Ten sunrises of San Miguel
Posted: February 1, 2020 Filed under: Uncategorized 77 CommentsEvery morning in San Miguel de Allende I painted a sunrise view from my window. I wasn’t planning on creating a series when I did the first one, but the morning view was so beautiful — with a distant mountain range slowly emerging beyond the valley — that I just couldn’t stop myself. After the first day, I set an early alarm to make sure I wouldn’t miss it.
These are painted with gouache and watercolour on Strathmore toned paper and are approximately 5” x 7”, done two per page on a 9” x 12” sheet. Knowing that I had no more than 30 minutes to paint each of these, I would prepare my materials in the evening by setting up my palette and brushes, and have a rectangle drawn on my paper in advance.
Gouache is perfect for this exercise because it dries so quickly, and also because you can add light colours on top of dark ones. A sunrise view changes so rapidly, but I tried to capture the beauty of the vista by putting sky colours down with immediacy and never touching them again.
It’s always a great exercise to paint the same scene at different times of day or in different seasons, but I was especially fortunate to have a panorama like this in front of me when I pulled open the curtains each morning.
Shari Blaukopf's Sketchbook 
Some of my favorites.
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Great to hear from you Tim!
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Those are all absolutely breathtaking, Shari.
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Thanks so much Carol!
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So great! Beautiful idea!
X
•••Karimobile
514 9944433
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Merci Karim!!
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Just beautiful. I have a lovely view also in the a.m. when my sister and I go to Florida (Clearwater) for the month of April. I have taken pics but would love to try my hand at sketching the sunrises. Every morning they are different. Any tips you can offer would be so appreciated. Do you paint entirely with gouache paint or do you use only the white? Looking forward to hearing from you. Thanks.
Carmen
(A big fan of yours!!)
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HI Carmen, I mix white gouache with watercolour, so there’s no need to add too much to your palette when you pack. One tip is to use a different palette from the usual watercolour one because when you mix in the gouache the paints get kind of dirty. For Mexico I brought two filled palettes with me and this one was my morning sunrise one and the other one was my teaching one. Also, for these I use a lot less water than I do normally in a watercolour sketch. Have a great time in Clearwater and try this out yourself.
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This is splendid–what a thrill to wake up to and to have these to remember it by. Thank you.
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Thanks so much Robyn!
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Magnificent Shari , you capture so well the atmosphere of the place . We were in San Miguel for four weeks last January and we loved the place .
Enjoy !
Hélène Wermenlinger
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Bonjour Hélène, I can see why you loved the place. So colourful and so much to sketch. I would love to go back for a month!
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Lovely, lovely, lovely. Thank you for sharing.
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Bernadette, thank you!
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Wow Shari – these are amazing! beautiful colour, beautiful scenery – !
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Thanks so much Sherry!
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Simply fabulous. What a wonderful feeling you must have had each morning.
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I looked forward to waking up to sneak these in each day!
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Love your simple approach to gouache; great pieces.
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Many thanks Doug!
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Wow! Wonderful!!!
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Thanks Linda!
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gorgeous Shari, lovely feeling to all of these
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Thanks so much Jane!
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I remember the very tall twin palm trees on either side of the pink cathedral – it is so nice to see that you had a similar palm in your morning landscapes. Your gouaches are all so beautiful!
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I painted those palms too Chris! Such a beautiful place!
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So many sunset flavors! Delicious!
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Like ice cream, right?? Thanks for writing Emily.
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absolte4ly beautiful….get the feeling of the morning atmosphere. You lucky woman!!
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I know. I don’t take it for granted. I feel very fortunate to teach, travel, meet amazing people and paint scenery like this.
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Stunning work! Each day is a gift!!
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Each day in SMA definitely was a gift. Thanks Angie. I met your friend Doug Mays too! He was often painting in front of the pink church. We mentioned your name. Were your ears burning?
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All so interesting and beautiful.
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Thanks so much Carmel!
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wow! Great body of work
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Many thanks!
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Hi Shari
Are you using tubes of gouche or mixing white with regular watercolors?
These sunrise miniature are spectacular.
sally >
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Sally, I have a big tube of white gouache that I mix with watercolour. It makes it really easy while you are travelling. And I bring a different palette for this so I don’t get white paint in my regular watercolours. Thanks so much for writing.
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Loved your sunrise series!
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Many thanks Virginia. So much fun to do these!
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Wow Shari, these are so gorgeous. I keep coming back to look again and again. I love them all. and now I really want to try gouache!
Laura W.
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Give it a try Laura. You might love it!
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Those are great, so glad that you decided to do a series.
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Thanks Kay. I’m happy I did this too!
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magnificent!
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Thank you my friend!
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Nothing original to say. So I repeat-amazing, gorgeous,lovely, and interesting.
Thanks for sending this. It is inspiring.
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Judy, thank you!
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Hi Shari. Each one is beautiful! Hope you talk more about the process of using gouache with watercolor in a future post :-). Thank you!
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Thanks Ellen. I had so much fun doing these and was thinking that I should post a little more about the gouache process too. Thanks for the encouragement.
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That would be wonderful! I haven’t been too interested in goauche – until seeing your lovely paintings – and can’t wait to try using it!!
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Same thing from me, these are amazing!!!
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Thanks Denise!
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What a wonderful idea! I really like how you mixed gouache and watercolor. It almost gives the feeling of oil paint. Nicely done!!
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Thanks so much Denise. It almost felt like oil paint when I did these because I use them very thickly. So much fun to try.
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Very nice. It feels so warm. i am waiting for warm again. >:)
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The warmth will come back soon Diane. In the meantime, I paint colourful stuff!
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Thirty minutes in your hands is pretty stunning.
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Thanks Jean. I love having a time limit. No chance to fuss with details.
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These are all gorgeous Shari. There is such a warm glow in them. I can’t stop looking at them.
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Rosemary, thanks so much for taking the time to write. It was a great exercise to do this, and fun to post them all together.
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You have captured the peace and promise of each new day in these beautiful paintings! Thank you for sharing; as always, I’m awestruck!
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Thanks so much Nancy. It was a great exercise. Looking forward to seeing you again in May!
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Love seeing these, Shari. I’ve just started trying out gouache and am still working to figure out techniques with an opaque medium but I’m really drawn to it with plein air work. Would love insights as wc is all I know.
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HI Lee. One of these days I will do a post about working with gouache. Or give a gouache workshop. Hope you are well.
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I am well and we would love to get you back in VA. While I love wc for large works, I’m discovering gouache to be a shocking delight for my sketchbook. I love the rich color and quick drying time, yet it easily resets. I’m enjoying the relaxing of having to save lights. But since I’ve never worked with opaque, I’m trying to figure out the layering and glazing. I do love what you’re doing with the medium.
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Shari..OMG…This has got to be my favorite post EVER! Well done!
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thanks Denise!
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Omg..My favourite post EVER!
Keep up the beautiful work.
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Thanks so much!
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Twice blessed Shari … first, for having such a wonderful view to wake up to each morning; and second, for having the talent to capture it so beautifully!
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You are so kind Tony. I had so much fun with these.
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This is such an awesome idea…and I like how your were so prepared for it every day!
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Thanks Joan!
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Very good paintings of trees in Gouache.
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Thanks Shawn!
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Ah, as I try and figure out this gouache switch over in my sketchbook, I’m also trying to ponder whether to use both wc and gouache in a sketch or head out with just my gouache paints. Do I take the tube of white along with the wc or just the palette of gouache? For someone who’s only used wc before now, where do you recommend I read or watch how to approach an opaque medium. So far I’m just devouring videos and trying it out.
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