A Brush With Art.pdf

When somebody told me that there were sevenmilhon leisure painters in the UK, it seemed oddto me that there had been no recent televisionprogrammes about painting. After all, there areendless programmes about other hobbies, such ascookery, gardening and fishing. I soon discoveredthe reason - the broadcasters 1 contacted simplydidn t believe that an audience existed.Determined to prove them wrong, I decided toproduce a series for leisure painters myself andstarted to look for an artist with the rightpersonality to present a television programme.Then I met Alwyn Crawshaw, and knew I neededto look no further. An excellent communicator,and experienced at teaching amateur painters,Alwyn would also appeal to people who mightnever pick up a paintbrush but who would stillthoroughly enjoy watching over an artist'sshoulder while he worked.In addition to making the series appeal to thewidest possible audience, I wanted to shoot theprogramme entirely on location. Up until now,with rare exceptions, learn-to-paint programmeshave been confined to television studios, where thelight is always constant, it never rains, and wherepassers-by don't walk in front of the camera! But,as most leisure painters paint outside, we decidedthat this series should also be filmed outside sothat, if rain or something else ruined our plans,I then wrote to Television South West, the ITVcompany serving the region in which Alwyn lives.Our luck was in. They responded immediatelyand decisively, saying that they wanted 12programmes - a large number considering that 1hadn't worked for them previously and that Alwynhadn't presented a T'V programme before.It was both refreshing and nerve-wracking tobe working for a broadcaster prepared to put suchfaith in the unknown, and I would like to thankPaul Stewart Laing, Director of Programmes atTSW, and Thomas Goodison, CommissioningEditor for Education, for having that faith. 1 wouldalso like to thank Ingrid Duffell, the director. BobEdwards, the cameraman, Graham Pearson, thesound recordist, and Dave Elliott, the editor, formaking the series such a success.Originally intended to be a local series forregional television, A Brush with. Art is now onnational television, released on video and isaccompanied by this book. Two further televisionseries with Alwyn have been made and, to date,A Brush with Art has also been shown in Ireland,Turkey, Italy and Singapore.I hope that the television series and this bookwill bring Alwyn Crawshaw to an even wideraudience, and perhaps inspire even more people totake up painting in waiercolour.it was all part of the painting experience. After all,it would be hard to believe Alwyn when he says,"Have a go, it's easier than you think", if hewas perched on a comfortable chair in an airconditionedstudio!David John HareProducer, A Brush with ArtLondon, July 1991