David Sawyer was born in London in 1961 and since graduating from Canterbury College of Art in 1983 has successfully exhibited his oil and watercolour paintings in solo and mixed exhibitions across the country.  He has completed many special commissions, notably, three oil paintings for the State Rooms of the Cunard Liner ‘Queen Mary II’, and a series of skyline paintings for the Friedfrank Building in the City.   

In 2004, David Sawyer was elected to the Royal Society of British Artists. David was recently awarded the Royal Automobile Club, Centenary Art Prize (2011).

For the exhibition Sawyer was invited by Thompson’s Gallery to depict the great Cambridge Colleges and to record, in his timeless way, the architecture of this historically significant area, like Sir Hugh Casson before him. Sawyer is a meticulous draftsperson; with an incredible formative painterly instinct, he often contrasts thin lines against fat brush strokes to describe the hard walls versus luscious greenery. He also highlights certain areas of the baronial buildings with a patch of creamy light, which gives his paintings a fresh, modern feel. The artist mixes the support used for the drawings, so that each scene has it’s own particular atmosphere and background colour. 

Thompson’s Gallery is delighted to present this new body of work by David Sawyer which celebrates the majestic lineage of an academic behemoth.