 During this time he continued to paint, often producing portraits of his students based on detailed preparatory sketches done in pencil or watercolour.Cowie held his first solo exhibition at the McLellan Galleries in Glasgow in 1935 and the same year he took the post of Head of Painting at Gray's School of Art.In 1937 Cowie became the warden of the Patrick Allan Fraser School of Art at Hospitalfield House.