Susan Crawford was born in the Scottish district of East Lothian. Her father was a racehorse trainer and she grew up on the family farm, inheriting her parent's affinity with horses and the countryside and learning to ride when she was only a toddler.
She spent two years at the Florentine drawing school of Signorini Nera Simi but is an entirely self-taught painter, using a classsical old master technique of applying oil in thin glazes. Her main inspiration has come from the works of the very classical horse painters George Stubbs and Sir Alfred Munnings.
Susan Crawford has exhibited at a number of distinguished galleries throughout the world, including The National Portrait Gallery, The Royal Academy of Arts, The Tryon Gallery, London and The National Gallery of Pahang Pinang, Malaysia. Her most recent one-man show was in 2001.
Amongst her many fine works, Susan Crawford has painted twenty-one Epsom Derby winners and steeple-chasers such as the all time favourites, Red Rum, Arkle and Desert Orchid. However, despite her high profile as a painter of horses, she is also a well-established portrait artist. She has painted five members of the British Royal family, including HM Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, HM The Queen and HRH The Prince of Wales, as well as HH The Sultan of Brunei and HM The Sultan of Oman.