Eugen Chisnicean

Eugen was born in 1984 in a small town in the north of the Republic of Moldova.

His early interest in art was influenced by his father who was engaged in painting and photography. At the age of 11, Eugen entered the Children’s School of Fine Arts. During that time, he successfully participated in numerous national and international art competitions. In 2000 he moved to Chisinau to enter the Institute of Arts where he studied interior design and architecture. In 2007 he began to study the creativity of watercolour painters and developed a more serious relationship to watercolour painting.

In 2010 Eugen was invited as a guest of honour to the 4th Salon de l'Aquarelle du Haillan in France. In 2012 he graduated from the Academy of Arts in Chisinau, majoring in painting. Eugen currently spends time painting and teaching all over the world.

Fauzia Shabnam

Fauzia is the first artist from Bangladesh to have her work selected and exhibited by the Royal Institute watercolour society in 2019, at the Mall Galleries UK.

Understanding both nature and art as complimentary fractions, Fauzia draws her inspiration from botanicals and florals as much like the sacrificial flower she wants to spread happiness amongst the art community and the globe.

Since holding her first solo art exhibition in 1995, Fauzia has come a long way making her mark in the contemporary art world with recognition and awards for art excellence from UNICEF.

​As an enthusiast dreamer, Fauzia aims to take the local art scene to International levels and has also laid the foundation of her very own exclusive Art Hub and Studio "La Mermaid Gallery".

The foundation of this HUB is from where she plans to influence young artists and art lovers. In order to help foster the same enthusiasm that she has for the artistic world, this exclusive Gallery will promote and enrich the art scene of Bangladesh through global eyes.

Fauzia is the official brand ambassador for Daniel Smith and Da Vinci brushes, in Bangladesh and its regional countries.

Fiona Hooper

Fiona’s passion lies in painting landscapes in her distinctive and contemporary style. She works predominantly in oils using a palette knife, to capture the peace and tranquillity of the wild, natural places that she loves to discover.

Directly connected to these visits, Fiona creates paintings that transport people to a place of calm helping them to relax, unwind and find inner peace. She also loves to put her painting knives to good use creating expressive portraits of dogs and other animals.

Fiona's work has won wide and critical acclaim and can be found in collections both in the UK and internationally, including the USA, France, Malta, Australia and Switzerland.

Francesco Fontana

Francesco Fontana is an award winning international artist. After graduation he left his native Sicily to pursue his artist dream in bohemian Paris as a portrait artist. Since then he has exhibited in many Countries, in both oil and watercolor. Fontana’s art is now in private collections in Europe, USA and Asia as well as at Museo della Carta in Fabriano, Italy.

Latest awards include Bronze Medal of Honor at American Watercolor Society International Exhibition, New York 2021 and Best Figure and Portrait at Plein Air Salon, March 2021. Most recently he received the Art Group Critique Award by the San Diego Watercolor Society.

In 2008 Francesco founded Fare Pittura Atelier, in Milan Italy. He travels intensively as a workshop instructor, invited through Europe, USA and Asia. Iconic places he has led workshops for years at include the Claude Monet's gardens and lily pond in Giverny.

Fontana has been stage and field faculty at the Plein Air Convention & Expo in CA and AZ as well as judge and lecturer for the Watercolor Society of Oregon. He’s often headliners in the top plein air competitions in the States, where he also published the DVD 'Watercolor the Italian Way' released by leading publisher Liliedhal.

Gabriel Stockton

Drawing & painting have always been a part of watercolour artist Gabriel Stockton’s California life. Colourful jars of paint were within arm’s reach at his mother’s ceramic studio, AKA “The Garage”!

While on his educational journey, he worked in mixed media but eventually focused on watercolour. Gabriel resides in San Diego, California with his family, and has a studio at a Spanish Village in Balboa Park. He is a juried member of the Salmagundi Club, the Southwestern Art Association, and Spanish Village Art Centre (Studio 34A). In addition, he is a member of the San Diego Watercolour Society where he serves as the Plein Air manager and the monthly show director, and is a member of the Laguna Plein Air Painters Association. He regularly leads and participates in paint demos, workshops, and paint-outs. His artworks are found in various galleries, libraries, art districts and has work hung in private collections around the world.

Gourav Dutta

Gourav Dutta is a young self taught artist from India working within realism and hyperrealism, mainly in watercolours with his works being displayed in private collections both in India and abroad.

Gourav started participating in International contests at the age of 16 and has many state and national awards including several from the international watercolour society. He has taught many workshops provoking emotional responses from the participants, his detailed observation of his surrounding making him love realism.

Gourav is at the beginning of his International artist career and he is delighted to join us at ShopKeepArty.

Grahame Booth

Grahame Booth paints only in watercolour and his success in the medium is reflected in the numerous national and international exhibition awards he has won over many years. Grahame clearly remembers the problems and frustrations of learning watercolour and he has been passing on lessons and techniques accumulated over more than 25 years that are proven to ease the way.

Grahame has produced two painting DVDs and he has written three books on watercolour techniques as well as contributing to many others. He writes regularly for Artists and Illustrators magazine and also has a strong online presence with online courses and almost 30000 subscribers to his YouTube painting channel. Each year he travels the world teaching watercolour workshops.

Helga Picknell-Velkeniers

Over the years Helga has taught a great variety of students: from primary and secondary education, through to prison rehabilitation programs and special needs education. In 2009 Helga set up an artistic daycare service for adults with special needs, where she also teaches mainstream adult education. Helga’s work has been displayed in several exhibitions, including the Museum of Modern Art in Brussels.

Howard Jones

Howard Jones is a full time teaching artist with well over 2000 hours experience in live situation tutoring.

Howard has painted, sketched and studied art since his childhood and would describe his style as impressionistic, with a leaning towards abstract.

His own artistic abilities have been and continue to be well endorsed by a wealth of successful exhibitions. In 2019, Howard was chosen as one of just four Welsh artists to represent his country at the Slager Gallery in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands.