Shari Blaukopf on How Flowers Sustain Her Watercolor Practice Through Montreal Winters
Shari Blaukopf, a watercolor artist located in Montreal, finds inspiration from flowers during the city's cold, colorless winters. While she paints garden flowers throughout the warmer months, her winter practice relies on photographs of blooms taken during dog walks. Blaukopf employs a wet-in-wet technique, often using faded flowers as subjects due to their unique character. Notable works include a square format of azaleas and multiple renditions of roses, where she refined her approach by altering color choices. A Signature Member of the American Watercolor Society, her book, *The Urban Sketching Handbook: Working With Color*, and courses are available online.
Key facts
- Shari Blaukopf is a watercolor artist based in Montreal, where cold, colorless months drive her need for flowers
- She paints garden flowers in spring, summer, and fall, and photographs blooms while walking her dog for winter reference
- Her wet-in-wet watercolor method involves dampening both sides of the paper, removing excess water with a rolled paper towel, and working with a juicy brush
- She prefers overflowing containers and searches thrift shops for small, shapely pots
- She keeps bouquets past their prime because fading blooms often make more interesting subjects
- For a pot of azaleas she chose a square format, using a yellow creamer to break symmetry and fruit as a visual counterpoint
- She painted roses and gerbera twice, improving the second version by starting with cool deep red instead of a light pink wash and adding purple for shadows
- Discounted grocery-store kalanchoe inspired her for months, with overhead lighting used to separate leaves and mix varied greens
- Hollyhocks she photographed before a bulldozer destroyed them were later painted wet-into-wet from her photo archives in winter
- Blaukopf is a Signature Member of the American Watercolor Society and the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour
- Her book is The Urban Sketching Handbook: Working With Color, and her online courses are at Learn.ShariBlaukopf.com
Entities
Artists
- Shari Blaukopf
Institutions
- American Watercolor Society
- Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour
- Artists Network
- Southwest Art
- Pastel Journal
Locations
- Montreal
- Canada