Donald Provan : Fish, Fruit, and F-Holes
Donald Provan (b.1964 ) is a Scottish artist who lives and works in Edinburgh. His oil and watercolour paintings relate to water and can be divided into two distinct areas: the land or seascape above and the fish life below. For this exhibition Provan also focusses on still lifes, a new and intriguing direction for him, alongside his dynamic marine depictions for which he is well-known.
Donald graduated from Edinburgh College of Art in 1986 with a degree in Drawing and Painting, and then gained a Post Graduate Diploma in 1987. His preferred medium is oil which he uses in different ways dependent on the subject matter. In his paintings of fish he applies the paint in a controlled way, whilst in his seascapes he uses thicker paint, with washes of turpentine, letting the paint dictate the final direction of the painting. He has participated in numerous exhibitions throughout the UK, and has had many solo exhibitions in Scotland. Provan is the recipient of awards including the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant, Canada in 1987 and 1992 and more recently the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour Small Painting Award at the Royal Scottish Academy in 2008. His work is in many private and public collections, including the Royal Bank of Scotland, the University of St Andrews and Edinburgh College of Art.
