Award for Kilmany artist

Dawson Murray is pictured with his award-winning entry Hedge inspired by his own garden in Kilmany. Picture Copyright Chris Watt

Dawson Murray won the RSW Council Award at the 136th Annual Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour, which opened in Edinburgh on Monday.

This is the second time he has won this award, previously winning in 2002.

Talking about the award-winning painting, ‘Hedge’, he said: “Most of my work is centred on the garden and this painting was inspired by the early morning light sneaking into our garden where it briefly picks out the form of the boundary hedge.”

Dawson Murray graduated from Glasgow School of Art in 1966 and a number of prestigious awards permitted him to spend two years in Italy.

After studying with Giuseppe Santomaso in Venice he moved to Sicily, where his painting reflected the heat and extreme nature of the island.

A member of the Glasgow Group for 30 years, he was also closely involved with the Richard Demarco Gallery in Edinburgh during the 1980s and installed Joseph Beuys’ Poorhouse Doors at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.

He exhibits widely in the UK and Europe.

The exhibition at the Royal Scottish Academy building is open until January 28 and features over 120 new paintings by both established and emerging artists from across Scotland, including works by new graduates from the 2016 Degree Shows and invited American artists Bruce Bobick and Mark E Mehaffey.