Color psycology

SHERIN VARGHESE

BLUE

Blue is the colour of the clear sky and the deep sea.

On the optical spectrum, blue is located between violet and green

Blue is the colour of light between violet and green on the visible spectrum.

Hues of blue include indigo and ultramarine, closer to violet; pure blue, without any mixture of other colours; Cyan, which is midway on the spectrum between blue and green, and the other blue-greens turquoise, teal, and aquamarine.

Blues also vary in shade or tint; darker shades of blue contain black or grey, while lighter tints contain white. Darker shades of blue include ultramarine, cobalt blue, navy blue, and Prussian blue; while lighter tints include sky blue, azure, and Egyptian blue. (For a more complete list see the List of colours).

Blue pigments were originally made from minerals such as lapis lazuli, cobalt and azurite, and blue dyes were made from plants; usually woad in Europe, and Indigofera tinctoria, or True indigo, in Asia and Africa. Today most blue pigments and dyes are made by a chemical process.

YELLOW

Yellow (/ˈjɛloʊ/) is the color of gold, butter, or ripe lemons.

In the spectrum of visible light, and in the traditional color wheel used by painters, yellow is located between green and orange.

Yellow is commonly associated with gold, sunshine, reason, optimism and pleasure, but also with envy, jealousy and betrayal.

It plays an important part in Asian culture, particularly in China.

GREEN

Green is the color of emeralds, jade, and growing grass.

In the continuum of colors of visible light it is located between yellow and blue. Green is the color most commonly associated with nature and the environmental movement, Ireland, Islam, spring, hope and envy.

Aside from chlorophyll, the green pigment of growing grass and leaves, green pigments are rather rare in nature.Emeralds, are colored green by trace amounts of chromium and sometimes vanadium.

Malachite, like many greens, is colored by the presence of copper, in this case by basic copper(II) carbonate.

Green earth is a natural pigment used since the time of the Roman Empire. It s composed of clay colored by iron oxide, magnesium, aluminum silicate, or potassium. Large deposits were found in the South of France near Nice, and in Italy around Verona, on Cyprus, and in Bohemia. The clay was crushed, washed to remove impurities, then powdered. It was sometimes called Green of Verona

Verdigris is made by placing a plate or blade of copper, brass or bronze, slightly warmed, into a vat of fermenting wine, leaving it there for several weeks, and then scraping off and drying the green powder that forms on the metal.

The process of making verdigris was described in ancient times by Pliny. It was used by the Romans in the murals of Pompeii, and in Celtic medieval manuscripts as early as the 5th century AD. It produced a blue-green which no other pigment could imitate, but it had drawbacks; it was unstable, it could not resist dampness, it did not mix well with other colors, it could ruin other colors with which it came into contact., and it was toxic.

Leonardo DaVinci, in his treatise on painting, warned artists not to use it. It was widely used in miniature paintings in Europe and Persia in the 16th and 17th centuries. Its use largely ended in the late 19th century, when it was replaced by the safer and more stable chrome green.

Cobalt green, sometimes known as Rinman's green or Zinc Green, is a translucent green pigment made by heating a mixture of cobalt (II) oxide and zinc oxide. Sven Rinman, a Swedish chemist, discovered this compound in 1780.

BLACK

Black is the color of coal, ebony, and of outer space. It is the darkest color, the result of the absence of or complete absorption of light. It is the opposite of white and often represents darkness in contrast with light.

Black was one of the first colors used by artists in neolithic cave paintings. In the Roman Empire, it became the color of mourning, and over the centuries it was frequently associated with death, evil, witches and magic. In the 14th century, it began to be worn by royalty, the clergy, judges and government officials in much of Europe. It became the color worn by English romantic poets, businessmen and statesmen in the 19th century, and a high fashion color in the 20th century.

In the Western World today, it is the color most commonly associated with mourning, the end, secrets, magic, power, violence, evil, and elegance.