Written By Mary Nunn, Strathroy Working Artist, Educator & Mentor
Red is a primary colour; its compliment is green, a mixture of the other two primary colours, yellow and blue. My interest in colour started five decades ago when I noticed, that the colour I wore could affect my mood. Don’t ask me to choose a colour for my walls, but I can tell you what works on yours!
The colour red is often found in our daily lives; meats, fruits and vegetables. Red is a symbol of fire, passion, warning, anger or extreme danger. The colour red can raise your blood pressure to dangerous levels—ambulances used to carry red blankets to put over cardiac patients, big mistake. To make pink, add water or an opaque white paint.
The colour red can be found on barns, coke cans (most popular soda in the world), fire trucks, mechanic cases, used in traffic lights, stop signs, train crossings, and our own blood. We use the colour red in cosmetics, jewellery, clothing and accessories; flowers in our gardens or bouquets.
Red is used in our food packaging; often denotes spicy or hot ingredients. In Chinese culture, restaurants are often painted red, to encourage faster food consumption. Also, in some cultures, red is used in bridal attire.
Let’s consider our Canadian Flag: Historically, England, the United States and Canada: red, blue and some white were colours used in our flags. In 1965, the then Liberal government decided we needed a new flag, which then became a red and white only Liberal flag. Many nations’ flags around the globe use the colour red: strength, power, dominance.
In art, a medium red, neither to orange or to cool is a Pyrrole 254. Colour studies have shown that men prefer an orange red, while women prefer cooler reds, moving toward red-violet shades.
Until the late 1980’s, artists were using some colours that were not light fast. A revolution changed the pigments sold to artists—thanks are due to the auto industry for developing pigments that are light fast. Books were published, artists tested their own pigments, and permanent colours came on the market to replace the ones we loved.
Since pre-historic times, peoples make depictions on rock walls, stones, sheep skins, tree bark; the pigments available to them at those times were charcoal, Ochres, English, Venetian and Indian red which are still in use today. Depending where the colour is mined, it can vary greatly.
