMATIC LIGHT. Red light has the highest frequency while violet has the lowest. Since frequency varies inversely as wavelength

F = 1/x where f= frequency and x= wavelength

Red light has the lowest wavelength and violet the highest.

The ordered array of light colours according to wavelength is called SPECTRUM OF LIGHT. White light can be separated into 7 parts. This can be done using DISPERSION OF LIGHT. This occurs when white light is made to pass through a triangular glass prism.

Different objects possess different colours because the eye is able to see and distinguish coloured objects. This happens when white light falls on the object. The object absorbs all the other shades of colour and reflects only its own colour so the eye can see it. A yellow pencil will reflect yellow and absorb all other colours. A white eraser will reflect all colours and a black dress will absorb all the colours and reflect none.

MIXING COLOURED LIGHTS

When two or more coloured lights are made to meet at a point, they mix together to form another coloured light. Coloured lights can be divided into three categories for the purpose of mixing. They are

PRIMARY LIGHT

These are coloured lights that cannot be obtained by mixing any other coloured lights. They are

Red light, Blue light and Green light. When all three of them mix, white light is obtained.

SECONDARY COLOURS

They are formed when two primary colours are mixed. . For instance,

Red light + Green light = Yellow light

Red light + Blue light = Magenta light

Green light + blue light = Cyan light

This Venn diagram can illustrate them

	CYAN LIGHT.
	YELLOW LIGHT.
	WHITE LIGHT.
	MAGENTA LIGHT.

COMPLIMENTARY COLOURS

These are two light colours which when added produce white light. Examples;

Red light + Cyan light = White light

Green light + Magenta light = White light

Blue light + Yellow light = White light

EXPLORING THE WORLD OF COLOUR

Do you like adventures? Do you like surprises? Would you like to travel into the world of discovery? Then try colour!

You don’t need a spaceship, of a speedboat. All you need is paint, paintbrushes, paper, and a strong sense of creativity. Get ready for blast of. Three, two, one, BLAST OFF!

And off you go into an exciting world of colour, form and design. Have fun!

COLOUR MIX

Colour, in form of paint, is quite different from colour in form of light. Adventure with paint is far more interesting, though. You can go on an interesting tour with paint.

You can mix two colours together and paint with it to get a new colour.

You can put a stroke of colour on paper and while wet, you can paint another coat of a different colour.

You can also put a stroke of colour on paper and when in dries, you paint on a different colour.

All these will give you a new and different design.

Colour can be classified into three;

PRIMARY COLOURS

They can be mixed to form other colours but cannot be formed by mixing other colours. They are:

Red, blue and yellow.

SECONDARY COLOURS

Mixing two primary colours forms them.

Red + Blue = Purple

Red + Yellow = Orange

Yellow + Blue = Green

Try this out and see how cool it'd be.

TERTIARY COLOURS

Mixing two secondary colours forms them.

USES OF COLOUR.

Colour brings out beauty.

Ever been to a salon before? if you have then you would see how colour brings out the beauty in women. women paint their nails to beautify them, the also use lots of colourful make up which helps to bring out their beauty. Ever wondered how the roses would look without their beautiful colour. Ever heard this saying "Black is Beauty" come over to Africa and explore beauty at its peak.

Colour signifies uniformity.

Footballers are able to locate their teammates because they have an outfit with specific colours which everyone on the team identifies with. Also, in most weddings, the bridal train wears some kind of uniform, that is, dresses made of the same colour. This helps them to be identified.

Also, there are school uniforms for students to be identified with. Your school uniform tells whether you are from that reputable school, so identify yourself with one today.

This is the asebi usually worn in Nigeria by the Yorubas.

This is Manchester United Fc.

This is a bridal train for a wedding, this are the brides maids.

Colours brightens up your day and place.

Sometimes when you feel sad and you don't know what to do, when your little sister draws a painting with colour in it, or you spot a nice painting or dress with nice colours, you seem to smile and forget your worries.

When its your birthday you want the most colourful place you can dream of, nicely coloured balloons and wallpaper, glitters all around. This is because you know it will brighten up the place. You even prefer a nicely coloured cake. Colour generally puts a smile on your face.

Colour is generally for identity.

How would you know that this women is wedding? It is because you see her in a white wedding gown.

PAINTING

One of the major things you can do with colour is painting. Painting is an aspect of visual arts in which colour is applied to a chosen two-dimensional surface to create a concrete or abstract design.

Colour could be in form of liquid (poster colour and watercolour) or in form of solid (crayons or coloured chalks). Here are some types of paintings including ancient and recent ones.

Colour - field painting

This is a style of American abstract painting that first developed in the late 1940's when it was characterized by large fields of intense colour. It is considered one of the two branches of the American painting movement called abstract expressionism. The other branch, known as action painting, places much greater emphasis on the spontaneous gestures of artists at work.

Its earliest innovators were painters like Clyfford Still, Mark Rothko, and Barnett Newman.

