Shari Blaukopf, Canada

Shari Blaukopf is a Montreal-based graphic design teacher, illustrator, sketch blogger and correspondent for Urban Sketchers. She has a BFA from Concordia University with a specialization in graphic design, but her true love has always been watercolour painting. In fact, she began taking workshops at age 12 and has subsequently painted and drawn her way across several European countries, parts of North America, and now Asia!

Her discovery of Urban Sketchers was a transformative experience, enabling her to connect with a worldwide community, discovering fresh perspectives on the urban experience and reinvigorating her work. She is co-founder of the Urban Sketchers Montreal regional blog and has given many watercolour workshops, including two with Marc Taro Holmes in Montreal, Quebec and Portland, Oregon through the USK Workshop Program. Her watercolours are in corporate, government and private collections in both Canada and the United States.

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Workshop P: Big Brush Colour: Capturing that First Impression

Location: Singapore Management University

Workshop description

What makes us choose one place over another when we sketch? ItÕs often because of a first impression, an immediate connection, something that catches our eye and that we want to immediately get down on paper. In watercolour, itÕs important to capture that first impression quickly, to create a sense of place and say the most with the fewest brushstrokes. When I sit down to sketch, I begin by thinking about the big shapes in what IÕm seeing Ñ that series of house facades, for example, or those boxes of tomatoes at a market stand, or the row of trees I spy in the distance. Using a big brush (flat or round) to paint these shapes is liberating because you cannot possibly get lost in the details. With a big brush in your hand and some fresh colour in your palette, youÕre able to get the big shapes down on paper rapidly and decisively. YouÕre forced to be succinct. And then the magic happens. The paint surprises you. Shapes merge, colours flow together, and things happen on paper that you couldnÕt possibly have planned. Working first from the big shapes, and eventually moving on to the smaller ones, you’re actually able to capture first impressions on your first try.

More details.

For more information about the Symposium, including schedule and registration information, please visit the Symposium site.