I agree to the naturalist John Lubbock’s famous quote that the “Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books.” Especially in the field of design, there is a lot one can learn from nature. Shapes, colors and their distribution in space are all good examples of that. So, when it comes to color theory, nothing can beat nature in educating us about color harmony, contrasts, shades, tints and the color wheel in general .

Color harmony is the art of combining colors together to create pleasant visuals. Have you noticed how elegantly and harmoniously colors in nature are spread to please the eyes and to nourish the souls in such a gentle yet attractive way?

Let’s take flowers as an example, we will learn that William Wordsworth described the daffodils in his poem in such an elegant way: “Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.” ” I gazed and gazed but little thought, What wealth the show to me had brought” “And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils.” Hence, we can notice the immense pleasure with which the poet was filled just by observing a simple flower arrangement in nature.

This is what all recommendations to spend more time in nature is about. Because unlike the city, cluttering the mind and eyes with overcrowded lights and competing colors, nature teaches us the art of color elegance in the most pleasing and calming ways. Hence, you not only learn about the color harmony by observing nature, but also you get to replenish your soul with intense beauty.

Generally, a color wheel is a circle that consists of equal sectors of different colors, with similar colors grouped together while opposing colors stand at opposite ends from each other. Also we will notice that warm colors are at one side of the wheel while the cool colors are located at the other side of it.

We can define warm colors as those that bring warm feelings upon viewing them, such as the warmth of the fire and the sun, hence they are the color grades of the red, orange and yellow. While cool colors are those that carry such a calming effect upon viewing them such as the coolness of the sea and the skies above or the calmness of the grass and the fields beyond. Hence, they are the color grades of the blue, violet and green.

Also geometrically we can define a sector as the portion of the circle enclosed within 2 radii and an arc. Hence, we can say that equal sectors of the wheel have equal surface areas that are calculated by dividing the angle between it’s two radii by two then multiplying the outcome by the value of it’s radius squared.

To have color shades is to use the black color to darken your original color accordingly while color tinting is about using the white color to lighten your chosen color accordingly. Hence you can get a lot of grades of your chosen color lightened or darkened differently according to the amount of white or black color you mix within. Additionally, you can define a color hue as just the plain basic color without any shading or tinting.

As examples, we can observe the sunrise and sunset within the sky above and the different shades and tints of orange and red in such a magnificent scenery. We can also notice how the white color of the clouds lighten the blue color of the sky in such a subtle way. Also about the darkness that the night brings to the same blue color of the sky giving it an intense majestic shade.

Looking into the sea water, we can easily notice the darker shades of it’s blue color as it gets deeper and the lighter ones as it becomes shallower. Also by studying the different types of water, we can notice that the fresh water has it’s bed mostly of a darker clay soil that darkens the blue color of the rivers and ponds while the sandy beaches have sandy beds of a lighter color that in turn lightens the blue color of the sea water.

Now color contrasts are all about using opposing colors to make the images and shapes stand out to the viewer in an attractive manner. This is most evident in the sky and also on the ground. The color contrast in the sunset and sunrise with rays of yellow, orange and red within the contrasting light blue sky is a magnificent example. The striking yellow petals of the sunflower with the darker brownish colors of it’s pistils and the contrasting green stems is another pretty example. Also the graceful purple color in lavenders delicately distributed over the slender green stem of the scented flower is another good example.

Color contrasts are also evident in animals as we can clearly observe it in the beautiful peacock’s tail rich in numerous contrasting colors or in the cows and zebras with contrasting black/brown and white.

These are all a few examples from the rich nature that can teach us all more about colors in art and design. But as one pays more visits to nature and thinks deeply about how it’s arranged, one can surely find way more examples to provide, or as Albert Einstein once said : “Look deep into nature and then you will understand everything better”.

Hence, my advice for everyone is to spend more time in nature and to be more vigilant to the subtle lessons in elegance and harmony it teaches us along the way. This would be most useful to everyone not to mention designers and creators in all fields. Thank you for reading my article!