Artist in front of ship displays array of colours (7)
I believe the answer is:
rainbow
'array of colours' is the definition.
'rainbow' can be an answer for 'colours'. I'm unsure of the 'array of' bit.
'artist in front of ship' is the wordplay.
'artist' becomes 'RA' (Royal Academician, member of Royal Academy of Arts).
'front of ship' becomes 'bow' (term for the front of a ship).
'ra'+'in'+'bow'='RAINBOW'
'displays' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for rainbow that I've seen before include "Type of trout" , "weather feature" , "display of colour" , "There's a pot of gold at the end of it" , "Colourful phenomenon" .)