This online tutorial is a transcription from a 2002 lecture I
gave at the Courage of Your Perceptions Conference (Satellite to
the EC's Vision Scientists' Conference) in Glasgow, Scotland.
two-dimensional surface, transparency and contrast are a means
to place identities/forms through spatial depth. In Part 1 I
discussed how this theory works with gray tonal scales and in
paintings with limited color range. Let's see what happens when
we introduce intense colors. It's important to note that
contrast in color is not so much about light and dark but,
rather, its about color opposites. For example here is a classic
color wheel in which opposite colors, also known as
complimentary colors, Red vs. Green Blue vs. Orange Yellow vs.
Violet In this diagram blue violet is the background color and
the discs that come the closest to it in color recede, while the
yellow one, its opposite, pops forward. Van Gogh, Cafe Terrace
on the Place du Forum, September 1888 Oil on canvas, 81 x 65.5
cm Rijksmuseum Kroller-Mueller, Ott