# Basic paint mixing question



## Andy 50 (Mar 31, 2016)

I'm trying to understand how paint colors work. Or in other words, why does a canvas that's painted red, look red? And I'm a little confused with the prism thing.

Here's what I'm thinking now.

A prism separates white light into 7 basic colors. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo (turquoise), and violet (purple). Like a rainbow.

And white light striking a canvas that's painted red looks red because the pigment absorbs all colors except red, and reflects the red light.

But that only allows for 7 colors, and I know there are more than that (smile).

How do paint colors like pink work?

Help!


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