I have suggested earlier some simple experiments with colour which will encourage discovery among the younger children. Knowledge of colour and ability to use it should be growing throughout the Primary school, and with this knowledge, grows enjoyment of colour as we see it in the world around us. Much of the knowledge possessed by the children will be instinctive, and it may be wise to make them more conscious of this knowledge before they reach adolescence. I am certain, however, that this sort of work should only be done when children have had a really good background of experimental work with colour.

Colour is a wide field of knowledge, and one which has been explored by both scientists and artists. It seems to me that the knowledge needed by most teachers and children should be that directly applicable to painting. I have found the following pieces of colour theory sufficient for my own work and for teaching purposes.

1. There are three primary colours, red, blue, and yellow. These cannot be obtained by combining any other colours.

2. The three primary colours can be mixed together in pairs in three different ways to form three secondary colours. These are orange, green, and purple. The relationships of these can be clearly seen on the colour wheel. (See p. 136). The nature of pigments is such that only some reds (scarlet, vermilions and flame-reds) and some yellows (chrome, cadmium and gamboge) will make orange. Other reds (crimsons) and blues (ultramarines, cobalts) will make purples; likewise a different set of blues is needed to make greens (turquoises, prussian blues). It is therefore necessary to use at least two of each primary colour to have anything like a full range.

Colour wheel

3. When all three primaries are mixed together various kinds of brown and black result depending on the proportion of each in the mixture.

4. Each primary or secondary colour has a direct contrast— that which lies immediately opposite on the colour wheel. Thus red and green are contrasts. So are blue and orange and purple and yellow. If the colours of these pairs are mixed together various kinds of rather subtle greens and browns result.

5. Primary and secondary colours can also be mixed with black, white and grey, thus producing various lighter and darker versions of the original colour.

These basic colour combinations can cover the entire colour range. A unified and satisfactory colour scheme will result when most of a picture is painted with mixtures of a single colour. The picture is enhanced when a small part of the whole is based on the contrasting colour and its mixtures.

By the time children reach the top of the Junior school much of this knowledge will have been part of their equipment for a long time. It is probably a good idea to draw their attention to it at this stage, to introduce the colour wheel and to make some pictures or designs based upon it. They can also be made aware of the following facts about colour, which may be less familiar.

1. The use of a small quantity of contrast with a colour, heightens that colour, e.g. red with a small amount of green looks more brilliant than it does alone.

2. The use of black or a dark colour enriches other colours used with it. A very dark version of a colour is usually richer than black. Many children are at first loath to use dark colour, but when they are given adequate opportunity over a period of time to experiment with colour, they usually discover its uses for themselves.

3. The use of white or very light colour deadens other colour with it, but used in very small quantities white can add sparkle to a picture. White and light colour affects other colours very considerably and it is often a good idea to work on coloured paper rather than white paper. When white paper is used, I usually ask children to paint the large areas first, thus covering the white part as soon as possible. Smaller details are better left till last.

4. Colour changes according to the light that is upon it. It will readily be seen that a cube standing in the light is a different colour on each side—that is how we know one side from another. Shoes which are apparently black will be seen to have all sorts of colours in them. The colour of flesh, normally pale, can be almost black if there is little light upon it. Local colour, in fact, is not a guide to colour observation. We need to look much more carefully if we wish to see what is there. I think painting what is there, however, is not for most children a satisfactory goal. It is so frequently represented to them as the only goal of picture making, by their parents and others, that I feel it is wiser to concentrate on the many other aspects in school. It is better at the primary stage to get children to look carefully at colour in the world around them for the sheer fun of it; to point out that colour is never what it seems and that the only thing to worry about is whether a particular colour looks right in your particular picture. The artist is in charge of the picture and is under no compulsion to paint anything any colour which is not 100 per cent right for that picture. At the same time colour is something to be frequently observed and discussed. My experience with training college students and other adults, and my observation of the colours the majority of people use in their dress and their homes, suggest that few people progress beyond an artistic age of seven or eight so far as colour is concerned. This means that few have been encouraged to experiment with and to explore colour, and few to observe colour.

Colour is also very strongly associated with mood. Among the most common colour-mood associations are the following:

Blue—sky, peace, serenity, purity (blue is used for the Virgin Mary's robe in many pictures); Green—also a peaceful colour, but sometimes associated with greed and jealousy;

Yellow—can belong to the blue-green group and suggest peace and serenity, or it can belong to the red-orange group and suggest life and vitality. Yellow also suggests cowardice;

Red—life, anger, vivacity, jollity, festivity;

Black—mourning, depression, sobriety;

White—purity (bride's colour), cleanliness;

Purple—regality, mourning. This knowledge can be collected and used in various ways. It is interesting, for example, to describe to the children some scene which suggests very strongly a particular mood, and to ask them to paint a picture of it. When the pictures are more or less completed a follow-up discussion could bring out the particular colours which individual children associated with the mood in question. Further discussion can then sort out other colour-mood associations, some of which may be personal to individuals. Other patterns and pictures can then be made embodying the knowledge more consciously.

Quite a lot of interest can be stimulated through exhibitions. An exhibition of objects of a particular colour, for example, will show how wide a variety of colours is covered by each colour name. An exhibition with "brown" as its theme colour might include the dusty brown of dried leaves and seed heads, the rich polished brown of horse-chestnuts, the browns of different woods and of leather, as well as pieces of brown material, pottery and manufactured goods. The collecting of material for such an exhibition in itself encourages children to observe colour, and arranging the exhibition, or an exhibition where objects of a variety of colours are chosen because their colours look well together, is an activity from which children may gain much.