Peter Howson's Art of Recovery: From Death to Life

THE SCOTSMAN
By Susan Mansfield

"Recovery" by Peter Howson. Image courtesy of Maclaurin Gallery.

SCOTLAND---Peter Howson battled severe depression for five years before being admitted to hospital. Now he’s in recovery, from drugs, drink and his personal demons, and he’s painting again. He has a full programme of exhibitions for the next year, and a major commission for a series of religious works for a private collector. There is a painting in the Maclaurin Gallery show called ‘Recovery’, a muscular figure in a ripped white vest lunging forward. At once, it is looking back and striving towards the future. Howson says he is working now in the way he did then, getting up in the small hours, and working through into the evenings. "It’s a great feeling, I feel young again, fit and healthy and mentally brilliant. I just hope and pray, by the grace of God, that I keep on doing the right thing.” [link]

Peter Howson: From Death to Life is at The Maclaurin Art Gallery in Ayr (Ends April 14), tel: 01292 443708, www.themaclaurin.org.uk.