Szczepan graduated with an Honours Degree in Architecture from the University of Auckland in 1993. Whilst he had spent his formative years painting and sketching, it wasn’t until 2013 that he rekindled his love of watercolour painting. In 2013 Szczepan started sketching alongside a number of local urban artists – the “Brisbane Urban Sketchers” and the Brisbane “Plein-Air” Group. Together with another architect he produced and published a book in 2015 entitled “A Brisbane Sketchbook”. In it they presented 72 paintings and sketches, giving an interesting and alternative account of Brisbane’s historic buildings and urban spaces. The book provided Szczepan the perfect impetus and stepping stone to move “full-circle” into a new creative cycle – watercolour.
Through 2015 and 2016 Szczepan attended workshops offered by some of Australia’s leading watercolour artists. In particular, the Melbourne workshops led by Alvaro Castagnet and more recent workshops in Mt Tamborine with Herman Pekel gave him the confidence to move beyond the rigid confines of his professional training - of technical details and straight lines and into a world abound in fluidity of forms, from the “literal” towards an expression of the essence of “form”, “mood” and “light”. He is particularly interested in painting en-plein-air and pursues every opportunity to paint outdoors, to paint spontaneously and be challenged by the elements. In 2018 he started teaching watercolour classes to beginners and advanced students and continues to offer workshops in a variety of broad and specialist subjects.
In 2018 and 2020 he was also selected as one of Australia’s representatives to the Fabrianoin Acquarello Festival in Fabriano, Italy. 2020 was a turning point globally. Szczepan took the opportunity to transform his watercolour engagement from local beginnings to International projects. In June 2020, he launched and delivered a significant milestone in online watercolour communication and collaboration. A very successful “GO WITH THE FLOW – A GLOBAL WATERCOLOUR CONVERSATION” saw the coming together of over 100 of the world’s leading watercolour artists to discuss and chat about their experiences and work for a 24-hour marathon event to an audience of many thousands of LIVE viewers. He also launched a series of online watercolour classes, courses, tutorials and workshops that are continuing to engage with an ever-growing online audience.
He is active in the South East Queensland watercolour scene and is injecting a new excitement whereever he teaches and exhibits. He continues to develop a broad range of subject material to supplement his love of architectural and urban themes - recently exploring nautical and seascapes themes alongside a lifelong fascination with sailing craft and old gaffers.
