The Shape of Water: Painting the Illusion of Water Reflections
Workshop | Available
This four-day studio workshop will focus on painting realistic water with deep reflections. Learn Kami’s approach to creating beautiful water and the role light plays in the scene, as she shares her techniques used in painting water by employing shapes of color. You will learn her approach to building a painting, beginning with graphing the image from both a plein-air study and a photo reference, then building with a wash, followed by applying thicker paint. Each morning will begin with a lecture and a painting demonstration, progressively moving the painting each morning to build on each concept. As she moves through this process, she will be emphasizing the importance of seeing one shape of color and how it relates to another – Color Relativity, creating the illusion of light and atmosphere in the scene. Students are recommended to work from both photo references and plein air studies. The main purpose of this workshop is to provide tools and steps for studying and painting water in your paintings. Although it’s always more satisfying to have your own original concept, the main purpose of this week is to arm you with information to take home and integrate into your own paintings. Kami will provide additional reference material to use, if needed. There will be ample time to paint with critiques and feedback throughout the week.
Kami Mendlik
Kami Mendlik is a nationally and internationally award winning 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 ASMA – American Society of Marine Artists, Signature Member of AWA - American Woman Artists, , and an active Member of OPM - Outdoor Painters of Minnesota.