For over 50 years (David) Mark Thompson, has practised as a Yorkshire based artist capturing the landscape, architecture and people of the Dales, and beyond, in watercolour, pen and ink, etchings, oils and photography.
Birch Hall Inn, Beckhole (1981). Image: See ‘Source’, below, p.94.
Mark was born in Bradford in 1957 in the Bolton Junction area of the city. Although his early years were spent in an urban environment, he was drawn from an early age to the countryside surrounding the city. In 1961 his family moved to Menston in Wharfedale, where his love of the Yorkshire countryside was reinforced. His maternal grandfather, Norman Goldsbrough, was an artist, and a significant influence in Mark’s life and career. Norman introduced Mark, aged 13, to watercolours and encouraged the development of his artwork.
Mark’s early drawings and watercolours subsequently featured drawings and watercolours of Wharfedale and beyond, made as he toured the region on his bicycle, staying in youth hostels on his travels. He began to study the work of regional artists, including Owen Bowen, Arthur Reginal Smith, and W Gilbert Foster, as well as the early work of J.M.W. Turner, who had visited the Wharfedale area while staying at Farnley Hall, near Otley. Mark was also encouraged by the artist Tom Kerkham, the father of a school friend.
He attended Ilkley Grammar School, but initially did not receive much encouragement from the school to develop his art. However, after the school became a comprehensive in 1973, and with the appointment of a new art teacher, Ivan Minto, Mark began to receive more direct help. This led to his first sale of a watercolour study of Appletreewick that had been framed and displayed at the school by his art teacher.
Other commissions followed, including drawings of Burnsall that were sold in a cafe and gift shop in the village. Mark saw the business opportunity this presented and produced a series of six local scenes that he had reproduced onto letter cards. He wrote:
Initially I cycled from Post Offices to gift shops taking orders for my Dales letter cards, eventually asking my mother to act as an agent; we sold 36,000 cards over the next three years. (Thompson, 2025, p. 10)
He later produced a limited edition card depicting the entrance to Bradford’s Kirkgate Market, threatened with demolition (and later demolished), and sent a copy to J.B. Priestley, who responded positively to his initiative. Mark also began to submit drawings to local media and to the Dalesman.
Old Kirkgate Market, Bradford. Image: see ‘Source’ below, p.99
In 1974 he started art studies on an art foundation course at Bradford School of Art, but also gained informal tuition in etching from the Bradford College Printing Department technicians. After the foundation year Mark gained a place at Leeds Polytechnic to study Graphic Design at degree level. By this time he was also meeting other students and artists, some of whom later became well-regarded in their respective fields, including Anthony Earnshaw and Tom Wood. He also visited and toured Suffolk regularly for a decade from 1974 onward to draw and paint the landscape, people and architecture of this region.
Kersey, Suffolk (1977). Image: See ‘Source’, below, p.27.
During his undergraduate studies, Mark held his first solo exhibition of his paintings and drawings in 1975 at a gallery in Settle, which led to a positive review in the local press. This was followed by a solo exhibition in March 1976 at the Midland Bank, Kirkgate, Bradford. In April the same year his work was selected for the Keighley Open Exhibition at Cliffe Castle. Further shows followed at Ilkley, Grassington, Horsforth and Nelson, and at Eric Busby’s Goosewell Gallery, Menston.
Since Mother Died (1977), Four colour single plate etching. Image: see ‘Source’, below, p.109.
In March 1977, Mark was engaged as a caretaker at Barden Tower, near Bolton Abbey. This had to fit in around his art studies, which required him to travel daily to Leeds. At the weekends, he served refreshments to visitors and took the opportunity to display his artwork in the hallway at the Tower. The Bolton Abbey Estate – initially wary of his initiative – settled on taking a commission from his sales, but later asked Mark to produce drawings and other artwork of the landscape and buildings around Bolton Abbey to sell to visitors.
At Leeds, he began to specialise in printmaking and continued to exhibit work, again at Cliffe Castle, Goosewell Galley, and the Midland Bank, as well as at the Leeds Playhouse and a gallery in Grassington. He also opened a gallery at the Priest’s House, Bolton Abbey Estate that was used to display his own and fellow contemporary artists’ work.
Ruined Cottages, Middleham (1979). Image: see ‘Source’, below, p.81.
In 1978 Mark graduated from Leeds Polytechnic and had artwork accepted for shows at galleries in Harrogate and Leeds, and in London at the Royal Academy Summer Show and at the 94th Annual Exhibition of the Royal Painter-Etchers and Engravers. In winter that year he travelled to Morocco and southern Europe, particularly to the Cyclades Islands, Greece, sketching and painting the buildings and landscape.
On his return to the UK Mark worked as a part-time art tutor at Clevendon School, Ilkley, and later opened the Stable Door Teashop and Gallery in Middleham, where he could display his work. He also spent time on the north Devon coast at Clovelly, where he produced on a series of pen and ink drawings of the village.
Scottish Castle. Watercolour. Image: by courtesy of the artist.
In 1986 Mark moved to Beckhole, near Goathland, in North Yorkshire, where he established a studio and rented a shop at nearby Robin Hoods Bay to sell his watercolours, drawings and prints.
Kettlewell (1980). Image: see ‘Source’, below. p.78.
Later moves were to Wensleydale, where he restored and reassembled a derelict former parsonage at Lowthorpe, then in 1994 he moved to Kerry, Ireland, where he worked as an artist/illustrator until 1996.
On his return to Yorkshire he became an innkeeper, purchasing the Kings Arms at Reeth, then in 2001 The Green Dragon at Hardraw, where he oversaw the building of a visitor centre and studio for visitors to Hardraw Force: England’s highest single drop waterfall. In recent years Mark has spent his time between his studio in Wensleydale and the West Country.
In 2018 the book ‘Heart of the Dales‘ was published featuring many of Mark’s black and white photographs of the people of the Yorkshire Dales taken during the 1970s and 1980s.
In 2025 Mark’s book, ‘D Mark Thompson. Drawings and Etchings 1973 -1997′ was published, which includes selections of his artwork from time spent in Yorkshire, Suffolk, Devon, Morocco, Greece, and Ireland.
Colsterdale School (1992). Image: see ‘Source’, below, p.75.
Recent photograph of D. Mark Thompson, right, with fellow artist, Andy Goldsworthy.
Source: D Mark Thompson. Drawings and Etchings 1973 -1997 (2025) Limited signed edition. Hardraw Force Publishing. ISBN: 987-19999287-1-1
Artist Contact Hardraw Force
(Images by courtesy and with the permission of D. Mark Thompson and taken from his 2025 book, see above.)