When describing the hue of a painting, would you only say the primary colours used?

[kathy_felldown]

Eg. If there are a lot of pinks and pastel greens, you would say that it is red, yellow and blue ( = green ) for hue??

[Getsal]

No, a hue describes a shade of colour. For eg. dark green is one shade and light green is another shade. So, you could say the painting had dark and light green hues.

[Ruth51]

Hi! A hue pertains to a COLOR of an object. Value, or tone as it is commonly called in England, refers to the degree of depth (lightness or darkness) of a color.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hue

Hue: The name of any color as found in its pure state in the spectrum or rainbow, or that aspect of any color. The primary colors (in pigment: red, yellow, and blue) together with the secondary colors (in pigment: orange, green, and violet) form the chief colors of the spectrum.

Definition from http://www.artlex.com/

The focus on describing the hue of the color is both the use of primary and secondary colors.

When you refer to pink, it is a light value, or tone, of the hue red, which has been tinted and lightened with white. Pastel green would simply be a light value of the hue green—perfectly acceptable as green is a secondary color.

HUE = Primary or Secondary Color
VALUE (or tone) = the degree of lightness or darkness of a HUE

Thanks for asking this question. Best wishes!