Report on the January 2015 meeting:

Dan Mondloch: Techniques for Painting with Watercolor, Acrylic, and Gouache

Report by Kathy Braud, Photos by LouAnn Hoppe and Deb Thornton

Dan, with his easy smile and personable manner, is a third generation landscape painter from St Cloud, MN.

He started at age 15, moving on thru college to get a BFA in Painting and Drawing and used his summers painting houses to put him through school.

We were privileged to enjoy Dan Mondloch’s NSWS demo on Thursday night. He is a very knowledgeable & organized teacher and talked to us in a very relaxed easy-to-understand way.

His painting started with a sample of how he lays down his initial first layer of watered down fluid acrylics as a barrier over the paper. A description of a 3 : 1 water to soft gel dilution was next, and when all was dry, how to make a determination if the painting is properly prepared for easy lifting or if stains.

Dan had a half sheet paper drawing ready for us, already transferred, using burnt sienna & the dot method ( divide sides in half, then half again and same with reference). Third step, included laying down watercolors in the big value areas, adding rich colors to the darks and moving across the whole.

He focused on looking at the background as a negative shape. Remember, while the paint is wet, to add, lift and borrow from another area in the shape to build, integrate and intermingle the shapes using the balance of positive and negative painting features. When planning subject matter, allow for some semi –transparent color.

The last stage is gouache which dries darker then watercolor. The water and the sky were completed in white and paynes grey & white to suggest shadows. Dan worked to move them around like a sky with clouds. Do vary the brush sizes, soften the edges & lift. Even a transparent glow can be achieved in this manner from lifting to the undercoating. Gouache adds atmosphere and milky shades of color. Watercolor and gouache can be added together for new shades of color.

Dan has been teaching community art classes and doing workshops for many years and will be teaching at Dillman’s in Wisconsin this summer.

Dan is articulate and shares that great smile of his often. He has experimented with all kinds of art making supplies, a new style of backings for his paintings to be protected without glass, and has made 3D style watercolors. Dan has completed large murals, won awards, MSAB Artist initiative grant, a CMAB McKnight Emerging Artist Award, and will have a solo exhibition at Ridgewater College in January/February 2015.