Lesson 1: What is Color?

Color is produced when light hits an object and is reflected back to the eye. There is a lot more science to color than that but for our purposes that is what you need to know right now.

There are 3 attributes of color.

           Hue – The color itself - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, and the rest.

           Value – How light or dark a color is

                       Created by adding white or black to a color

           Intensity – How pure the color is

                       High Intensity = bright color

                       Low Intensity = muted natural color - pastels

Color Wheels are tools artist use to help show the relationship between colors. Knowing the relationship between colors helps artists create a certain look or feel to their artwork.

You can find the video lesson on my YouTube Channel Purple Lily Buds

Activities:

1. Color scavenger hunt: Ask learners to find different colors.
2. Go to the grocery store and have learners find produce that matches the color you call out.
3. Go for a walk and have learners find 2 red objects or 5 yellow objects.
4. Favorite color activity: Have learners collect objects that are their favorite color. Lay the objects out and sort them by value and intensity.

My son sorted his objects by light, medium, and dark value. How much white or black was added to the true color orange.

These could also be sorted by intensity. Light and dark objects would have a low intensity because they are farther from the pure color (dull or pastel). The medium objects would have a high intensity because they are close to the pure color.

These activities will help learners recognize colors as well as become aware that colors can be different value and intensity. This is really important in the art world when trying to create depth, shape, feelings, and an overall mood for a piece of art.

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