Watercolor Artist - USA (2019-12)

ArtistsNetwork.com 23

Meet the Artist

Artist Shari Blaukopf (shariblaukopf.com) is

a Montreal-based teacher, painter and sketch

blogger who loves to travel and share her love

of sketching. She’s the author of The Urban

Sketching Handbook: Working With Color. Her

online courses, “Sketching Landscapes in Pen,

Ink and Watercolor” and “Sketching the City

in Pen, Ink and Watercolor,” can be found on

mybluprint.com. Blaukopf has taught many

workshops through the Urban Sketchers

Workshop Program.

she’ll work with a homemade sketch-
book made with cut sheets of Arches
or Fabriano watercolor paper.
She usually uses the white of her
paper to represent snow, although on
a slushy day, she’ll gray it down. To
capture the texture of the snow, she
uses a drybrush technique, which—
in conjunction with her rough paper—
produces a textured snow eff ect.

A SENSE OF URGENCY
To be sure, painting in the cold
weather does accelerate the creative
process, but for this artist, speed and
directness are key to producing a
lively and memorable image. “Th e
great thing about painting in the
winter is that you learn how to be
effi cient with both your tools and
your painting process, because you
want to get it done quickly,” Blaukopf
says. “Painting in cold weather
teaches you to do the big shapes fi rst,
then fi nish the details quickly. No

matter how beautiful the scene is, you have to get it done

in an hour, because you simply can’t stay warm any longer.”

For any artist living in a chillier climate who wants to

paint on location—and wants to paint more than six

months out of the year—painting in the cold becomes

nonnegotiable. For Blaukopf, this seasonal reality ensures

that she has plentiful encounters with the snow-covered

landscape—supplying her with one of the most reliable

sources of creative fodder. WA

Austin R. Williams is an arts writer and a former editor

of Drawing and Artists Magazine.

“I did a quick pencil

sketch on the scene

in Lachine, Québec,

and took a few

photos,” says

Blaukopf. “I painted

24th St. Joseph

[15x22, watercolor

and pencil on paper]

later that afternoon

in my studio on a

half-sheet.”