Tertiary colours

Correct answer: B. The colour will lean toward red

Explanation: The governing concept is colour proportion in a mixture. Red-orange lies between red and orange, so increasing the amount of red changes the balance toward the red side. Hence option B is correct. Increasing orange would move the mixture toward orange, while green or blue would introduce different hues rather than simply strengthen the existing red-orange bias. The result is a redder, warmer version of the original tertiary colour.

Correct answer: B. Increase the amount of orange

Explanation: The governing concept is controlled colour mixing: increasing the proportion of one component shifts a mixture toward that component. Yellow-orange is made from yellow and orange. To move it further toward orange, increase the amount of orange, so option B is correct. More yellow would produce a yellower result, while blue or green would alter the hue and may reduce the clarity of the intended yellow-orange mixture.

Correct answer: A. A little green

Explanation: The governing concept is correcting a mixed hue by increasing the proportion of the desired component. Yellow-green contains yellow and green; because it appears too yellow, adding a small amount of green shifts the balance toward green. Therefore option A is correct. Orange would reinforce the warm yellow side, while red or violet could muddy or substantially change the mixture instead of making it a clearer greenish yellow.

Correct answer: C. Blue

Explanation: The governing concept is restoring the balance between the component colours of a tertiary mixture. Blue-green is made from blue and green. If it has become too green, increasing blue brings the mixture back toward a balanced blue-green, so option C is correct. Yellow, red, or violet are not the original balancing component for this mixture; they would introduce another hue and could make the colour dull or change it significantly.

Correct answer: C. Violet

Explanation: Blue-violet is a tertiary colour formed from blue and violet. In a mixture, increasing the proportion of one component shifts the result toward that component. Therefore, adding more violet makes blue-violet appear more violet, so option C is correct. Adding red would push it toward red-violet, while yellow or green would introduce unrelated colour influences and reduce the intended hue.

Correct answer: A. Red

Explanation: Red-violet is a mixed colour containing red and violet, with violet itself containing blue and red. To make the mixture visibly more reddish, increase the amount of red; therefore option A is correct. Adding blue would strengthen the blue-violet direction, while green or yellow would alter the mixture toward other hues rather than directly increasing its redness. The governing rule is to add more of the desired component.

Correct answer: B. An adjacent primary and secondary make a clear tertiary colour

Explanation: In the traditional colour-wheel system, a tertiary colour is produced by mixing a primary colour with the adjacent secondary colour, such as red with orange to make red-orange. These neighbouring colours create a recognisable, controlled hue. Mixing distant or unrelated colours can produce a dull or muddy result. Thus option B gives the correct reason; the other statements are either false or irrelevant.

Correct answer: A. Green is not one of the secondary colours adjacent to red

Explanation: Red-orange is a tertiary colour made by mixing the primary colour red with the adjacent secondary colour orange. Green lies opposite red on the traditional colour wheel and is its complementary colour, not its neighbouring secondary colour. Mixing red and green therefore tends to neutralise or muddy the mixture instead of producing red-orange. Option A is correct; red is primary and red-orange is genuinely tertiary.

Correct answer: A. Mixing blue and violet produces blue-violet.

Explanation: On the colour wheel, blue and violet are neighbouring colours. Mixing them produces blue-violet, so option A correctly identifies the needed correction. Red-violet requires red and violet, not blue and violet. Yellow-green, red-orange, and yellow-orange are made from different neighbouring pairs. The useful naming rule is that a tertiary colour normally reflects the two adjacent colours used in its mixture.

Correct answer: B. Contamination by an unwanted opposite colour

Explanation: A clean tertiary-colour mixture depends on controlled ingredients and clean tools. If an unwanted opposite or complementary colour contaminates the mixture, it interacts with the intended colours, reduces saturation, and makes the result look dull or muddy. Therefore option B is correct. A clean palette, clean brush, and correct ratio help preserve colour clarity; they are preventive measures, not causes of muddiness.

Correct answer: A. Avoid contamination by green or blue

Explanation: Red-orange is made by mixing red with yellow in a controlled proportion. Green or blue contamination can weaken the warm red-orange hue and make the mixture dull or muddy, so option A is the necessary palette precaution. Yellow must actually be used, because it is part of the intended mixture. Keeping only white or using a completely dry brush does not ensure a clean colour result.

Correct answer: B. The value becomes lighter

Explanation: In colour theory, adding white to any hue creates a tint. A tint has a higher value, meaning it appears lighter, while the basic hue family and its colour-wheel relationship remain essentially the same. Thus option B is correct. White does not erase the component colours or change the colour into a different category; it mainly changes lightness. Adding black would produce a shade instead.

Correct answer: A. A lighter tint of red-violet

Explanation: Adding white increases the value or lightness of the existing red-violet colour and produces a tint. Therefore option A, a lighter tint of red-violet, is correct. A darker shade is made by adding black or another darkening colour, not white. White does not transform red-violet into blue-green or yellow-orange, because those are different hues requiring different colour relationships and mixtures.

