The Color Wheel in Watercolor

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	"Learning how to make a color wheel is by far the best lesson of watercolor painting."

	Home Basics and Skills The Color Wheel
		The Color Wheel
		What is a color wheel? The Primary colors The Secondary colors The Tertiary colors How to make a color wheel with watercolor
	To fully understand color and how to use it in your paintings, it's best if you start at the beginning and learn the basics of the color wheel. On this page I will break down the structure of the color wheel into the simplest of terms to help get you started, but if you are serious about watercolor painting, and wish to be successful at it, then I highly recommend exploring these books on color.

What is a Color Wheel?
	The color wheel is a circular display of 12 hues of color arranged according to their relationship to one another. An Artist's Color Wheel, like the one shown here, is comprised using the primary colors of yellow, red, and blue.			Learning how to use and navigate through the color wheel will not only help you with mixing colors, but also for selecting colors in your paintings.

The Colors of the Color Wheel
The color wheel is divided into three main color groups.

		The first group, known as The Primary Colors, consist of three colors; Yellow, Red, and Blue. Named primary, as there are no two colors that can be mixed to create these colors.		The second group, known as The Secondary Colors, also consist of three colors; Orange, Violet, and Green. These colors are made by mixing equal amounts of two primary colors located closest to each other on the color wheel.		The third group, known as The Tertiary Colors, consist of six colors; Yellow Green, Yellow Orange, Red Orange, Red Violet, Blue Violet, and Blue Green. These colors are made by mixing a secondary color with the closest primary color on the wheel.
	Yellow Red Blue		Orange Green Violet		Yellow Green Yellow Orange Red Orange Red Violet Blue Violet Blue Green

How to Make a Color Wheel with Watercolor
You will want to gather the following list of supplies.
	Template with various size circles, or other circular shaped objects that will give you three different sized circles. Pencil a technical with lead size .5mm or .7mm, or a no. 2 graphite school pencil.	Eraser a Kneaded eraser, or other artist eraser that will not mar your paper.	Paper a 7" x 7" (17.8cm x 17.8cm) piece of Arches 140lb. cold pressed watercolor paper, or a brand of paper that you plan to paint on. Large Circular Shape a blank cd disc, or other round object to trace out a circle shape.

	Step 2. Circles Using the largest of your three circular shapes, draw the three primary circles positioned as shown in the example.		Step 1. Place your cd disc, or chosen circular shape, in the center of your paper and with your pencil lightly trace around the disc.		When you are finished with your drawing, take your kneaded eraser and press down on each of the circle shapes. This will remove all the excess graphite from your pencil lines. Continue pressing until you have a pale design of all 12 of the circles remaining.
	Step 3. Circles With the medium size of your three circular shapes, draw the three secondary circles positioned as shown in the example. Step 4. Circles With the smallest of your three circular shapes, draw the six tertiary circles positioned as shown in the example.

			Select a yellow, red, and blue watercolor.
			If you are already familiar with watercolor, then you probably have a good idea on which yellow, red, and blue you would like to use. If you are new to watercolor, you can browse through these color wheel examples and select a yellow, red, and blue according to colors that most appeal to you.

	Mixing your primary puddles of color.				Begin by making three separate medium sized puddles; one yellow, one red, and one blue. Make the value of each puddle approximately a medium value.
					Yellow New Gamboge - a warm, transparent, non-staining yellow. Red Permanent Rose - a vivid, cooler, transparent, non-staining red, that's actually more pink than red. Blue French Ultramarine Blue - a warm, semi-transparent, non-staining blue, with beautiful sediment.
	Mixing your secondary puddles of color.
	Orange	Violet	Green		Orange To mix your orange, take quite a few brush loads of your chosen yellow, and place in a well as shown. Rinse out your brush and blot well. Take the same amount of brush loads from your chosen red, and place them in a separate well as shown. Now mix those two wells together to make one. Violet To mix your violet, follow the same instructions as when making the orange, but substituting the yellow with blue. Green To mix your green, follow the same instructions as when making the orange, but substituting the red with blue.
	Mixing your tertiary puddles of color.
	yellow-orange red-orange	red-violet blue-violet	yellow-green blue-green		Yellow Orange To mix your yellow orange, take several brush loads of your chosen yellow, and place in a well as shown. Rinse out your brush and blot well. Take the same amount of brush loads from your orange puddle, and place them in a separate well as shown. Now mix those two wells together to make your yellow orange. Red Orange To mix your red orange, repeat as above using red and orange. Red Violet To mix your red violet, repeat as above using red and violet. Blue Violet To mix your blue violet, repeat as above using blue and violet. Blue Green To mix your blue green, repeat as above using blue and green. Yellow Green To mix your yellow green, repeat as above using yellow and green.
	The Color Wheel Finished.
			After you have filled in all the circles with your primary, secondary, and tertiary colors, your color wheel should resemble the one to the left. Explore more color possibilities with other primary colors. Keep your color wheels safe within a folder to use for future reference when selecting colors for your paintings.

NEXT: Understanding Color Temperature

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