Alwyn Crawshaw - Acrylics

Alwyn Crawshaw working outdoors.

S uccessful painter, author and teacher Alwyn Crawshaw was born at Mirfield, Yorkshire, and studied at Hastings School of Art. He now lives in Norfolk with his wife June, who is also an artist.

Alwyn is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and a member of the British Watercolour Society and the Society of Equestrian Artists. He is also President of the National Acrylic Painters Association and is listed in the current edition of Whos Who in Art. As well as painting in watercolour, Alwyn also works in oil, acrylic and occasionally pastel. He chooses to paint landscapes, seascapes, buildings and anything else that inspires him. Heavy working horses and winter trees are frequently featured in his landscape paintings and may be considered the artists trademark.

This book is one of eight titles written by Alwyn Crawshaw for the HarperCollins Learn to Paint series. Alwyns other books for HarperCollins include: The Artist At Work (an autobiography of his painting career), Sketching with Alwyn Crawshaw, The Half-Hour Painter, Alwyn Crawshaws Watercolour Painting Course, Alwyn Crawshaws Oil Painting Course, Alwyn Crawshaws Acrylic Painting Course and Alwyn & June Crawshaws Outdoor Painting Course.

To date Alwyn has made seven television series: A Brush with Art, Crawshaw Paints on Holiday, Crawshaw Paints Oils, Crawshaws Watercolour Studio, Crawshaw Paints Acrylics, Crawshaws Sketching & Drawing Course and Crawshaw Paints Constable Country, and for each of these he has written a book of the same title to accompany the television series.

Alwyn has been a guest on local and national radio programmes and has appeared on various television programmes. In addition, his television programmes have been shown worldwide, including in the USA and Japan. He has made many successful videos on painting and is also a regular contributor to the Leisure Painter magazine and the International Artist magazine. Alwyn and June organize their own successful and very popular painting courses and holidays. They also co-founded the Society of Amateur Artists, of which Alwyn is President.

Alwyns paintings are sold in British and overseas galleries and can be found in private collections throughout the world. His work has been favourably reviewed by the critics. The Telegraph Weekend Magazine reported him to be a landscape painter of considerable expertise and the Artists and Illustrators magazine described him as outspoken about the importance of maintaining traditional values in the teaching of art.

A Norfolk Fishing Harbourprimed hardboard 30 40 cm (12 16 in) I was inspired to do this painting by the sunlight hitting the buildings.

Willows at Potter Heigham, Norfolkprimed hardboard 12 28 cm (10 12 in) When I came upon this scene, I was inspired by the strong sunlight. The dark rain clouds and heavy shadows on the trees in the middle distance made the picture even more dramatic.

W hy use acrylic colours? I am constantly asked this question. The answer is that I like using them and they suit my personality. I believe that a painting comes from the inner self and this gives it the mood, the atmosphere, the invisible quality that makes it look alive. If you were inspired to paint a particular landscape and could paint it in, say, three minutes while that urge was there, then the painting would express your uninterrupted feelings on the canvas.

How Much Longer Have We To Wait?detail on canvas 25 25 cm (10 10 in)

Now, three minutes to paint a picture is ridiculous but, because acrylic colours dry so quickly, a certain speed is possible. As one stage of the painting is done, you can overpaint almost immediately without picking up the paint from underneath and consequently you can keep working while the inspiration is there.