The leading Scottish writer and painter Alasdair Gray has launched his first major retrospective of his art full of confidence that his aim of an independent Scotland will come to fruition in the near future.

The writer of Lanark yesterday unveiled From the Personal to the Universal at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum which brings together more than 100 paintings spanning his career, from his young days, through his time at the Glasgow School of Art and to the present day.

The long-term supporter of Scottish independence said he is not disheartened by the result of the recent referendum, which rejected Scottish independence.

Gray, whose show runs until February next year, believes that independence could even happen without a further referendum.

Mr Gray said: "I feel very cheery about the result now.

"I think now that, each referendum has shown -from my point of view - and increase in the vote for independence, and to say that there won't be another referendum until the next generation is stupid.

"If David Cameron succeeds in giving extended powers to the Scottish Parliament, and this means constitutional changes in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, then in fact Scotland has succeeded in making a change."

In the show, several portrait commissions are shown publicly for the first time, together with some personal paintings of his friends, peers, and family.

Curated by Sorcha Dallas, it is the most comprehensive show of his work to date, showcasing paintings such as Cowcaddens (1964), Night Street Self Portrait (1953) and the City Recorder series (1977), as well as a room of murals.

Gray said he did not consider himself to be a writer or an artist first and foremost, but valued both talents equally. He said: "The answer I always give is that there has never been any choice between them, my parents gave me crayons and pencils to draw with even before I could read, and my mother gave me books with pictures in them, and I was very fond of the Disney films, so I never separated stories from visual images. And I had decent teachers at both primary and secondary level who equally encouraged my writing and painting and so was never encouraged to choose between them."