Term: Mother Color

A color that is mixed in varying amounts to nearly all colors in a painting. This is done to harmonize the colors and create unity in the composition. A mother color may be any hue. It can be dominant or used only to influence other colors. The mother color may be the starting point for all other colors on the palette (that is, mixing other colors into a portion of the mother color) or smaller quantities may be added into colors already mixed. In glazing and scumbling, a mother color can be added to an entire painting at one time.