Our Artists

Reha Sakar

Matte Painter & Watercolor Artist

2 courses

A man who paints Spider-Man's skies for Marvel by day and teaches you to paint your own skies by evening. He's been holding a brush since the age of five, which means he has more painting experience than most of us have experience being alive. Over a thousand paintings later, his sunsets still smell of salt and look like someone left the door to paradise open.

Vikrant Shitole

Watercolor Artist from India

1 course

Former chairman of the Society of Arts in India — which is roughly like being the king of color in a country that invented color. Two thousand paintings, workshops on four continents, and enough international awards to wallpaper a modest apartment. When watercolor wants to say something important, it speaks with an Indian accent.

Cecilia Xiao

Watercolor Artist from Australia

1 course

She's been teaching since 2022, yet somehow already has three People's Choice Prizes and a Golden Brush finalist spot in France — making the rest of us wonder what exactly we've been doing with our time. Her flowers look so alive you'd check them for bees before leaning in close.

Daria Mitta

Watercolor Artist & Designer

1 course

A woman with a Master's in Design from Moscow and a typography course from the British Higher School of Art, who decided that letters were too angular and switched to painting cities that breathe. Her urban watercolors have graced Fabriano in Aquarello and the IWS India Biennale — which means the buildings she paints have traveled more than most buildings.

Leslie Lambert

Watercolor Artist & Professor

1 course

She's been teaching watercolor for over twenty years, which in dog years is basically forever. A signature member of two national watercolor societies, a professor in Idaho, and a workshop leader from Morocco to Canada — proving that the only thing more unstoppable than water on paper is Leslie Lambert with a travel itinerary.

Adrian Marmolejo

Watercolor Artist from Spain

1 course

A man from Granada with a Master's degree in "Research and Production of Art" — a title so magnificent it should come with its own fanfare. Published in "The Art of Watercolor" magazine and twice selected for Fabriano in Acquarello, he paints Spanish streets with such warmth you can practically hear the flamenco bleeding through the paper.

Prasad Beaven

British Artist — Ink & Watercolour

1 course

A British artist who won the Schminke Award for "Innovative Use of Watercolor" in 2024, which is essentially the Nobel Prize for making water behave. His landscapes in ink and watercolour hang somewhere between reality and a beautiful dream you'd rather not wake from. The Royal Institute of Painters keeps inviting him back, which tells you everything.

Nicholas Tobias

Urban Designer & Watercolour Artist

1 course

By day he designs buildings for London; by evening he paints them in watercolour — presumably to show the architects how the buildings actually wanted to look. He's exhibited at the Royal Institute of Painters three times, twice alongside King Charles, who presumably brought his own brushes. Nominated for Young Artist of the Year, top 200 out of 3,500 entries — and he's self-taught, which is just showing off at this point.

Marietta Smith

Watercolor Artist & Arts Leader

1 course

She has been teaching watercolor since 2001, which means an entire generation learned to see light through her eyes. Former Executive Director of not one but two arts organizations, a Signature Member of the Watercolor Society of North Carolina, and still somehow finds time to paint glowing landscapes that make you homesick for places you've never been.

Achintya Hazra

Watercolor & Mixed Media Artist

1 course

He started painting in third grade and never stopped — three thousand paintings later, he's still going, like a one-man art factory with excellent quality control. Teaching since the year 2000, in watercolor, oil, and acrylic — because committing to just one medium would be like committing to just one flavor of ice cream. Unnecessary restraint.

Olga Kozyra

Watercolor Artist & Psychotherapist

1 course

A painter who combines watercolor with psychotherapy, which either means she paints your emotions or therapizes your brushstrokes — possibly both. Member of IWS Poland and creator of commissioned portraits and landscapes since 2015. Her water reflections look so real you'd want to dip your fingers in to check.

Julia Ustinovich

Contemporary Figurative & Portrait Artist

1 course

Her portraits hang in private collections across Europe and America, which means somewhere right now a very tasteful person is admiring her work over morning coffee. Winner of international competitions, exhibited at biennials across Europe, and accepting commissions from clients worldwide — making her essentially the diplomat of watercolor portraiture.

Wataru Ishigaki

Japanese Watercolor Master

1 course

Nine hundred paintings, a SOMPO Museum Prize, and Fabriano in Watercolour under his belt — and he makes Japanese nature look so serene you'd forget the man has been relentlessly productive since 2005. His landscapes whisper where others shout, which is very Japanese and very effective.

Simon Schmidt

Watercolor Artist — Urban Light & Shadow

1 course

Fifteen years of painting and teaching experience packed into a man who makes urban light and shadow look like a love letter written in watercolor. Exhibited in Germany and Italy, creator of over three hundred paintings, and passionate about helping students grow — which is teacher-speak for "he won't let you quit when it gets hard."

Peto Poghosyan

International Watercolor Artist

1 course

Painting since 1997, teaching workshops on every continent that has art galleries, and exhibiting from Shenzhen to Shanghai to Castra — his passport must weigh more than his paint kit. Eight hundred watercolors and counting, recognized at biennales and triennales across the globe. At this point, summer paints itself when Peto walks outside.

Nicholas Poullis

Watercolor Artist & Author

1 course

His paintings hang in St John's College Cambridge and the Royal Automobile Club, he won the Baker Tilly Award from the Royal Watercolor Society, and he wrote the best-selling book "Atmospheric Buildings in Watercolour" — essentially the manual for making bricks and mortar weep with beauty. Teaching since 2012, which means his students' buildings are getting dangerously atmospheric too.

David Lobenberg

Watercolor Portrait Artist

1 course

A man who paints women so expressively that the portraits seem about to step off the paper and order an espresso. His bold watercolor style turns iconic faces into something between art and an act of bravery — because painting a human face in watercolor, where every mistake is permanent, requires either supreme skill or supreme recklessness. He has both.

Patrick Visser

Watercolour Landscape Artist

1 course

Patrick Visser paints nature the way nature would paint itself if it had hands and a decent set of watercolours — with light that glows from within and landscapes that feel like a deep breath you didn't know you needed. Eight artworks, eight hours, unlimited access to calm.

Abi Naude

Wildlife Watercolor Artist

1 course

Abi Naude paints African wildlife with such raw energy that you can practically hear the savannah through the paper. Lions, elephants, zebras — she captures them all using wet-on-wet, wet-on-dry, and dry brush techniques, which in non-painter language means "she knows exactly how much water to use, and when to stop." A rare talent in both art and life.