Matt Bruce

Matt - he hated his full-name Matthew, which was also his father's - was born in Shanghai, China. Matthew senior was a wealthy textile entrepreneur. His wife, Frida, was of German extraction and there were also two stepsons, Charles and Fred.

Matt's privileged life in the Far East ended at the age of 11 when his father died suddenly, and he had to move to Clackmannanshire to complete his education. At Dollar Academy, as well as showing artistic talent, he developed as a fine sportsman. He captained the rugby team before representing Scotland at junior level, later appearing for the Army, and he was a good exhibition diver.

As family money ran short, Matt did part-time jobs to help with his education costs, winning an Andrew Grant Scholarship to Edinburgh College of Art. In the School of Painting he was taught by that fine landscape painter William Gillies, who made a lasting impression on Bruce. Having gained his diploma, he studied to be a teacher at Moray House.

When the Second World War came, Bruce became a gunner in the 79th Highland Division of the Royal Artillery. His six years' service was interrupted when he was badly injured by a mortar while instructing at a battle class in Devon. He was given only 24 hours to live, but made a quick and full recovery.

Bruce was commissioned as a lieutenant and was engaged in the liberation of the Channel Island of Jersey as the war ended. He liked it there so much that he decided to stay with his new bride, Peggy, and became art master at Victoria College in St Helier.

he later took up a post as head of the art department at Varndean Grammar School for Boys in the Sussex seaside town of Brighton. By the time that he took early retirement, in 1972, he had also become senior master. Bruce also held classes at Brighton Art College. He wrote for the local newspaper, the Brighton Argus, as art critic.

After retirement, Bruce taught groups at home and abroad. It was only in his eighties that he gave up teaching, when supervising maybe several dozen adult students became too tiring.

His only son, Gordon, a public relations consultant in Buckinghamshire, who was taught by his father, remembers one of the rare occasions when his father was left lost for words during a lesson. Gordon was driving a go-kart flat-out round the cricket pitch when ''I spun off, roared down a bank, and hit the art room. My father rushed out, intending to berate and probably cane the cause of the commotion. The surprise sight of his son amidst the three-wheeled wreckage of the go-kart for once left him speechless.''

Bruce was a prolific artist, in the Impressionist manner, producing pictures notable for light and colour. Monet was his special idol, and not long ago he produced his own versions of the French artist's famous gardens at Giverny. There was a series of fine solo exhibitions, at the David Curzon Gallery, in London, held in the autumn. Until shortly before his death, Bruce was working towards another there.

He was a council member of the Pastel Society and the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours. He also showed at the Royal Academy in London and widely elsewhere, and sold pictures to major corporate collections such as Bank of America, De Beers, Shell, and Whitbread.

Matt enjoyed visiting Gordon's timeshare at Loch Lomond and meeting up with an old friend from the Dollar Academy days. He remained a fiercely competitive sportsman, teaching his son to play golf. Gordon recalls: ''We occasionally played in competitions together. I can see now the smirk on the opposition's face as my father stood at 45 degrees to the tee and hit his ball out over the boundary, then their look of horror as his trained hook brought it back on the fairway.''

David Buckman