In lighting, like theatre, white is all colors together, and black is the absence of light. In that scheme, the primary cors are red, GREEN, and blue- dunno why. Something appears white to the eye because it reflects back all the colors in the visible spectrum, something appears black because it absorbs all the light waves in the visible doe trum, reflecting none back. Something blue only reflects back the blue, absorbing all others. In art, the opposite is true, black is all colors mixed together and white is the absence of color. Different whites are actually TINTS of colors, and SHADES of colors have black added to them. So pink is a tint of red and dark red or burgundy is a shade of red. One is subtractive color theory and one is additive, I'm not certain which us which but I *think* light(ing) is subtractive. I think quilting is most like art and it's most useful to think of it that way. But both are true/correct. HTH-giggles