madder is a plant dye, that yields a deep red (a red with an undertone of blue)-- cherry red is one sort, where as tomato red is red with an undertone of yellow (tomato red is closer to orange, cherry red is closer to purple.. but both are still more red than orange or purple)

brown can be a greyish brown, or redish brown, or yellowish brown, as can grey.. you can have a simple straight grey (black and white in some ratio) or a grey that has a little bit of a blueish tint (a steel grey)

even white can have undertones.. icy white has a bit of blue in it.. creamy white, yellow, warm white, red..

most people think an icy white is 'whiter' than a plain white!

one of the tricks our eyes play on use..

a classic trick of color/reflectivity is that a newly paved street, (blacktop) will reflect more light in full sun than 'dirty snow'. yet we all know that "black absorbs light" and "white reflects light" ... which is why photographers always use light meters to measure, and don't trust their eyes!

our moon is about as black as paved street.. but the sun is a very bright light sourse, and space is really dark... and the result is we see the moon as silvery!


my other obsession