What do these three sets of colors have in common?

You can find the clue in this color wheel.

These three sets are tertiary complements.  They are the only set of complements on the color wheel that have within them a single primary color in common. Taking them in order, yellow green and red violet each has blue within them, yellow orange and blue violet each include red, and red orange and blue green each contain yellow.  

Can you name from which set of these tertiary complements this painting by Lori Putman was created?

Take a look at this.  I have created a scale that shows a full range of red-orange and blue-green.

As long as both colors have within them the one primary color in common, they are still tertiaries.  In a spectrum, such as a rainbow, colors gradually change from one to another.  At some point blue green will become blue in one direction and green in the other, and red orange will become orange in one direction and red in the opposite direction, but between those two identities, they remain tertiary colors.  

TIP:  A single painting can be created from a palette of any set of tertiary colors (with white or water if watercolor), giving it a sense of poetry that no other color combination can give.

Dianne

P.P.S.  My new book, Finding Freedom to Create, is taking a life of its own. If you've not yet got y our copy, you can find it on Amazon or Barnes & Noble in softcover, hardcover and ebook formats.