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It is my belief that primary colors are red, yellow, and blue and that
secondary colors are orange, green, and violet. Furthermore, it is my
belief that violet is the secondary color while purple is a crayon color.
But from here it gets slightly less clear for me.
What is the name of a color which is the result of mixing a primary color
with a secondary color, like red-orange or blue-violet?
If (there are other possibilities) you say that red, yellow and blue are THE
primary colours, than ALL colours mixed with a bit or a lot of two of these
are secondary colours. The mistake made often is to think that secondary
colours are only those which are mixed with an equal amount of red and
yellow (green) or yellow and blue (purple).
As long as you mix red-orange with red (or yellow or orange) it is a
secondary one, but as soon as there comes only a little of the third primary
in focus (a touch of blue), there the tertiary colour is born.
The same goes for white and black.
So, most colours are tertiary.
When you make a colour wheel, there are three primary colours on that wheel
and all others are secondary (also called PURE colours), and only these are
secondary. All others are tertiary.
I said there were other possibilities.
In the Netherlands in secondary schools we mostly use: cyan-blue, magenta
and yellow. They are also called PRINTERS COLOURS.
You might find the booklet of Alfred Hicketier ("The Color ABC" ?) helpful.
He developed a colour system that is widely known in printers world and very
useful for school purposes. I know that it was one in print by Van Nostrand
Have a nice day,
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