TO be recognised by your peers for your work is one of the highest accolades. That is the verdict of artist James Cosgrove, recently elected to the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts.

The Largs-based artist and designer, who was deputy director of Glasgow School of Art before he retired, is reflecting on his membership of the prestigious institute.

"It feels good, it's always nice to be recognised by your peers," he says. "It is good to know that other people think your work is good enough."

His paintings appear in a current exhibition at the Kelly Gallery in Glasgow, alongside other fellow new RGIs, including Helen Flockhart, Marj Bond and June Carey.

"During most of that time when I worked at the art school I was in an administrative position and couldn't really keep up exhibitions," he says. " When I retired I then started working. People say it must be great to be retired but I find I'm working harder now, if that's possible."

His work on show in the group exhibition is related to dream sequences. Inspired by magical realism and the writing of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, he examines ideas and images that come into your head in the time between sleeping and waking.

"The group of works are all related to a general theme called A Series of Dreams which is the title of a song by Bob Dylan he wrote for his 1989 album Oh Mercy but not included in it," he explains.

" The lyrics are about encounters of turmoil experienced in a succession of dream sequences. "

He never leaves home without putting a Moleskin notebook, favoured by the likes of Ernest Hemingway and Pablo Picasso, in his pocket, using it to sketch and jot down notes.

"I just draw and write all over them. I do quite a lot of writing as well in the same way where it is just subliminal rather than descriptive," he adds.

An accomplished painter who has shown her work around Europe and America, Glasgow-based Helen Flockhart is known for her meticulously executed and highly textured portraits that have a dream-like quality.

The Glasgow School of Art Graduate has spent the past 30 years honing her distinctive style.

"Single figure portraits have formed a thread which has been a constant, running through my work," she says.

"They take a lot of time, a lot of layers of application. The exhibition is a good opportunity for people to see the actual work. It really does come to life."

Jewel colours and lush greens feature in her work, and she says over the years their application has become increasingly dense.

"I still apply fairly pure colour in layers on to the canvas, sometimes allowing it to dry before overpainting."

New RGIs exhibition, Kelly Gallery, Douglas Street, Glasgow, until August 8. Visit www.royalglasgowinstitute.org