David Thimgan was born in Inglewood, California in 1955. A self-taught artist, inspired and mentored by his father, he began painting and drawing ships as a child.

Few artists painted the rich and varied maritime history of the West Coast with the devotion and passion of David Thimgan. Thimgan painted the Mendocino
coast and its environs perhaps more than any other location, often traveling as an historian with camera, topographical map sketchbook and tape recorder in hand. He visited and examined those places up and down the West Coast that had once thrived with coastal maritime trade activity in order to conjure up what they must have looked like in the Age of Sail. Although his paintings were well researched and unique, it is the ethereal light and intoxicating Pacific Coast air that seem to pervade his work that earned him a special place among American marine artists. --- more --- David Thimgan Retrospective showings of David Thimgan’s paintings have been held at the Australian National Maritime Museum, Ventura County Maritime Museum and the Kelton Foundation. David Thimgan was a member of the U.S. Naval Institute and a fellow in the American Society of Marine Artists. He was the recipient of the Mystic International Award of Excellence and two Rudolph J. Shaefer Awards.

Three books that included his paintings have been published. He will also be included in the October 2003 book, Bound for Blue Water: Contemporary Marine Art, a definitive collection of American marine artists of the twentieth century.

David was the husband of June Carey.