With our long Montreal winter finally over, I find myself driving to a nearby boat club and looking for hopeful signs. Nope. A few folks are puttering by the docks. But the bobbing shapes and clanging masts, that I love to sketch so much, are still weeks away.

So, instead, I take refuge in my sketchbooks. And visit my favourite boat-friendly spot on earth—Chania’s Old Venetian Harbour, on the Greek island of Crete. I first visited Chania last May, with my husband Spyro (yes, Greek). We loved it so much, we’re returning in just a few weeks, this time with our sons.

Unusually, last year’s trip had no teaching component, so I had plenty of time to just paint—and pretty much painted one thing—Chania’s spectacularly beautiful Old Harbour. Day after day, from different vantage points, I painted my favourite spot on earth. It is that visually inexhaustible. I posted a lot of these here on my blog, after I returned.

At first when I looked at this harbour, I didn’t know where to begin. Chania’s harbour is so brimming with life and colour and vitality, it took time to figure out: How to simplify the complex architectural masses. How to render the warm, slanting light and shadows. How to capture the strolling families and watery reflections. Above all, how to unify it all into a painted scene that does justice to the glorious original.

I’ve been excited to create a course based on my experience there, and that’s the process I’ll share with you in “Sunlit Harbour: Simplifying a Cretan Scene in Watercolour.” I’ll guide you through my entire process—from first pencil marks and washes to final calligraphic details. You’ll learn how to:

Simplify what you see
Break a scene into manageable steps, and
Sketch with greater clarity and confidence

Shari Blaukopf's Sketchbook

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