Lorna Crawford
My name is Lorna Crawford and I have been an amateur painter for a number of years. At school I did “Higher” Art and have always had an interest in drawing, painting and craft work. On moving to Aberdeen in 1989 I took up needlework classes to enable me to meet other people and then began drawing and painting evening classes at Cults Academy. I now attend Harlaw Academy and The Milton Gallery, Banchory for evening class tuition with local artists, Helen Bruce and Sue Thornton.
My main interest is landscape and abstract painting and I work in a variety of mediums. I followed a progression from watercolour, through oils and gouache, to acrylic and pastels. I enjoy painting in acrylic, partly because it is much quicker than oils and gives a similar finish. There are also many mediums which can be added to obtain some wonderful glazes and finishes. I have recently been working in mixed media which is proving interesting and exciting.
My favourite medium is soft pastel for its versitility and purity of colour. With pastel you can lay on pure colour in a painterly fashion, you can blend and overlay colour, and work up a painting to a highly finished and detailed standard. I mainly work on Art Spectrum paper which is similar to a medium sandpaper, and comes in a variety of background colours. This is a very durable paper which holds the pastel extremely well, and even allows the addition of partial underpainting in gouache or watercolour.
I have attended various workshops with Margaret Evans, an internationally known artist who features regularly in the International Artist magazine and who is a former SAA President. I am a member of the SAA, and also the Dundee Artists Society and have attended workshops with Fiona Haldane a renowned pastellist.
I have also attended various workshops with Colin Christie in Pitlochry and Birnam Arts centre, working in acrylic, oil and pastel.
Over the last few years I have sold paintings at the Cults- Milltimber Annual Festival, The Deeside Art Exhibition, The Forecourt Art Exhibitions, Dundee Artists exhibitions and the Milton Gallery in Banchory. I have also undertaken a few commissions but prefer to keep my painting more as a hobby.
