COLOR

In painting, there are three primary colors (red, blue, and yellow).  All other colors are made from different mixtures of these colors.  You can add white to lighten or tint a color.  You can add black to darken or shade a color.  You can add a mixture of black and white to "gray up" or tone a color.
     In the Louisa Villea, color is perhaps the strongest element of art used.  Louisa wears a red gown as she sits on Louisville's Great Lawn.  On the color wheel, red (a primary color) is directly opposite green (a secondary color).  Opposite colors next to each other in a painting offer a strong visual contrast.  The green lawn allows the red gown to stand out.  This helps draw more attention to Louisa, the main subject of the painting.
     A wide rainbow of colors, of varying intensity and value, was used in the Louisa Villea to add visual interest to the painting.