2019-04-01_Artists___Illustrators

(Martin Jones) #1

WAYNE AT T WOOD


WAYNE ATTWOOD spent seven years living
on a yacht painting in the Mediterranean and
Caribbean, yet it took a return to Birmingham to
truly find his artistic calling he tells STEVE PILL

W


ayne Attwood was
a man with a plan.
His two life-long
passions were
painting and boats, so he thought he
would combine them both and set sail
across the world, making art as he
went. He and his wife, the textile artist
Angela Attwood, spent 18 months
renovating a classic yacht before
launching from Plymouth. What could
possibly go wrong?
The couple sailed down the coast of
Spain and Portugal before heading up
the Mediterranean, stopping at Malta,
Sicily and other islands along the way.
They eventually made their way across
the Atlantic to the Caribbean and it
was here that Wayne first got the first
inkling that this lifestyle was not for
him. “It was all pretty beaches and
the Another Day in Paradise scenario,
and it just didn’t inspire me,” he says.
While this could easily sound like
the ungrateful complaining of a spoilt
artist, nothing could be further from
the truth. Attwood is a fiercely
talented painter who has grafted

incredibly hard to get himself into that
position in the first place. Born in
1970, he grew up on a Birmingham
council estate yet was fortunate to
find encouragement for his passions.
Despite living in the country’s most
land-locked city, he began sailing at
a young age thanks to a local charity
that took council estate kids off the
street and taught them how to sail.
At another after-school club, a
metalwork teacher also introduced a
pre-teen Attwood to oil painting and
the art of the Pre-Raphaelites. His
father further encouraged his son,
having been a skilled draughtsman
himself. “I think deep down he wanted
to pursue artistic career but he had a
really rough upbringing.”
When Attwood left school, he took
a media arts and design course that
lead to a career in advertising. He
spent his days as an illustrator and
creative director, while developing a
sideline career in fine art painting on
evenings and weekends. The young
artist was employed by various manor
houses to create Pre-Raphaelite-style

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