Correct answer: B. A dark shade of blue-green

Explanation: In colour theory, adding black lowers the value of a colour and produces a shade. Consequently, black added to blue-green forms a darker shade of blue-green, making option B correct. A tint would require white, not black. The addition does not change the mixture into yellow-orange or pure green, because darkening changes value while preserving the basic hue family of blue-green.

Correct answer: B. The colour becomes muted and less intense

Explanation: The governing concept is colour intensity, or saturation. Grey contains neither a strong warm nor cool hue, so adding it generally reduces the purity and intensity of a tertiary colour, making the result softer, duller, or muted. Therefore, option B is correct. Adding grey does not increase saturation, turn the colour into a primary colour, or make it completely white; those effects would require different mixtures.

Correct answer: A. To compare colours produced by different colour ratios

Explanation: The governing concept is systematic colour comparison. Tertiary colours can be made by combining a primary colour with a neighbouring secondary colour, and changing the proportions shifts the result toward one component or the other. A labelled sample strip displays these mixtures side by side, allowing the learner to compare them accurately. Therefore, option A is correct; counting brushes, measuring paper, or hiding colour are unrelated purposes.

Correct answer: A. The value or hue may change slightly after drying

Explanation: The governing concept is the difference between wet appearance and the final dry appearance of paint. Depending on the medium, evaporation of water or solvent and changes in the surface reflection can make a sample look slightly lighter, darker, duller, or occasionally different in hue after drying. Therefore, option A is correct. Drying does not transform a tertiary colour into a primary colour, replace its component colours, or alter the colour wheel. The dry sample is the better reference for final judgement.

Correct answer: A. The layer may look pale, transparent and weak

Explanation: The governing concept is pigment concentration in a paint layer. When too much water is added, the same amount of pigment is spread through a larger volume, so the layer becomes less concentrated. On paper it may therefore appear pale, transparent, and weak rather than deep and saturated. Thus, option A is correct. Extra water does not make the layer thick or opaque, and it cannot change a tertiary colour into a primary colour. Controlled water gives a stronger, more even layer.

Correct answer: B. Use different values of yellow-green and blue-green

Explanation: The governing concept is variation in hue and value. Natural leaves are not all identical, so combining yellow-green and blue-green, then changing their lightness and darkness, can suggest differences in species, lighting, age, and surface direction. Therefore, option B is correct. One uniform green removes variation, red is generally unrelated to the observed green structure, and black and white alone remove the useful colour differences. Controlled variation makes the foliage appear more natural.

Correct answer: A. Use lighter blue-green in distant water areas and darker blue-green in nearer water areas

Explanation: The governing concept is atmospheric perspective supported by colour value. Distant areas usually appear lighter, softer, and less distinct because of the atmosphere, while nearer areas can show stronger, darker values. Therefore, lighter blue-green in the distance and darker blue-green in the foreground creates a convincing sense of depth, making option A correct. Option C reverses the usual value pattern, while B and D provide too little tonal variation to establish distance clearly.

Correct answer: A. By varying the proportions of red and violet and the colour value

Explanation: The governing concepts are hue variation and value variation. Changing the proportions of red and violet shifts the mixture toward a redder or more violet appearance. Adding white creates lighter tints, while a small amount of black can create darker shades, allowing highlights and shadows across petals. Therefore, option A is correct. Much black alone usually dulls the colour, the same colour everywhere removes variation, and green plus yellow produces a different hue rather than red-violet.

Correct answer: B. Give that colour a larger area or greater intensity

Explanation: The governing concept is visual dominance: the eye notices a colour first when it occupies more space, has stronger intensity, or contrasts clearly with surrounding colours. Therefore, giving the selected tertiary colour a larger area or greater intensity makes it dominant, while the remaining colours can support it. Equal areas may create competition, adding black everywhere changes all colours, and removing other colours destroys the colour scheme.

Correct answer: A. Visual hierarchy may become weak

Explanation: The governing concept is visual hierarchy, which helps viewers know where to look first. If yellow-green and blue-green occupy equal areas and have the same intensity, they have nearly equal visual weight and may compete for attention. Consequently, no clear dominant or supporting colour is established. They do not become primary colours, remove colour from the image, or make only yellow visible; those effects do not follow from equal use.

Correct answer: A. Through controlled repetition of selected colours

Explanation: The governing principle is unity, meaning that separate parts of an artwork appear connected and belong to the same whole. Controlled repetition of selected tertiary colours, especially a dominant colour used again in smaller areas, creates a visual link across the composition. Unrelated colours can fragment the design, isolating every colour removes relationships, and black lines alone do not create colour unity. Repetition should be planned rather than random.

Correct answer: A. Sufficient value contrast between text and background

Explanation: The governing concept is value contrast: value describes how light or dark a colour appears. Text remains readable when its value is clearly different from the background, such as light lettering on a dark field or dark lettering on a light field. Two tertiary hues may be different in name but similar in value, making them blur together at a distance. Equal value, random letter colours, and maximum intensity do not guarantee legibility.