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Direct link to newsletter at Caroline Jasper's website:
http://www.carolinejasper.com/index.htm

Excerpt:
COLOR CORNER - Color vs. Value:Color attracts your eye and prompts emotional response. It can also help to identify subject, interpret image, and impart overall mood or message. However, while color provides the entertainment, value does all the heavy work. Value is the essential impact factor. Value, more than color, imparts the illusion of spatial depth and form. Light and shadow differences (value contrast) define surface contours and imply volume. Our brains rely on dark/light data collected by our eyes in order to make sense of what is being seen. We see value first, color second. The absence of color in black and white photos does not confuse us, nor does the waning visibility of colors as sunlight daily fades to darkness. Value stays on the job when there is insufficient light to reflect color. In every painting's delicious recipe, value is cake itself. Color, is just the icing on top.

TIP for better skill in seeing values: Compare digital camera shots of both your reference and your painting. Accurate value representation is far more important than matching colors in the reference. If the painting is dark where needed and light where needed, it will carry the image visually. It matters less which colors are used.

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Caroline's books and DVDs contain many references, demos, and exercises pertaining to the importance of value in art.
www.carolinejasper.com

I am all about color -in my paintings, workshop instruction, and in writing. My book Powercolor-Master Color Concepts for All Media presents what every artist needs to know about color. Real vs. wheel color, theory evolution, color use through history, mixing management, psychology, physics, optics, paint properties and manufacturing. Ten artists' demos in various media/subject/style.

Direct link to more information, including a PayPal purchase option:
http://www.carolinejasper.com/pages0/Products/PowecolorCvr.htm

One of the key chapters is titled Color Wheel Confessions.
Excerpt:
" As youngsters we artists, like so many other children, believed in Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, and the notion that each secondary color comes from mixing equal parts of two primary colors. Artists often cling to color wheel myths long after facing the truth about Santa. The color wheel, a useful visual aide for color mixing and theory instruction, spins a nice little tale about basic color relationships. In practice, however, the wheel is a mere symbol of how paint colors actually behave.

While basic, the color wheel is bunk. The simplicity of its equally segmented circle is the source of much confusion. As with lessons in other subjects, we first learn about color in simple terms:  Basic hues – red, blue, yellow, and simple mixing formulas. These are among the misleading generalities perpetrated by color wheel instruction. Color theory implies that green, for example, is a mixture of equal parts blue and yellow. From experience we find that darker colors overpower lighter colors in mixtures. Much more yellow than blue is required to produce a green that appears to be an equal mix of the two. Mixing theory illustrated by color wheels overlooks important real color factors.

Untrue Blue and Other Primary Fabrications

Wheel colors are sometimes thought to represent the true basic colors. Early childhood colors come in familiar names coinciding with instruction about how colors mix. Pass student-grade paint displays at the local art supply store to select your first artist quality paints and confusion mounts. Discovering many different reds, blues, yellows, etc. and strange names unfamiliar to wheel charts might prompt questions like “Which ones are the real primary and secondary colors?” and “What good is a color wheel when available paints don’t match it?”

Commercially marketed color wheels don’t even match each other. The “primary blue” on one wheel appears greenish next to another that looks a little like violet. Each charts’ printed color represents the opinion of a different manufacturer’s color expert. Who is to say what each true wheel color looks like?

Wheel Color vs. Real Color

A color wheel is just theory. It can do no more than suggest how actual paint colors might interact. Real colors, unlike wheel colors, are far too complex to be represented in such simple terms. They are too dark or light, bright or dull, warm or cool to stand for ideal hues.

Pigments are natural or chemical products. Each creates paint color with unique characteristics, which determine how it will react when mixed or mingled with other colors. Value differences confuse mixing formulas. Opaque paint colors alter the appearance of transparent colors. Chemical colors such as Pthalo Green has staining power far greater than most other colors.

Pigment formulas and procedures used for manufacturing artists’ colors vary greatly between brands. The name printed on the paint tube gives only a hint of how its contents will look. One brand’s Viridian, for example, is darker while another looks more yellow or dull because they were created using different pigments or combinations of pigments. Consumers should expect to find pigment sources disclosed on media labels.

Manufacturer brochures, available at art supply stores, often provide extensive information about paint content and characteristics. Improved familiarity with pigments and the colors they generate can be helpful in selecting paint colors and predicting their performance."