Steven Heward was born in 1956 in Salt Lake City, Utah.  He received a scholarship to Weber State, which he attended for a year, in 1974.  He then transferred to the University of Utah and studied under Alvin Gittens from 1975-1978. He focused on Figure Drawing, Figure Painting, and Anatomy. Steve feels so fortunate to have spent so much time under the instruction of such a skilled portrait painter.

The University of Utah is where he learned to draw and paint from live models. Steve believes painting from life strengthens one’s ability to see and paint. He recognizes that painting from life improves both the accuracy of the colors and values. Although movements and changing light conditions are more challenging than painting from a photograph, the camera will never detect everything that the human eye sees.

Steve is a self-taught Plein Air Painter.  The years he spent painting live models was an immense aid in transitioning to landscape painting with all the obstacles you deal with when painting Plein Air.