Sunlit Harbour: A new online course

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

So instead of guesswork, you have a clear path forward. This is especially helpful if you ever:

• Feel overwhelmed by busy scenes
• Get stuck on “Where, oh where to begin”
• Tend to over-guess and overwork your sketches

Ready to give this a try? This is the week to start, by taking advantage of my special launch price on Sunlit Harbour: Simplifying a Cretan Scene in Watercolour. Normally priced at $49 USD or $69 CDN, I’m discounting Sunlit Harbour​ to $42 USD or $59 CDN until midnight (ET) on Sunday, May 10, 2026. And you don’t need a coupon code at checkout! You can follow the course at your own pace, and watch as often as you wish. Plus there are subtitles in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. Hope to see you at the harbour!

International Urban Sketchers Week 2026

It’s International Urban Sketchers Week 2026! It’s a celebration of on-location drawing, and it takes place from now until May 7, 2026.

My local chapter held an afternoon of activities at Square Victoria in Old Montreal today. We broke up into three groups, drew in each spot for 30 minutes, and then moved on to the next place. Our first location was the famous art deco Metro entrance donated by the City of Paris to the City of Montreal to commemorate Expo 67. Each location also included a drawing prompt, and this one was to use a single line for our drawing. I deviated a bit by adding a bit of tone. I’ve always wanted to draw these green wrought iron curlicues, but I think I’ll have to go back when I actually have a bit more time to capture their details properly and add a bit of colour.

Our second location was nearby. For this one we had to draw Ju Ming’s massive bronze sculpture, this time in monochrome. Our third location was the Palais de Congrès but for that one we drew in direct watercolour on postcards that we later used in a postcard exchange. It was a really well-organized event and so much fun to catch up with old friends. Are you participating in any Urban Sketchers Week activities? Here’s a very useful list of ways you can take part this week.

Little red chairs

One of the things that you’ll see everywhere in Vietnam is these tiny red plastic chairs and stools. Everyone having soup at breakfast time in the open air cafes is sitting on them. Look into any local cafe and you’ll see them. And we certainly sat on them for many of our lunches. I really wanted to include them in my second Hoi An sketch. Again I was sketching with friends, on some stairs near the river and around the corner from the very famous 16th century Japanese footbridge.

I decided not to draw the bridge because I loved the energy and movement under the trees at the cafe. But what I did not realize when I chose my subject was that everyone on a walking or biking tour of Hoi An stops on that corner to photograph the bridge. I spent most of my sketching time summoning up my x-ray vision to look through the crowds so that I could see the scene I was trying to sketch.

20+ Free Watercolor Workshops You Can’t Miss

Because I’ve been away, I’m a bit late in promoting a wonderful event that is going on right now. Win with Watercolor is a 6-day free online event with 20+ watercolour workshops (including mine!). I’ve already started to watch some of them, and they truly are excellent quality from some amazing teachers.

My workshop is called “Quick Figure Sketching in Watercolour“, and after you access it you can also watch the extended version of the video on my website. Click here to get all the info and sign up. It’s on until April 26. Hope to see you there!

Kalanchoe

“Good choice. These will last for at least three weeks.” That was what the man next to me in the grocery line said when he saw my flower choice. He followed that with, “I know. I’m in the flower business.” He was right. These cut stems of Kalanchoe have been blooming in my kitchen for almost a month. I’ve only ever had the potted version of this plant, and frankly, the main reason I bought these cut ones was because there was a 2 for 1 special on them, but this won’t be the last time I get them.

As you can see, the bouquet is mainly dark green leathery lobed leaves with a few small flowers at the top. But it’s enough to create a spot of brightness in the kitchen while we wait for spring in Montreal, and it’s a great subject to sketch.

If you are also waiting for warmer weather and looking forward to painting flowers, today is the last day of the spring sale on all my online flower courses. Use the coupon code SPRING25 for 25% off on Sketching Spring Flowers, Wet-in-Wet Blooms, Sketching Fresh Flowers and Sketching a Winter Garden. The sale is on until midnight ET tonight.