 He returned to the United States and in 1883 made the first of his journeys to the American West, visiting the states of New Mexico, Arizona, California and Wyoming, where he began sketching members of the Pueblo, Umatilla, Klikitat, Shoshone and Ute Indian tribes.In 1885 he traveled to Europe with John Hauser, another Cincinnati artist, who studied with him at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Munich.Sharp also studied at the Académie Julian in Paris, and in the 1890s with Frank Duveneck in Italy.