060. Tropical magesty chromatic pulse. 56X38 cm.
SILVIA TRAD
SHORT BIO
Silvia Trad is a Brazilian architect and watercolor artist whose work celebrates the vibrant essence of her homeland. Living and creating in Brazil, she transforms tropical subjects—birds, fruits, and landscapes—into luminous narratives through watercolor. As a Global Brand Ambassador for Daniel Smith Watercolors, she is recognized for her
expertise with pigments, especially the mineral-based Primatek line, which connects the raw beauty of geology to her artistic vision. Silvia’s practice extends beyond painting: she teaches internationally, offering workshops in festivals, institutions, and art communities across the world, where she shares her knowledge of technique, color, and tropical inspiration. Her mission is to bring awareness of Brazil’s natural richness through art, while engaging audiences globally with the freshness, depth, and poetry of watercolor.
MY WORK, MY WAY OF PAINTING AND WHAT COUNTS TO ME
The fluidity of water inspires my intuition, my creativity and my adaptation in life. Pigment makes magic in the paper as the water runs to form what my imagination is searching. My way of painting is the same as my way of living, thinking, and feeling the world around me.
I seek knowledge, balance and serenity in my life and this is what I want to express in my works. I love to paint realistic but at the same time loose watercolors, as we are, mind and heart, reason and sensibility.
CURRICULUM VITAE SILVIA TRAD
Artistic Name: Silvia Trad
Family name: Maria Silvia Trad Mascarenhas
Birth: 26/07/1962 – Brazil São Paulo-SP
Silver Brush Global Brand Ambassador since January/2026
Daniel Smith Global Brand Ambassador since July/2024
Hahnemulhe PartnerArtist since June/2024
Born in Brazil, her initiation to the arts came very early in the artitst’s life. Since childhood she was involved in many studies and cultural trips around Europe.
An important fact to be considered due to the early artistic sensory stimulus, increasing the ability to develop skills connected to the innate talent, strongly identified in the analysis of her works.
During her childhood she started painting and drawing courses, and already as a teenager she attended the ateliers of some of the most renowned artists in São Paulo, following the extra-curricular training with great masters even during my academic education in the 80’s, in Architecture and Urbanism and Fine Arts in two of the most important universities in Brazil.
It was during this period that she received her first awards, among them: Ágora Gallery Soho, New York as a watercolorist and the Pirelli Award for Young Painter at MASP SP.
The ability to join different techniques to develop her own methods made the years dedicated to illustration and design in watercolor a great success, acting widely in the American, European, and Brazilian markets, including licensed works for large American and Brazilian companies with prints and illustrations.
From 2017 on, focusing exclusively on her career as a watercolor artist, she promoted in person and online courses with great repercussion in Brazil and Portugal, and shortly after, in 2020, she began to participate in competitions around the world with immediate success.
Today she is an art influencer in Brazil and Portugal, in her YouTube channel ( Silvia Trad ) +37.000 followers and Instagram ( @silvia.trad )+ 42.500 followers.
Shortly after, in 2021, she began to participate in competitions around the world, and the success was immediate.
LAST AWARDS AND ACHIEVEMENTS
2026
Artist selected for exhibition at International watercolor Festival Calgary Canada
Artist selected for exhibition at International Watercolor Masters, Sophoshire, England
Invited artist to paint at Creative World, Frankfurt, Germany
Invited Artist to Pura Acuarela Festival in Buenos Aires, Argentina
2025
Invited Artist to teach at Terracotta.com, Seattle, USA
Artist selected for the International Watercolor Exhibition , IWS, Varna, Bulgaria
Artist selected for the International Watercolor Exhibition , IWS, JP, Paraíba, BR
Artist selected to SDWS- San Diego Watercolor Society International Exhibition, EUA Artist selected to NWWS- North West Watercolor Society International Exhibition,EUA Artist selected to International Watercolor Biennial of Greece, Thessaloniki,Greece Artist selected to International watercolor Festival Rivers of Colors, Cidade do México Third Place in Rivers of Colors Festival – Ara Blue Watercolor on paper
Exhibition at Centro Cultural Juan Rulfo, Mexico City Exhibition at Watercolor Museum of Mexico Exhibition at Tavolino Gallery, Colors of Brazil
Invited Artist to Pura Tecnica Festival in Buenos Aires, Argentina
Invited Artist to Oaxaca International Watercolor Festival, Oaxaca, Mexico
2024
Invited to be Daniel Smith’s Brand Ambassador
Invited to be Hahnemullhe Partner Artist
Exhibition A Força da Cor – Galeria Priscilla Mainieri – São Paulo, Brazil
19 Salon d’Aquarelle – Saint Yrieix La Perche – France
Honorable mention- Red Macaw Watercolor – Women in Watercolor – WIW/24
Who Ar(T) You? International Exhibition – Miami- USA
Artist selected to represent Brazil at Fabriano in Aquerello, Hanoi, Vietnam
Artist selected to represent Brazil at Fabriano in Aquerello, Bologna, italy
2023
Red dot Miami Art Basel Week, Florida, USA
FRUTTO – Solo exhibition at Galeria Tavolino, SP, Brazil
FRUTTO – Solo exhibition at Galeria Odo, SP, Brazil
Artist invited to Da Vinci Brushes Seminar, Brazil – Germany
Excellence Award – International Watercolor Masters – IWM, England
Artist invited to the 14 International Festival of Watercolor of Paraty, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
“Finalist Award” – Blue Ara — Women in Watercolor – WIW/24 Vermont, USA Art Conexion Mondiale Exhibition, Albi, France
All of Us exhibition – Florence, Italy
18 Salon d’Aquarelle Saint Yrieix La Perche – France
33 Salon International de L’Aquarelle d’Uckange – France
2022
We Contemporary Exhibition – Rome-, Italy
Recordum Exhibition – Venice, Italy
Selected for the exhibition Exposition d’Aquarelle France – Pologne/22 , France
Sixth place award in the Still Life category and seventh place in the Floral category at the International Watercolorium 2022 – Moscow, Russia
Hghly Commended award at International Watercolor Masters- IWM – England
17 Salon d’Aquarelle Saint Yrieix La Perche, France
2021
Highly Commended Award at the International Watercolors Masters – England
IR A INICIO DE ARTISTAS SELECCIONADOS 2026