If you missed this demonstration, here are some photos showing his process.
Dan Mondloch setting up for the demonstration on landscape painting. A former board member of CMW, he is always a welcome sight for members, drawing a big crowd.
Dan paints using a light, medium dark gray value scale when considering his values of colors in layers as he applies them.
Translation from a grayscale to a color scale can be tricky but in this example Dan parallels the gray values and the color values for us to understand.
In demonstrating techniques, Dan explained that watercolorists need to consider the wetness of the paper and the wetness of the paint when striving for specific techniques.
For a soft sky add wet paint to a wet but not puddled area. For a little more definition, add dryer paint onto a wet but not puddled area.
To glaze or get a clean edge, add wet paint onto dry paper.
For a rougher texture, add a more concentrated or dry paint to dry paper.
Layering in colors for this example of a farm, Dan shows us how he builds the whole painting at once purposely not leaving whites as even sunlight has warmth and color, then glazing the medium values in large blocks. From here, he adds in more medium value details and some shadowing and finally the darkest of details and accents to draw the viewer in.
Here are the step by step progress photos of the demonstration for the night.
A special thank you to Dan Mondloch for his willingness to come demonstrate and explain his process to us. What a treat indeed!
Dan is an award winning third-generation painter. His first interest in painting was in the 9th grade; while driving with his dad he mentioned he’d like to try painting. The next morning he woke to the kitchen table covered with everything he could ever possibly need to paint a picture. He’s been featured in Plein Air Magazine, Watercolor Artist, and Southwest Art Magazine. Recent honors include the Jean Stern Legacy Award at Laguna Invitational and Best of show at Grand Marais Plein Air. He lives in Cold Spring, MN with his wife Mallory, sons Jack (8) and Drew (5), daughter Emma (3), and plein air painting canine bud – Ruby.