Painter, restorer and administrator, born in Greenock, Renfrewshire. He studied at Glasgow School of Art and at Patrick Allan-Fraser School of Art, Hospitalfield, Arbroath. During the period 1979–81 Thomson was at Hospital-field as restorer and assistant warden. A strong, figurative painter, Thomson showed at SSA, Glasgow Group, in art fairs in Bath, London and Los Angeles and widely in Germany, having spent a great part of 1989 there. Having participated in Compass Gallery, Glasgow, New Generation show after graduating, Thomson had his first solo exhibition there in 1982, his second occurring in 1987, with others at Glasgow Print Studio.