You see a painting radiating light and wonder, how does the artist do that? This illusion of light is just that, an illusion!
The process of creating this illusion is more strategic than one may think. The pages in this book beam with artist Kami Mendlik's inspiring words, informed knowledge, and vibrant impressionistic paintings that reveal how this illusion is created.
Each page builds on the fundamentals of color with exercises to help the brain with a step-by-step strategy to both see and paint color relativity. The steps begin with the fundamental basics and advance to the most masterful nuances so you, too, can create paintings filled with the illusion of light!
Do your colors often turn out muddy, chalky, or flat? Do they look great on your mixing palette but dull on canvas? Have you ever felt terrified to scrape away a color because you weren't confident you could mix it again?
You're not alone. Achieving rich, luminous colors that dance against each other is the stuff of painters' dreams, but it's not easy without a process. We see the color in our mind, but how do we mix and apply it in harmony with the rest of the painting?
The answer is color relativity. By realizing that a color only appears a certain way because of the color next to it, you unlock a whole new world. No color stands alone, whether in real life or on canvas.
In this book, master painter Kami Mendlik distills color relativity into a simple, yet transformative, step-by-step strategy that will imbue your paintings with radiant light and atmosphere.
You'll learn how to:
- Use the primary palette to create stronger color harmony
- Simplify shapes into color averages to create dynamic color relationships
- Avoid common color dilemmas
- Identify and use the properties of color to create the illusion of light
- Mix primary, secondary, and tertiary colors in a systematic, intentional way
Say goodbye to fear, confusion, and frustration when it comes to color. By applying Kami's unique strategy for both seeing and mixing any color, you'll soon be able to paint color relativity with confidence and bring your paintings to life.
SPECIAL EXPANDED EDITION featuring Planal Fruit®: In this NEW edition, Kami breaks down the properties of creating the illusion of light and form on a 3-dimensional object.
KAMI MENDLIK is a nationally and internationally recognized painter, instructor, author of Color Relativity, and creator of Planal Fruit®.
Her passion and inspiration are studying color and light from life, which she may later use in the studio as information and inspiration for larger landscape paintings. Kami's poetic ability to translate the illusion of light with paint has made her work highly sought after by collectors and patrons. In 2023 the Minnesota Marine Art Museum honored her work in an exhibition titled "Creating the Illusion of Light: Contemporary Landscape Painter: Kami Mendlik", alongside "Poetry in Nature: Hudson River School Landscapes from the New York Historical Society."
In 2008, Kami Mendlik started and founded the St Croix River School of Painting in Stillwater MN where she teaches the fundamentals of representational painting with a special emphasis on color. In January of 2014 she purchased a 16-acre farm just North of Stillwater, where she converted a 100-year-old hip roof barn into her studio and the St Croix River School of Painting's new location. The property is a landscape painters dream with endless inspiration for painting.
Kami is the 2022 recipient of the Dorothy Driehaus Mellin Fellowship, 2022 Bronze Medal at the Oil Painters of America National Juried Exhibition, 2022 Author of Color Relativity: Creating An Illusion Of Light With Paint, Founder of The St Croix River School of Painting, Creator of Planal Fruit®, Distinguished Alumni Recipient - Stillwater Area Highschool, Signature Member OPA - Oil Painters of America, Signature Member of AIS - American Impressionist Society, Signature Member of AWA - American Woman Artists, and an active Member of OPM - Outdoor Painters of Minnesota.
