Fire and Light: A Method of Painting for Artists Who Love Color

Just a few flips through this book and it's clear Julie Hanson is an accomplished, award-winning artist/painter. Still, not all able artists can teach — and Julie Hanson is a gifted and inspiring teacher. In Fire & Light, she shares her unique method of understanding how color works... and how it can work against even the most accomplished artist who doesn't fully understand color. This book has something of great value to offer to both the new painter and the seasoned artist.Julie explains in detail and with exercises how each color has a specific"job” to do. And she teaches you, step-by-step, how to implement the use of full color to develop form in your painting process.The Julie Hanson method places both color and light at the very center, i.e., these elements become the most important features of painting. Value and tone are not lost but they take a back seat to color. Color and light become the lead players.She explains this process in plain-speak, making it easy for any novice to understand. Still, she does not in any way dumb it down to the more seasoned student. Both will find great value in her teaching.It is important to note that while there is a definite method to her system, it is hardly a “paint by numbers” approach. Julie’s understanding of color will only enhance your very individual style and offer you new pathways for creative growth. If you doubt this, there are clear examples within the book that illustrate how her students have applied her exciting technique while maintaining their creative identities.I would encourage all lovers of color — from the most timid beginner to the very accomplished fine artist — to explore Julie Hanson’s exciting insight into understanding the world and the life of color and light. It will not fail you.

Ms Hanson shares a wealth of information in this book. I have taught art workshops for years and she breaks this down very simply and goes into detail the use of color temperature and it’s value relations. For a beginner that wants to push themself to grow in their color theory knowledge I would highly recommend this book. For the intermediate to advanced painter she gives helpful insights as how to push yourself to a new level of painting with color use. How to see color in a different way. Color is a science, especially how the pigment properties of paints make a huge difference in how they paint. Bravo Ms Hanson for a book well written.

I love this book. The 🖼 are beautiful. The book shows the work of a handful of artists from sketch then completion of the same scene from 🌴 to ⛵️. Provides supply lists for oil and acrylic (pg 67). Good overview on colors and color theory. I would say this is not a how to book, more overview than step by step, although it does provide a wealth of information on the variety of mediums. For me it provides aspirational painting projects to practice on as well as joy to see beautiful and very colorful works of art that I would otherwise not have seen.

This is a great instructional book for anyone wanting to learn color theory and the New England Impressionist's School method of painting. I've read other books that have covered this method, but this author has expanded it to cover a range of mediums... including acrylics, which is my preference. Best of all, she goes into depth on how to get a painting started in this style, which was something that had me scratching my head and wondering about...before I read this book. Everything is explained in bite-sized pieces, and each bit of info you learn expands upon what you've already read. This book makes me want to try oils again to see the difference in effect. To test what I learned, I painted an 11"x14" acrylic landscape that I included a pic of with my review.

Fast shipping and arrived exactly as described! This is an excellent book!

This book was a lot more useful than many art books I've read. I'm just a recent painter, but I was able to put this into practice. It can be a little too detailed if you want to commit it to memory (speaking as someone with a crappy memory), but, that's what cheat sheets are for.

Book contains a very specific type of painting with warm hot colors and cool colors as contrast, instruction on mixing pure colors to get repeatable warm colors. Has a series of exercises and explanation of mixing pure yellows and blues to get greens,

The author does a fabulous job of explaining the color wheel and color relationships. This is definitely one of the best books about color! I will keep it for reference to refresh now and then. Some valuable information explained in an easy to understand format!

Purchased the hard cover. A beautifully made book with great information on colors and lovely images. A joy to read or to just look at the images for inspiration. Inspiring to artists who love colors.

Fantastic book fir the beginner and intermediate student

Très beau et bon livre! Bien expliqué.

I was really excited to read the book because the front cover was a show stopper- but I was so disappointed with the paintings inside the book- it looked like it was a different artist that has mastered color harmony on the cover, and inside the painting demos just didn't have the wow factor as the front cover did. Plus it was very difficult to follow even with the step by step. The author also showed other student's step by step of her tutorial and in the end also she showed pages of her students' work which I found a bit bizarre- because I think as a reader we want to know how it's done and mastered and maybe less on how other beginner students followed her methods. Maybe it's just me and I'm picky.I've purchased quite a few painting tutorial books. It's not very to the point and simple to follow and the painting examples inside were not as vibrantly colorful as the cover so it was difficult for me to feel motivated to try it outI returned it the same day I got it unfortunately- she's probably a better instructor in live lessons.I would recommend Patti Mollica or Iris Scott and the book "Fill your Paintings with Light and Color" instead