[3] The friendly and cultivated influence of John F. White, LL.D., miller, in whose counting-house he was employed, and the example of his brother George, drew him to artistic pursuits.
[3] Reid travelled much, as the titles of his pictures show: 'On the Giadecca, Venice’ 'A Court in the Alhambra,' 'The Scotch House, Campvere,' ’Auxerre, France,' the last of which was well reproduced in colours in the 'Studio' ('Royal Scottish Academy Number,' 1907).
At one time he had a studio in King Street there, but afterwards he used those at his brother's residence at St. Luke's, Kepplestone, which he occupied for some years before his death.
[3] Reid undertook a few commission portraits, the most masterly of them perhaps that of John Colvin, the sacrist at King's College, Aberdeen, where the picture now hangs ; but landscapes and the scenery of his native shores were his main themes.
[3] Of his works in private collections may be mentioned a 'Harvest Scene' (Glasgow Loan Exhibition, 1878), 'Guessing the Catch,' and ' Before Service,' a view of the interior of King's College Chapel, Aberdeen, with figures of monks introduced.
'[3] An accomplished musician and possessed of a fine literary taste, Reid was a popular member of the Aberdeen club known as the 'New Deer Academy ' (see Memories Grave and Gay, by John Kerr, LL.D., pp. 221–8).
When out walking at Wareham, Dorsetshire, on 30 August 1908, he died suddenly of heart failure, and was buried in St. Peter's Cemetery, Aberdeen.