About the Artist

Meeta Dani is an internationally renowned award-winning Indian watercolor artist who is now based in Burnaby, Canada. Since her childhood, she was fascinated about learning all kinds of art from drawing and painting to clay modeling and pottery. She has a postgraduate degree in computer science and has worked as a software engineer for over a decade.

Meeta started her career as an artist after she lost her mother to cancer in May 2010. She initially worked in oils and acrylics and exhibited her works in local galleries in India. Apart from painting, she was also involved in conducting art & hobby classes for small children. Later, in early 2015, she came across hyper-realistic watercolor paintings by Steven Kozar and Eric Christensen. She developed a strong fascination towards this medium and started painting in a realistic style in March of 2015 and has been going strong ever since. She is completely self-taught, learning mostly by experimenting with watercolors.

Meeta paints portraits, wildlife, still-life, and enjoys painting subjects that seem challenging to her. Light is an integral part of her paintings, and the use of bold colors makes her work strong and crisp.

Meeta has exhibited in several international juried exhibitions and has also been a judge for several international painting contests and exhibitions. She has been selected as one of the grandmasters of fine art around the world in 2017 by the 'The Grand Masters Of Fine Art'. Her first book, 'Realistic Watercolor Unleashed', is one of the most renowned books in watercolors with over 2300 copies sold worldwide. This is the only book in the market for teaching a variety of subjects like blurred backgrounds, fur, feathers, wood, water, skin, and perspective painting on architecture in a photorealistic style using watercolors. She is also a signature member of the Federation of Canadian Artists (SFCA).

Meeta is the founder and president of the not-for-profit international organization 'Global Association of Watercolor Artists' (GAWA). She founded this organization in January 2018 with the sole purpose of providing an unbiased international platform for supporting watercolor artists all around the world, to help them grow and advance in their artistic career. She is actively working towards improving the world watercolor market and is also conducting various online courses to spread her knowledge of watercolors all over the world.

And here is what she says...

I am inspired by the colors, textures, shadows, and reflections of nature and my paintings reflect my obsession with light and color. I love to face the challenges in painting complex subjects and find watercolor the most versatile and dynamic medium. I usually spend several weeks on a painting to ensure that all the details of my subject are captured. I start with thin washes of transparent hues and slowly build to over 20 subsequent layers of paint to achieve a 3-dimensional look in my paintings. Portraits and wildlife are my most favorite subjects. Although I love to paint in a realistic style, I like it when people say that my work is looking like a painting and not like a photograph.

Painting is not just my passion but also an outlet for me to express myself. Passing on my knowledge of painting to others gives me utmost satisfaction and I welcome anyone with their queries about painting in watercolor. My book, 'Realistic Watercolor Unleashed', has been written for artists of all levels in a very simple and understandable manner and is a valuable guide to learn to paint in photo-realism using watercolors. Now, my 2nd book will be soon launched in the marked by mid 2020. I am writing this book with world renowned artists Steven Kozar, Angus McEwan, David Stickel and Mikhail Starchenko.

Achievements and Awards

'Honorable mention' award for SFCA Medal juried exhibition by Federation of Canadian Artists (FCA) in Dec 2018.
Juror for GAWA International Watercolor Online contest in June 2018.
Received signature membership (SFCA) recognition at Federation of Canadian Artists (FCA) in March 2018.
Founded not-for-profit international organization 'Global Association of Watercolor Artists' (GAWA) - Jan 2018.
First award for 'Works on Paper' juried exhibition and competition by Federation of Canadian Artists (FCA), Vancouver, Canada - Jan 2018.
'Best figurative & portraiture' award for Annual International Representational Show (AIRS) juried contest by Federation of Canadian Artists (FCA) in Oct 2017.
'Realistic Watercolor Unleashed: A complete guide for complex realistic paintings' - book written by Meeta Dani, published in August 2017.
Juror for many juried contests in Federation of Canadian Artists.
Juror for Aburawash Art Prize International Watercolor Contest in 2017
Gold medal in 2nd Rang Sang All India Art Contest in 2017.
3rd Award in 27 Art Point National Art Competition in 2017.
'Honorable mention' award for 2017 Works on paper juried exhibition by Federation of Canadian Artists (FCA) in Jan 2017.
Participated in Artist's Choice juried contest by Federation of Canadian Artists (FCA) in Jan 2017.
Participated in Seventh Annual International Representational Show (AIRS), a juried contest by Federation Of Canadian Artists (FCA) in Oct 2016.
Participated in Painting On The Edge (POTE) 14th Annual International Exhibition and Competition, a juried contest by Federation of Canadian Artists (FCA) in Aug 2016.
Participated in Singapore Annual Contemporary International Art Exhibition in Dec 2013 and Dec 2014.
Participated in several group exhibitions in India and South Korea between 2010 and 2015.