Sunlit Wood

William Gillies studied and taught at Edinburgh College of Art becoming Principal in 1960. One of his colleagues and close friends at the college was Dalbeattie-born John Maxwell. Together they took several painting holidays, often to Dumfriesshire and, after Maxwell retired to Dalbeattie, Gillies made frequent visits there.   Gillies was one of the most prominent of several painters associated with Edinburgh College of Art at this time whose work is collectively considered to represent an 'Edinburgh School' of painting. The individuals associated with this school often had a preference for still life and landscape painting. In his position at the college, Gillies had a major impact on the development of painting in Scotland.