Melanie Reid: Telling It like It Is

Some people make a big impact on your life and they probably don't know it because you don't get a chance to tell them.

Melanie Reid is one of the finest journalists and commentators in the UK. She also made a big impact on my life.

I first met her more than 20 years ago when I was a young freelance working at The Sunday Mail in Glasgow.

I looked up to her in many ways... she's a tall woman and a giant in journalistic terms too.

She was generous with her time and her advice when she didn't really need to be and when she went on maternity leave, I filled in for her as a features writer for a year.

The experience set me up for life in terms of how to go about my job. Around eight years ago, when Melanie was deputy editor at The Herald, she gave me a couple of big features to write about buying art.

It reawakened my dormant passion for art and for this, I am forever in her debt as I now write about art, which I love.

The last eight years have been like an intensive post-grad course in art and art history as I've gone about my job talking to artists, curators and gallery owners - also reading about art extensively.

Melanie now works for The Times and I posted this iPhone pic of her Notebook column on my Facebook page about the Jack Vettriano exhibition at Kelvingrove in Glasgow which is breaking all its box office records.

It elicited a huge response.

As ever, Melanie nails in one tightly written piece what many - including myself - have tried to articulate about this exhibition.

As you will see, Melanie is in a wheelchair. The result of a horse-riding accident. She has written extensively about her experience in her Times magazine column, Spinal Column.

Melanie writes from the heart and can articulate the bigger picture through tiny telling details.

I think she's amazing.