Mural painting-

This is a painting applied to and integral with the surface of a wall or ceiling. the term may properly include painting on fired tiles but ordinarily does not refer to mosaic decoration unless the mosaic forms part of the overall scheme of painting. The use of colour, design and thematic treatment can alter spatial proportion of the building.

Oil painting-

This is a type of painting done by painting in oil colours, it is a medium consisting of pigments suspended in drying oils. The outstanding facility with which fusion of tones or colour is achieved makes it unique among fluid painting mediums; at the same time, satisfactory linear treatment and crisp effects are easily obtained. Opaque, transparent, and translucent paintings all lie within its range, and it is unsurpassed for textural variation. To protect oil paintings from atmospheric attacks, minor abrasions and an injurious accumulation of dirt, a coat of picture varnish is usually given to the painting.

Fresco painting-

This is a method of painting on freshly applied, wet lime- plaster walls with colours made by grinding artists' dry - powder pigments in pure water. The colours dry and set with the plaster to become a permanent part of the wall. It is the most durable technique of painting.

Fresco painting is ideal for making murals because it lends itself to a monumental style, is durable, and has a mat surface.

Tempera painting-

A tempera medium is dry pigment tempered with an emulsion and thinned with water. It is a very ancient medium, having been in constant use in most world cultures, until in Europe it was gradually superseded, during the Renaissance, by the oil paints.

True tempera is made by mixture with the yolk of fresh eggs, although manuscript illuminators often used egg white and some easel painters added the whole egg. Individual painters experimented other recipes; but few of these have not been successful, as some seem to darken and decay, it was thought that they might have used carpenter's glue.

Some famous painters are:

Leonardo da Vinci- (born 1452, died May 2, 1519).

He was an Italian painter, draftsman, sculptor, architect and engineer. He was an apprentice to sculptor Andrea del Verrocchio with training in Florence until 1481.

Works- Last Supper (1495 - 97) and Mona Lisa (1503 - 06), which are among the most popular and influential paintings of the renaissance.

	Vincent Van Gogh.(Netherland) (born March 30,1853, Zundert, Netherland, died July 29, 1890, Auvers-sur-oise, near Paris)

	He was generally considered the greatest Dutch painter after Rembrandt, he powerfully influenced the current of expressionism in modern art. His works all of which produced during a ten year period, hauntingly conveys through its striking colour, coarse brush work, and contoured forms the anguish of a mental illness that eventually resulted in suicide. He suffered lots of set backs such as repeated apprenticeship, failures and change of direction he worked under Goupil in London, he soon formed a taste for Rembrandt. He was able to pull through in the midst o f a lot of set backs.
	Works- The starry night (1889), Self portrait with pipe and bandaged ear (1889) at a stage in life he realised his true vocation which was to bring consolation to humanity through art, and this realisation restored his self confidence.

Michelangelo (Italian). (born March 6, 1475, Caprese, Republic of Florence, Italy, died February 18, 1564, Rome).

He was an Italian renaissance sculptor, painter, architect and poet, who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of western art. He learnt the technique of fresco painting and panel painting. He was an apprentice to painter Domenico Ghirlandajo.

Works- Pieta (1496 - 1501) and gigantic marble David (1501 - 1504).

Raphael (Italian). (born April 6, 1483, in Urbino Italy, died April 6, 1520, Rome, Italy).

One of Raphael painting.

His full name is Raffaello Sanzio. He was a master painter and architect of the Italian high renaissance. He was best known for Madonnas and large figure compositions in the Vatican Rome. He was the son of Giovanni Santi and Magia di Battista Ciarla. He was an apprentice in Perugia before he moved to Florence, where he studied works of Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo. He did lots of fresco painting.

Yusuf Grillo. ( born in Lagos, Nigeria in 1934).

He started by making toys from bamboo sticks, with no formal training before he passed the school certificate exam in art. He studied formally at Nigerian college of art , science and technology, Zaria in 1962. His works were similar to those of Picasso. He had a special inclination to blue, making his works show harmony and balance.

Works- The evangelist, Road worker. Some of them can be found at University of Ibadan and Murtala Mohammed Airport.

Dr. Ladi Kwali. (born in Niger state in 1924, died in August 1984).

Ladi had no formal training but was a great potter, she later trained under Micheal Cardew at a training centre in Nigeria, which is now called Abuja pottery centre. She got a honourary doctorate degree from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. She gained the office of the order of the Niger in 1947. In 1981, the Abuja centre was named after her so also was a hall in Sheraton hotel, Abuja.

Prof. I.S. Wangboje. ( born in Onwa local government area of Edo state, Nigeria in 1930.

She attended Edo college, Nigerian college of art, science and technology, Zaria. She also gained a diploma in Fine art (1959). She was a specialist in painting and fraphic designs. She was a lecturer in Yaba college of technology and Ahmadu Bello University, both in Nigeria.

