Richard Bawden, artist praised for his fine craftsmanship, crisp line and quirky humour – obituary

His work was characterised by its fine craftsmanship, its crisp and quirkily humorous line, his delight in pattern and decoration and its innate sense of geometry. His paintings and prints, drawn from life, often depicting the countryside and buildings round his home in Suffolk, scenes from the Suffolk and Essex coast, or scenes of domesticity, such as his house, his garden and its plants and birds (together with a succession of tabby cats), suggest an artist at ease with himself and with life.

One of two children, Richard Bawden was born at Black Notley, near Braintree in Essex, on March 18 1936, to Edward Bawden and his wife Charlotte, née Epton. His godfather was Thomas Hennell (1903-45), who was killed while serving as an official war artist in the Second World War.

A Richard Bawden linocut from 1992 conveys some of the gently bohemian atmosphere of the artistic milieu in which he was brought up. A Splash in the Pant portrays Edward and Charlotte Bawden and Eric and Tirzah Ravilious taking a naked dip on a summer’s day in the river near Great Bardfield, observed with interest by cows and ducks, a tabby cat (a favourite subject and frequent intruder in Richard’s work) and by the local bobby, who seems uncertain whether to intervene or turn a blind eye.