Window on Avril Paton

This morning Dylan and I visited Avril Paton in her studio in the West End of Glasgow. Avril has kindly agreed for her unique painting of the Glasgow School of Art to be exhibited at Mackintosh Queen's Cross. This is only the second time the painting has been shown in public.

While in the studio Avril unveiled a self portrait that is currently a work in progress.

Avril Paton, who was born in Glasgow in 1941 during the wartime blitz is the daughter and grand-daughter of Hugh and Donald Paton who were both landscape painters on the Isle of Arran. Mardi Gillies, her mother, met and married Hugh when they were both attending Glasgow School of Art in the late thirties.

After Paton's birth, mother and daughter returned to the safety of the parental home in the village of Corrie on Arran. Her father remained away from the island for the duration of the war.

Avril has lived in the city of Glasgow since 1983. She is best known for her depictions of Glasgow people and places; in particular, the painting entitled ‘Windows In The West®’. When this was first exhibited, after completion in 1993, it immediately struck a chord. This has, quite literally, become her trademark. In 1994 it was purchased by the city for its newly opened Gallery Of Modern Art where it remained for ten years. In 2006 it found a new home in Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum where it hangs in the ‘Looking at Art’ section on the ground floor.

Avril Paton
"It is a fact that the drive to pursue a particular artistic theme eventually loses its powers. At that point one seeks the energy of a new one. So it was that I came to work on what for want of a better word, I term 'My Abstracts'."

Representing the human side of city life, Avril Paton encapsulates the energy of people and places. Impeccably detailed, these impressive pieces of work reflect the artist's love for her subject.

Avril's painting of the 'Art School' will be on display at Mackintosh Queen's Cross during July and August.