Born in Dunbartonshire in 1957, David still lives and works in the area. Many years of hill walking, mountaineering and rock climbing in the Scottish Highlands has instilled a clear sense of the outdoors that is recreated in his paintings.

He has studied at various local colleges, including the Glasgow School of Art and the Glasgow Print Studio. He also spent a number of years in Australia where he studied life drawing at La Trobe University and Monash House. Around this time he travelled extensively in South East Asia, India and the Nepal Himalaya, giving him the opportunity to paint alternative landscapes. On returning to Scotland he quickly rediscovered his passion for painting what he is widely recognised for - the seaboards and landscapes of Scotland.

David is a past president of The Glasgow Group of Artists.

Awards

2001 David Cargill prize at the RGI annual exhibition
2009 Winsor and Newton award at the RSW annual exhibition
2010 Adam Award at the Paisley Art Institute annual exhibition
2011 James B. Curr Award at the Paisley Art Institute annual exhibition
2015 Rendezvous Residency Award at the RSW annual exhibition
2017 Paisley Art Institute annual exhibition House for an Art Lover Award

He was also short listed for the Inverarity One to One Travel Award for the 2010 RGI Annual Exhibition. David has exhibited at the RSW, RGI, RSA and PAI annual exhibitions and exhibits regularly at other prominent galleries in the UK.

David was elected a member of the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour (RSW) in November 2011.

In 2016 he became an Elected Member of the Council for the Scottish Artists' Benevolent Association

He also has paintings in Glasgow Caledonian University and Fielden House, House of Lords, London.