The traditional painter's Colour wheel is made from 12 colour families.
The primary thre colours are RED, YELLOW, BLUE. These saturated (or high Chroma) colours are regarded as free from white or black and help us to create the twelve colour families in their relative hues.

Mixing any two of our primary colours: RED, YELLOW or BLUE makes a secondary colour.

Our secondary colours are GREEN, ORANGE and VIOLET. This creates six of our twelve colour families.

The balance of our twelve colour families called the intermediate colours - are made by mixing each of our primary and secondary colours together.

Intermediate Colours
Our primary, secondary and intermediate colurs make our twelve colour families.

The tertiary colours : OLIVE, CITRON and RUSSET, are complex colours made from secondary colours and while important - are not included in our Colour Wheel.

ORANGE + VIOLET = RUSSET
ORANGE + GREEN = CITRON
VIOLET + GREEN = OLIVE

Harmonies
Painters and artists have been using the Colour Wheel as their guide to create successful colur harmonies for many centuries - based on the twelve Colour Wheel Colour Families.

Adjoining Family colour schemes.
The MONOCHROMATIC colour scheme is based on only one colour area of the Colour Wheel and relies on shades and tints of that colour to create thecontrasts.

Expanding the colour range of the MONOCHROMATIC scheme to incorporate adjoining families - we make the more complex ANALOGOUS and HARMONIOUS schemes.

Contrasting Colour Family Scheme.

The COMPLEMENTARY colur scheme is a "contrasts" colour scheme. It draws colours from the opposite sides on the Colour Wheel. This adding of the opposing warm and cool hues creates a colour dynamic. These schemes are tempered by using tints and shades of the colours. Because equal parts of opposing colours cancel each other - a harmony requires one colour area to be larger and dominate.

The SPLIT COMPLEMENTARY is a more complex version of the complementary scheme - offsetting the contrast with the colours either side of the complementary.

Complex Contrast Family Scheme

The TRADIC SCHEME is the most complex of contrats - relying on three colour families - spaced equidistant around te wheel. These colours - when using a high chroma level are vibrant and energetic.