Shari Blaukopf is a Montreal-based painter, teacher, author and art blogger who loves to travel and share her love of sketching. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Concordia University with a specialization in graphic design, but her true love has always been watercolour painting. She began painting in her teens and is fortunate to have studied with some of the greats: Edgar A. Whitney, Frank Webb, Skip Laurence, Milford Zornes and Frederick Wong. Her paintings are in corporate, government and private collections in Canada, the United States and abroad, and she is honoured to have paintings in the Royal Collection Trust at Windsor Castle. Shari travels widely to paint and to share her distinctive approach in sold-out workshops devoted to sketching and painting en plein air.

She is a signature member of the American Watercolor Society and the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour. Her sketches have been featured in dozens of books and magazines on urban sketching and watercolour painting. You can find her online courses at Learn.ShariBlaukopf.com and Craftsy.com. Her book, The Urban Sketching Handbook: Working with Color, was published in 2019 by Quarry Books. 

Whenever I arrive at a new place, I immediately ask myself: What colours and shapes best define this landscape and its architecture? What about the people, the plants, birds and animals? What make this place special, worth capturing in my sketchbook? 

I’ve designed this workshop to give you not only confidence sketching the colourful streets of Hoi An — but also confidence to sketch wherever you happen to be. I’ll show you how to keep your watercolour sketches loose, fresh and vibrant. And I’ll share my techniques for capturing the beauty that surrounds us, so you can savour it for years to come. 

We’ll begin each day with a short demo and end with a review, leaving plenty of in-between time to work on your own sketches. As part of a small group, you’ll get plenty of individual attention and feedback, as we work on value studies, vignettes and composition — the essentials to simplifying a scene and capturing its essence. I have dozens of travel sketchbooks in my studio, and whenever I browse through them, memories of specific places come flooding back. I want the same for you: At the end of the week, my goal is that you’ll return home with a fat book filled with fresh, colourful sketches — and memories.

Drawing:

• An HB or B pencil (I use a mechanical pencil with a B lead)

• Kneaded rubber eraser

• Black pens with permanent ink (I use a Platinum Carbon Pen, EF nib, with carbon ink cartridges)

• A few water-soluble pens for quick monochrome sketches

• Water-soluble coloured pencils (I have a set of 12 Inktense pencils)

• A white gel pen

Painting:

• A small watercolour palette with at least 12 colours and a good surface for mixing. I fill my palette with a good variety of tube colours, but you can use pans as long as the colour is fresh.

Brushes:

• I use a wide variety of brushes (both rounds and flats), but if you have one good travel round (#8) with a sharp point (synthetic or sable), and a 1” flat brush, you can paint most of your sketches with these. I also like to use a rigger brush for wires and branches (#3). Good travel brush brands are Rosemary, Da Vinci and Escoda. 

• A water brush for quicker sketches

• Leak-proof water containers

• A small spray bottle

Paper:

Surfaces are important. Please use a sketchbook with good quality watercolour paper, as a mixed media book with thin paper will not allow you to achieve good watercolour results and you will be frustrated. If you’re not sure whether your current sketchbook is good enough, simply email me. I have tried most sketchbooks on the market. 

• Watercolour sketchbook A4 or A5 size (I use a Hahnemuhle 100% cotton book, cold pressed, A4 size)

• I will also bring loose watercolour sheets, A4 size, for practice exercises

• Drawing board

• Bulldog Clips

Other:

• A small folding stool

• Hat

• Sunglasses

• Sunscreen

• Insect Repellent

• Good walking shoes

“If you want to go home after a week of painting with the feeling that you are a great artist and have done the most wonderful sketches, Shari is the best teacher to go with! I think fondly of the workshops I have taken and am always looking out for the next one!”

“Shari has this wonderful combination of being a seriously good watercolour artist, a fun sketcher, and a good teacher, allowing you to paint scenes you thought you could never do. I learned from Shari that wherever you sit down, there is a painting to make, which is precious if you are painting plein air and have little time. In all, a very rewarding experience and I have attended many workshops over the years.”

“I have taken many workshops with Shari Blaukopf, one of my favourite artists and teachers. She knows how to organize her sessions into such useful jewels, and as a student you come away with so many new tools added to your art belt. Shari makes plein air painting doable and fun — she is not to be missed.”

“Shari is an amazing teacher — very professional, nice ALL the time, patient and so knowledgeable. She created a very supportive and fun learning environment.”

“The best part of the workshop was Shari’s demos and personal critiques. She’s so encouraging and has such positive energy. Can’t wait to do another workshop!”

Shari is a past member of the Urban Sketchers Board of Directors, the co-founder of Urban Sketchers Montreal and a member of the Education Committee of Urban Sketchers. She has given many watercolour workshops both on her own and through the Urban Sketchers Workshop Program in North America, Europe and Asia. She is honoured to have taught at many Urban Sketchers Symposia, in Singapore, Barcelona, Manchester, Porto, Amsterdam and Chicago, and she will be teaching at the USk symposium in Poznan, Poland in 2025.