Colour Theory and Painting Practice

Until the beginning of the 1900s artists laboured under the misapprehension that the paint primaries were blood red, yellow and royal blue, only yellow was correct, the red and blue were a long way from being correct. The correct primaries were known 100 years ago and rapidly adopted by commercial printers and photography. In much of art and education, one hundred years later, the incorrect primaries are still perpetuated; due in part to the difficulties in explaining the facts. It is the purpose of this textbook to present the facts, providing students and artists with a powerful option in colour mixing and to correct errors in the teaching of colour basics.