Works- Desert journey and Romance of head load.

WHAT PAINTING DOES?

It tells a story- there are several ways of telling a story. (By song, words, drama, etc.) One of them is through painting. Raphael (1483 – 1520), an Italian painter tells us a story of how St. George killed the dragon and saved the princess in " St. George and the dragon."

It reflects your mood- Each painting reflects the mood of its artist. Robert Henri (1865 – 1929), the American painter painted "Dutch Joe" with bold slashing brushstrokes and thick colour coating. You paint like that when you are full of energy.

Also, John Marin (1870 – 1953), painted " Austrian Tyrol", with light and delicate brushstrokes with thin colour coating. The painting makes you feel sober.

It tells people about your way of life- The painting of "Maidservant pouring milk", by Jan Vermeer, shows a Dutch peasant girl. Her clothes tell us that she is a cook and that she is Dutch.

Also, "Herring Net", by Winslow Homer (1836- 1910), shows two fishermen attempting to catch fish. The picture tells us that they are probably fishermen.

YOU AND YOUR VERY OWN PICTURE

The tools /instruments used by a painter is very important in the kind of picture he produces. Equally important, however, is the personality of the painter himself. If you paint a horse and a cave man paints the same horse, there would be a number of differences, ranging from the structure of the horse to the tools used. Also, if you paint a tree and your kid sister did the same, there would also be lots of differences.

This goes a long way to show that different people see things in different ways. The kind of picture you paint says something about you. The horse painted by the cave man would definitely show that he is a cave man, and the tree painted by your kid sister would definitely tell that she’s a kid.

Even the colours you use tell something about how you feel, that is your mood. Notice that paintings look different when you’re happy and when you are sad.

Next time you paint a picture look closely and figure out what it’s saying about you!

SOME PAINTINGS BY SCHOOL CHILDREN.

A haul from the Chesapeake boy Grade 7, Norfolk, Virginia.

Growing things Grade 7, Madison, Wisconsin.

WHAT COLOUR DOES TO YOU AND YOUR PAINTING.

Do you ever think of how colours make you feel? When you look at red and orange, do you feel warm or cold? Sad or happy? Excited? Gloomy? Or sleepy?

When you look at green what do you feel? At yellow? Brown?

Know that different colours make a painting seem peaceful, sad or happy. Try it!

HOW A RAINBOW IS FORMED.

A rainbow is an arch of seven colours observed after the rain. It is produced in a similar way as a spectrum of light. Only in this case, it is natural. The sun’s rays are reflected, refracted and dispersed in the falling rain or mist. The colours of the rainbow are the same as those of the spectrum of light. The difference is that the rainbow is in form of an arch while the spectrum is in a straight line.

COLOUR BLINDNESS.

This is the inability to see and differentiate colours, one from another. It is more prominent in males. John Dalton, a British chemist was the first to write a comprehensive report on it. He himself had been colour blind.

This disease is caused by a damage in the cells of the retina. This disease is a sex-linked character. It can be classified into two parts:

Total colour blindness (monochromatism). It occurs when all hues are sensed in variations of gray. It is also called Achromatopsia.

Partial colour blindness (dichromatism). It consists generally of the inability to differentiate between greens and reds. Colour blues and yellows may also be difficult to differentiate. It affects about 99% of men and 1% of women.

The red-green colour blindness test.

DIFFERENT PEOPLE/ DIFFERENT COLOURS

All over the world, there are different races. A race is a group of people with the physical attributes making them different from other groups of people. Such physical attributes include skin colour, shape of nose and length/nature of hair. The skin colour, which arises because of the presence or absence of a skin pigment melanin, is a very vital aspect of a race. Dark skinned people usually have lots of melanin and light skinned people have little melanin, dark skinned people are at an advantage because their skin type can adapt to ultraviolet radiation. In the past, racism was rampant and people with a certain skin colour were discriminated against.

RACIAL GROUP	SKIN COLOUR
MONGOLOID	LIGHT SKIN
AUSTRALOID	DARK SKIN
CAUCASOID	BROWN TO LIGHT SKIN
NEGROID	DARK TO BLACK SKIN

COLOUR ORGAN.

This is a system to link colour and music. The first colour organ was invented in 1895 by Alexander Rimington. It was based on the theory that the visible colour spectrum can be divided into 7 or 12 colour tones corresponding to the diatonic or chromatic scale within a musical octave. Rimington’s invention was a screen onto which colour was thrown to parallel a musical composition while it was being played.

Rimington’s invention led to numerous other contraptions, some of which were also called colour organs. These modern colour organs fell roughly into two classes. Most treated colour simply as visible music, and attempted to translate tones into colours on a scientific, uncompromising, note-for-note principle. These literal translations did not achieve success, presumably because individual reactions to both colour and music are variable. Most successful were the devices that treated luminous colour as a separate and independent art which could be used, like dance, in conjunction with music, but which had its own forms and techniques.