some of the energy waves that come from the sun are visible to our eyes and we call them light rays ordinarily these rays give us the impression of white light sometimes they are broken up into many different wavelengths colored light of these light colors red orange green and blue violet are primary colors shall use this three dimensional model to show how these primary light colors combine as we project one color from each of the lamps opposite the three sides of the model lamp and a color gelatin will be placed between the light and the three dimensional model we see that the light strikes one side and the triangular top surface we begin with a light primary red orange mixed with green it makes the yellow equal to the combined strength of the two primaries the red orange and blue violet combine into a red purple another secondary light and green mixed with blue violet makes the secondary color turquoise or blue green when the three light primaries are combined they make quite which has a strength equal to the sum of all three primaries we find therefore that each secondary light color has a strength equal to the sum of its two primaries and that white is as strong as the combined strength of the three primaries but pigment mixtures are subtractive rather than additive pigments reflect certain light rays to give us our color sensations red yellow and blue are the three pigment primaries the pigments used here consist of a transparent liquid medium and solid particles which are contained in it we now represent these yellow pigment particles as rectangles highly magnified and we simulate primary and secondary light rays striking these particles which reflect only the yellow rays and since the particles  haphazardly arranged they do not even reflect all the yellow ra furthermore when for example we mix red and yellow pigments to make our and we do not increase the number of reflecting particles instead the total number in a given area remains the same pigment mixtures therefore we do not have the additive color strength obtained by mixing primary light beam as the common state for these weaknesses of pigments we have to resort to color keying good color starts from the theory that all our visual impressions are reality of the man in this matter here for example appears to be a dwarf but without changing his size we can now make him appear to be a our impression of him is conditioned by his surroundings woodsman doesn't seem particularly cold all of the temperature is thirty five degrees below zero and yet there's what you're coming into his refrigerator might feel cold although in a temperature of thirty five degrees above zero a common way of keeping pigment colors is to associate opposite or complimentary colors with each other  the complimentary as are commonly placed in opposite areas on the familiar color wheel we can even key white here are two circles on a white background we keep this circle area at the left by surrounding it with black it now looks much lighter than the circle area at the right this girl's hair looks light when we see her between two dark haired girls but different companions are light blonde the girl in the center will now impress this as having dark hair if an artist in painting a picture of this butcher wants to create a feeling of refrigerator cold he might do it by increasing the intensity of his colors contrasting the warm yellows of the beef with the butcher's blue shirt such may have been the intention of abraham ratner when he painted this somewhat similar subject yellow is complimentary to purple and therefore heightens the dark purple color of the paramedic the left as compared to the pyramid of the right is only the immediate surroundings key a color we can restrict the yellow to the immediate neighborhood of the p and we see that it still seems a darker more intense purple and the one on the right rockwell can see uses such keying in his painting when her own by the metropolitan museum of art the famed yellow in the sky adjacent to the blue mountains emphasizes the coldness of the same color king also has many applications to the art of makeup this girl for example was her gray blue eyes to appear more blue so she is applying a complimentary orange suntan makeup and outdoor suntan would do the same but it is usually harder to acquire she chooses a dark shade of lipstick because it's darkness will make her teeth seem whiter skin makeup colors are emphasized when used with their complimentary they can be emphasized in another way by echoing the color the light blue dress echoes the blue of the eyes now she adds a touch of stronger blue at a little distance the observer will look back and forth and a stronger color will persuade him that even gray blue eyes are really blue green dress will key readies hair and make it seem more red a spot of even brighter red will further enhance the hair by echoing its color here is a portrayed painted by phoebe florrie walker to demonstrate that if a subject has a natural a sallow complexion a reddish background would only emphasize this power when however we remove the reddish background and substitute for red a greenish one we find that the complection appears more normal can be applied to pigment mixtures for example violet is a mixture of red and blue to make it look more red we surround it with green the complimentary of the red comes on of the violet by framing it in orange the opposite of the blue component of violet we make it appear more blue we can also key secondary colors by subtraction we frame the violet at the left with blue and that on the right with red the blue frame subtracts blue from the violets leaving the spot more ready the red frame subtract red from the or the entire room may be planned as a background for the hostess who will occupy it being color we have seen is vital to the art of the painter it can be used to advantage in improving personal appearance and it adds charm to home decoration color contributes contrast and brilliance to many phases of our existence