Richard Wawro

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Richard Wawro (April 14, 1952 - February 22, 2006) was a Scottish artist notable for working in wax oil crayons.

Wawro was born 1952 to a Polish father - a military officer and civil engineer - and Scottish schoolteacher mother. He was diagnosed autistic at the age of 3. He did not learn to speak before the age of 11 and required eye surgery to remove cataracts.

Also at the age of 3, Wawro began to draw on a chalkboard. In the local children's center at the age of 6 he began to use crayons. His talent was recognised soon after. He had his first exhibition in Edinburgh when he was seventeen.

Wawro painted in wax oil crayons. He also remembered every picture, and where and when he made it. He did not use models but drew very accurate pictures from memory. He got his father's approval for each picture until his father died in 2003. Wawro sold thousands of paintings to people including Pope John Paul II.

Over his career he painted many landscapes and seascapes. He got them from images that he had seen only once in books or on television. One of his major inspirations is light.

Richard Wawro died of lung cancer on February 22nd, 2006.