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Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,537
Registered: ‎03-15-2010

For some reason mixing warm and cool colors is jarring to me.  It is not pleasing to my eye.  It is not just about what 'matches' it is the flow.

My DH wanted to wear green pants the other day with a blue dress shirt.  Green and blue coordinate well, however, I was trying to explain to him that the green pants were a warm shade and the blue shirt was a color tone-thus can not be worn together.  

 

Once we had a warm/warm combo and cool/cool combo for him to look at he agree the look was better but still does not know exactly why.

 

I honestly think this is one of the tricks of good interior design as well.  Mix colors, textures, patterns- BUT pick warm or cool and STICK with one or the other.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 9,745
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Warm vs cool colors

[ Edited ]

Well, I must disagree.  One of the prettiest color combinations I have ever seen was on a beautiful woman who was wearing a warm olive jumper and a cool baby blue blouse with a simple strand of pearls and the colors were stunning together. 

 

Perhaps it was the warmth of the pearls that pulled it all together. 

 

I don't know what but I wear that color combination although I never thought about it until I saw her, and that was some 40 years ago and I have never forogtten it. 

 

I like it on me as well.  I am a summer, close to autumn and I can wear the cools of summer and with the right makeup I can wear the warmth of autumn.

 

It's interest that makes all good design work and for me, with interest is sometimes unlikely colors, unlikely textures or composition that is an interesting.  I am not a symmetrical person, but you may very well be and if you are a symmetrical person (as a DIL of mine is), that could explain the reason why that combination is not appealing to your eye.

Trusted Contributor
Posts: 1,232
Registered: ‎05-18-2015

Re: Warm vs cool colors

[ Edited ]

There is no, one, definitive way of combining color. 

If you like monotone and find it appealing, then sticking to one temperature works for you. 

If you like some excitement and tension, then warm and cool playing off of each other works for you. 

Having, many moods, what appeals to me ebbs and flows.

 

ETA

Color theory and personal preferences are too complicated to analyze here. ☺

Honored Contributor
Posts: 11,415
Registered: ‎03-12-2010

Re: Warm vs cool colors

[ Edited ]

I quite agree with @ILTH and @Nonametoday .

I see no reason why we have to "stay inside the lines" when it comes to art, color, or expression.

 

It reminds me of something one of my DD's friends once mentioned when I was giving them a ride back when they were around junior high age (many moons ago).

My DD's friend said that her art teacher said she had to stay inside the lines of some project they were doing.  My DD's friend sounded so sad when she was telling us this, as if she'd failed.  I ended up telling her that art was about expressing yourself, not conforming.  And that it seemed rather odd that an art teacher would actually say something like that.  She felt renewed after hearing that.

 

And so it is now that we are adults.  Sometimes we think we have to conform, but by doing so all the time, we may lose ourselves along the way.

 

ETA:  I was found to be a winter, which is a cool season, but I much prefer to be surrounded by warm tones.  I typically wear cool tones, however, as they do look better on me.  Just in case anyone was thinking I only wear and/or decorate with one type.

[was Homegirl] Love to be home . . . thus the screen name. Joined 2003.
Honored Contributor
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Registered: ‎03-09-2010

While it appears as if the visible spectrum of colors placed on a wheel, the real basis for color is founded in Sir Isaac Newton's experiments with prisms.  His experiments led to the theory that red, blue and yellow are the primary colors from which all color is derived.  While that is not entirely true, it is still influential in colors derived from same today.  Add to that the secondary colors of violet, orange and green, a result of mixing the aforementioned primary colors and one begins to see the shaping of the color wheel.  Then the tertiary colors yellow-orange, red-orange, red-purple, blue-purple, blue-green and yellow-green complete the color wheel. These colors are similar to Munsell’s hue circle.  The value of the color wheel is its ability to help designers create appealing palettes by applying the underlying theory of the color wheel with the way WE SEE color, i.e., a palette based on color wheel's conplementary colors would include colors that are the opposite one another on the color wheel such as red and green, and red is a warm color (but it can be a cool color) and green is a cool color (which can be a warm color given additions of secondary, primary and tertiary additions). 

 

Then we get to hues from which we add shades, tints and tones to arrive at variations of darker, lighter or intoned colors.

 

Does that analyze color somewhat?

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Posts: 9,745
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

@GingerPeach wrote:

I quite agree with @ILTH and @Nonametoday .

I see no reason why we have to "stay inside the lines" when it comes to art, color, or expression.

 

It reminds me of something one of my DD's friends once mentioned when I was giving them a ride back when they were around junior high age (many moons ago).

My DD's friend said that her art teacher said she had to stay inside the lines of some project they were doing.  My DD's friend sounded so sad when she was telling us this, as if she'd failed.  I ended up telling her that art was about expressing yourself, not conforming.  And that it seemed rather odd that an art teacher would actually say something like that.  She felt renewed after hearing that.

 

And so it is now that we are adults.  Sometimes we think we have to conform, but by doing so all the time, we may lose ourselves along the way.


@GingerPeach 

Totally expression!  Yay for you.

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Posts: 1,232
Registered: ‎05-18-2015

Re: Warm vs cool colors

[ Edited ]

@Nonametoday wrote:

While it appears as if the visible spectrum of colors placed on a wheel, the real basis for color is founded in Sir Isaac Newton's experiments with prisms.  His experiments led to the theory that red, blue and yellow are the primary colors from which all color is derived.  While that is not entirely true, it is still influential in colors derived from same today.  Add to that the secondary colors of violet, orange and green, a result of mixing the aforementioned primary colors and one begins to see the shaping of the color wheel.  Then the tertiary colors yellow-orange, red-orange, red-purple, blue-purple, blue-green and yellow-green complete the color wheel. These colors are similar to Munsell’s hue circle.  The value of the color wheel is its ability to help designers create appealing palettes by applying the underlying theory of the color wheel with the way WE SEE color, i.e., a palette based on color wheel's conplementary colors would include colors that are the opposite one another on the color wheel such as red and green, and red is a warm color (but it can be a cool color) and green is a cool color (which can be a warm color given additions of secondary, primary and tertiary additions). 

 

Then we get to hues from which we add shades, tints and tones to arrive at variations of darker, lighter or intoned colors.

 

Does that analyze color somewhat?


Not really. 

As a professional portrait and landscape artist, I can tell you that that explanation doesn't even come close to explaining how color works when dealing with reflected light, ambient light, juxtaposition, determining what's cool or warm because everything about color is relative. Cool warms, warm cools. And the list goes on.  AND personal preferences. Some genetic, some acquired. Some a little of both. 

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Registered: ‎01-26-2013

@Abrowneyegirl 

 

I'm curious....did he change his clothes because they weren't pleasing to you?  

Honored Contributor
Posts: 11,415
Registered: ‎03-12-2010

@ILTH 

You make a good point.  I think reflected light/color is often forgotten.

 

I find it's an important aspect to consider when painting, especially interior walls.  For example, I prefer warm tones inside, like peach and the like, because the reflected light is flattering.  

 

It's not just what we look at, it's what is looking back at us (if someone wants to think of it that way).

[was Homegirl] Love to be home . . . thus the screen name. Joined 2003.
Honored Contributor
Posts: 18,778
Registered: ‎03-13-2010

I am a "cool" tone.    I will not wear clothes, decorate, or even drive a car that is not flattering to me (!!!)

♥Surface of the Sun♥