Richard Bawden spent most of his formative years in the Essex village of Great Bardfield living in Brick House which had been purchased, for £490 by his grandfather, on the marriage of his father Edward Bawden RA to Charlotte Epton in 1932. In February 1935 Joanna Bawden was born and in March of the following year Richard was born. It is hardly surprising that Richard followed his father to become an artist specialising in watercolour and print, as he was surrounded by art and famous artists throughout his childhood into adulthood. Many of Edward and Charlotte's friends came to visit them in Great Bardfield including John Nash, Charles Mahoney, Evelyn Dunbar, Percy Horton and Harold and Marie Curwen.
During the war Richard was sent to boarding school in the Cotswolds to be near to his mother who was, at that time working as an art teacher in nearby Cheltenham. Brick House in Great Bardfield had been commandeered by the military and was actually damaged by the only bomb to fall in the village. Post war the family moved back into their home after it was repaired. This was the family home until 1970 when Charlotte died and Edward moved to Saffron Walden. Having said this it could also be said that Edward and Charlotte have been for ever etched into the very heart of the village by Richard Bawden's memorial engraved glass panel doors in the parish church.
Like his father Richard is a highly skilled designer and excels in all aspects of design; engraved glass, cast iron furniture, textiles and typography. He is a painter and printmaker who works from life. He has previously stated "I believe in drawing; the very act is intensely emotional. I have a natural sense of design and logic which I use in my work." He paints in watercolour on location; interiors that have atmosphere; people whom he knows; and always his cats. He also has two etching presses and a large Albion press for printing linocuts.
Richard is a Council member of the Royal Watercolour Society (RWS), an elected member of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers (RE), a member of the New English Art Club (NEAC), and a former Chairman of the Gainsborough House Print Workshop in Sudbury.