Warm and Cool Colors
In our daily experiences, we associate red, orange and yellow with fire and heat. When we enter a room decorated in those colors, we feel warm. Likewise, we associate cold starry nights with blue. Deep water is blue. Ice has shades of blue and green. A room decorated in blues and greens makes us feel cool.
In general, a color is warmed by the addition of yellow or red and cooled by the addition of blue. In doing landscape paintings, it is necessary for the artist to be able to recognize the warm and cool colors of nature. Some days are sunny days and the landscape is composed of warm colors and cool shadows, whereas, other days are cloudy days and the landscape has a cooler feeling with warmer shadows. The artist must be able to control the warmth or coolness of the hues depending on the ultimate effect (s)he wants to create.