Painting Basics - How to Use the Color Wheel - Paint with a Plan
By Prudy Vannier
1013-3

The colors you use are an integral part of the project and need to be planned accordingly.

The best tool for selecting colors is a color wheel.

Each project has a color you can’t leave out. Place this one in the “Key Color” window. Follow the lines to show which color combinations are legitimate color schemes that go with your “key Color”.

If you use red as your “key color”, you can see that a complementary color scheme is the color opposite, which is green. Red and green – it’s a very popular holiday color scheme.

An analogous color scheme is 5 colors in a row on the color wheel. With red, it includes red orange, orange, red violet, and violet.

A triadic color scheme forms a triangle on the color wheel. With red, it includes blue and yellow.

A monochromatic color scheme - mono meaning one, chromatic meaning color.

An example of a split complementary color scheme would be to use violet, yellow green, and yellow orange.

Every project needs a color scheme. Use a color wheel as the tool to help you plan your colors.