Boats on the Beach

Scottish artist Davy Brown was born in Kilmarnock in 1950 and studied at Glasgow School of Art from 1968 – 1972. The following year he qualified as an Art Teacher from Moray House in Edinburgh. He then went on to win a scholarship to travel and teach art in America, Canada and Iceland.

He held his first solo exhibition at the Citizen’s Theatre in Glasgow at the age of 21, and he continued to exhibit widely whilst working as an art teacher at schools in Ayrshire, and Dumfries and Galloway – where he achieved the position of Head Art Teacher for the region. In 2002 he retired from teaching to pursue painting full-time.

Davy’s paintings strive to give classical structure to chaos, whether it be of his studio ephemera or a disorganised boatyard. He is endlessly inspired by the  landscape of Galloway where he lives, particularly the coastal harbours and ramshackle farm buildings. All his work displays a characteristic use of rich colours and textures, and a close understanding of tonal values. Whilst Davy describes his compositions as chance encounters, he carefully develops his larger paintings from monoprints, sketchbook work and through painting  small studies.