Term: Color Scheme

In color theory, a color scheme is a group of colors used together in one media. Color schemes are used to create a particular style, mood or appeal. When a color scheme is pleasing to the eye, it is said to strike a color chord or are described as being harmonious. Color schemes used in painting are often based on their relationships to one another on the color wheel. A few of the more common harmonious color schemes are as follows:

• Monochromatic - Variations of one color, such as red, from pink to burgundy, or blue, from cerulean to ultramarine
• Analogous - Any three to five colors that are side-by-side on the color wheel, such as yellow, yellow-orange, orange, red-orange, and red
• Triadic - Three colors that are equidistant from each other on the color wheel, such as red, yellow and blue, or orange, green and violet
• Complementary - Any two colors opposite each other on the color wheel, such as yellow and purple, orange and blue, or red and green