My father, David Mallinson, who has died aged 95, began his career as an artist in London in the 1950s, at first painting only at weekends and in the evenings, while during the day he worked as a teacher. But his paintings, many of London streets and squares, soon found a ready market at the Quadrant Gallery, then in Trafalgar Square, as well as being shown at the Royal Academy, Royal Society of British Artists, the Royal Institute of Oil Painters and the Royal Society of Portrait Painters. Influenced by Nicolas de Staël, he turned to semi-abstraction and landscape, exhibiting at the Piccadilly gallery.
His career prospered, and in 1980, he was made head of the Art School of Isleworth Polytechnic (now West Thames College) in west London, and built up a number of design courses, one of which, a higher national diploma in art and design, had an international reputation, with 90% of graduates obtaining a job with firms such as Saatchi & Saatchi within six months of graduation. David was elected as the West London secretary of the Greater London Arts Association (GLAA). He retired in 1990, and in 2003 had a retrospective exhibition at Sally Hunter Fine Art, where 26 of his 30 exhibited paintings were sold.
