Aitchison graduated from the Slade in 1954, and was immediately awarded an Italian Government Scholarship. As John McEwan writes 'it was the Italian experience which liberated him - the light, the landscape, the country itself, as much as, possibly more than, the art. He saw his goal more clearly than before, and on his return produced a series of vivid pictures, each one having a predominant colour....In the next few years there followed a wide variety of still lives and landscapes, and religious compositions-one or two Nativities and Lamentations, but mostly Crucifixions. These Crucifixions are an important part of Aitchison's work (Craigie Aitchison Paintings 1953-1981, Arts Council Touring Exhibition catalogue, 1982).

Sheldon Williams writes: 'If Bacon is mysterious, Aitchison is magical. He imparts magic in a gentle, but beguiling fashion. The paint is thin, but truly evocative. Outlines are blureed, but the imagery is never in doubt. Celtic twilight, in its most refined form, frequently pervades. He too has his sense of mystery, but is is the mystery of dreams, not of nightmares. Although his paintings are pianissimo, in a crowded mixed exhibition they will claim attention with quiet authority. He is a very singular artist, belonging to no kind of cadre of contemporary art, plainly and distinctly original' (Contemporary Artists, London, 1987, p.19)