Good morning boys and girls! I know you all want to make
pictures again, but today first we will do something different. We’re going to explore Color a bit more. When
you did crayon pictures yesterday, remember when you mixed two of the “first
colors” you got another, “second color”? We had lots of fun, didn’t we? Today
we’re going to do a “Walkabout in the Land of Color”. I have here three
transparent sheets: Red, Yellow and Blue.
Now let’s see what happens when I put the Blue one over top
the Yellow one. What color do you see?
“Green!” Yes,
Green, that’s correct. And what color do you see now, when I move the Red over
the Yellow? “Orange!” Yes, Orange is correct. Now I’ll move the
Red over the Blue sheet. What color
comes up? “Violet! Purple!” Yes, that’s right again. So you
see, the same colors show up, just like mixing with crayons yesterday.
Some of you painted a rainbow, but did you know the
rainbow has a way of showing us which color is created when you mix two of the
‘First Colors’? First Red, then Orange, then Yellow, then Green, then Blue,
then Violet. As you can see on the big
rainbow picture here on the easel.
Look at the in-between colors. What do you see? Between Red and Yellow? “Orange!”
Right. Now what do you see between
Yellow and Blue? “Green!” Here is a
tricky one. Where does Violet come from?
I’ll show you again with these transparent sheets. See, here is the Blue one and I’ll move it
over the Red one. “Violet!” Now, how
come there is no Red after the Violet? Because the rainbow continues after the
Violet.
Later on in the next art and fun class you’ll see you can
always get the ‘Second Color” by mixing the two “First Colors”. That was a long
introduction, wasn’t it?
Well, here we go, on our Walkabout in the Land of Color. It’s
all well and good to say something is “Red” to someone. But what kind of Red? Tomato, strawberry, a geranium, a rose flower?
Same with Orange: what
kind of orange, like a pumpkin, orange the fruit, a mango or papaya (those are
tropical fruits, see here on the board, this is a papaya, that’s a mango, both
cut in half to show their orange flesh color.
Yellow: what kind
of yellow? Lemon, banana, a daisy,
sunflower?
Green: there is so
much green in Nature that it is the most
seen color in the whole world. But
when we say something is “Green”, what kind of green?
Spinach, broccoli, lime,
a pine tree, kiwi, a rainforest canopy like you see here, grass, leaves, peas, Kermit the
Frog? So many greens, no?
Blue: the sky, the
ocean.
Violet:
but what kind of violet? The
violet flower?
Cabbage - your mum calls it Red, but it’s violet or purple,
same with the Red Onion, it’s actually violet or purple, also blueberries,
they’re not blue but violet. There is a vegetable with the name “aubergine”, that’s French. Your mum calls it an eggplant, but it does
not look like an egg at all. It has a
beautiful, shiny violet color. See, we
have one on my desk, come and take a look. Here at my desk, I also have a
cabbage, an onion, and a box of berries.
Come over and look. What colors
do you see? “Violet! Purple!”
This is a Violet Cabbage - NOT a Red Cabbage
That’s right. Your
mum and everybody else say it’s a Red cabbage, a Red onion, a Blueberry. But you see for yourself, they’re violet or
purple. Color never lies. It says, “I am
myself. To know me, you need to see me.”
And this Purple Onion is not Red either
Color is honest, and proud. It’s
actually saying, “I am the boss. When you mix Red and Yellow you’ll never get
Violet.” Find out for yourself! Isn’t that neat?
When you go home and tell mum and dad that Betty in the
class was wearing a nice Violet blouse, they will not know what kind of
violet. But you will, since you’ve seen it. Wow, that was lots of talking
and showing, yes? Color is magical and mysterious. It says, “You need to see me, you can’t just talk about me.”
Color
is very honest. It never tells a lie. If
you mix two ‘First Colors’ like Red and Yellow, you will always get Orange. Same
with the other ‘First Colors”, which are known as the Primary Colors. And the
‘Second Colors” are known as the Secondary Colors. Now, isn’t that cool? That’s
enough talking for today. We still have time before lunch, so you go
ahead and have fun with the crayons. Doing pictures and making many colors with
just the three ‘First Colors’ is always fun!
Henri van Bentum
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