Gathered here in the Rol Gallery are examples of the art of Colin Thoms, the Scottish abstract colourist.

Colin Thoms was born in 1912, the son of an Edinburgh lawyer. He gained his diploma from Edinburgh College Of Art in 1933, where he was taught by S.J.Peploe, W.G. Gillies and D.M.Sutherland

He spent one term in London at the Slade under Randolph Schwabe, before taking up two successive travelling scholarships, in 1935 to Paris, Florence, Rome, Padua and Venice and in 1936 to Brussels, Cologne and Munich.On his return, he did a first class certificate in 1937, under David Talbot Rice. He then began his teaching career, which, as art master at Loretto School, Musselburgh.

From 1940 until 1946 he served in the Royal Artillery and the Education Corps, spending the last year in Egypt and Palestine. After the war, he returned to Loretto on condition that every boy in the school was taught art in some form. In 1949, he was elected President of the Society of Scottish Artists. In 1951, he was appointed lecturer at Gray's School Of Art, Aberdeen, where he remained until his retirement in 1977. He was President of Aberdeen Artists Society from 1966 - 1970 and of Aberdeen Civic Society.

In 1963, he was inspired by the major Miro retrospective exhibition in London. This changed his painting style irrevocably; he embraced the challenge of abstraction with enthusiasm. He was one of a generation of Scottish artists like Gear, Johnstone and Davie who moved easily into abstraction: he developed an exuberant personal style which exploited his gifts - his bold colour sense sure line, imaginative compositions and sense of humour.

After his retirement, he had more time to work producing oils, collage, watercolours, pastels and, a new development, printmaking, first at Peacock Printmakers in Aberdeen and, from 1990, at Edinburgh Printmakers Workshop. He exhibited regularly at the Royal Scottish Academy, the Society of Scottish Artists and Aberdeen Artists Society with one-man shows in Edinburgh, Aberdeen, London, Stirling, Stromness and Haddington.

His work is represented in collections including the Scottish Arts Council, Aberdeen Art Gallery, Kirkcaldy Art Gallery, Edinburgh City Arts Centre and Robert Fleming and Co. in London as well as many private collections around the world.