Winter Woods & Stream: Creating Atmosphere on a Cloudy Day

A watercolour demonstration by Shari Blaukopf, CSPWC

Watch this watercolour video demonstration at your convenience anytime between February 1 and March 15, 2022.

Ticket cost for Shari's video:  CSPWC Members/Associates $12, non-members $15

For anyone who lives in a northern climate, painting snow scenes is inevitable and, perhaps, even a little obvious. It’s hard to argue with the pictorial drama of sharp shadows cast on fresh snow on a sunny day. But given the north’s often unpredictable weather, and long stretches of overcast skies, there’s no reason to wait for “ideal” painting conditions. There is, in fact, plenty of pictorial drama and beauty even on cloudy days. Plus, there’s the added opportunity to create your own mood and atmosphere through subtle modulations of colour. In this one-hour streaming demo, watch Shari Blaukopf paint a landscape of snowy winter woods and watery reflections on an overcast day. She'll show you how to plan the composition, select a limited palette for the winter trees and icy stream, and work from large areas to small details.

Watch this watercolour video demonstration at your convenience, as often as you like, between February 1 and March 15, 2022. You can also choose to download the reference photo Shari Blaukopf works from and paint along with her.

After purchasing your ticket, you will receive an email containing the link and password you’ll need to watch Shari's video demo on Vimeo. Please note that the video will only be accessible using the password, and only between the dates of February 1 and March 15, 2022. You can watch the video as often as you like during that period. The video is not available for download.

For questions about this event, or if you are a CSWPC member and have not received the promo code to apply for the discount, please email education@cspwc.ca

About Shari Blaukopf

Shari Blaukopf is a workshop instructor, watercolour painter and sketch blogger. Her paintings are inspired by the landscapes and cityscapes of Montreal, where she grew up, as well as by the places she travels to. She paints and sketches in all seasons, but her favourite season is winter, when she often sketches from her makeshift car studio. 

Shari loves to teach, travel and fill sketchbooks with her observations — skills she’s channeled during the pandemic into creating online sketching courses at Learn.shariblaukopf.com. She is the author of The Urban Sketching Handbook: Working with Color, and her work has been featured in many publications, including “Watercolor Artist,” “The Artist’s Magazine,” “International Artist,” and “The Art of Watercolour,” as well as in over a dozen books on urban sketching. She’s been active in the Urban Sketchers community since 2012 and has given many watercolour workshops both on her own and internationally through the Urban Sketchers Workshop Program. Her watercolours are in corporate, government and private collections in North America and abroad, and she’s a signature member of the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour. You can follow her sketches on her blog, at shariblaukopf.com, and on Instagram @sharisketcher.

More work by Shari:

Bus stop, 14x10", watercolour

Villeray, 14x10", watercolour