Bruce Thompson grew up in Ontario, where his chief interests were long distance running and doing studies on wildlife. After graduating in Life Sciences from University of Toronto, he went to West Africa to study tropical river blindness. He and wife wife Judith spent five years there.

On return from Africa and an M.Sc. in insect physiology he went to Newfoundland where he pursued his studies earning an Ph.D. in ecology. In the early 1980's he moved to Alberta and took on a job as environmental scientist in Environment Canada. Currently, he operates his own environmental consulting practice.

He began painting after moving to Alberta, where he was greatly inspired by the wide open spaces and colour. He combines his love of the outdoors in both his art and his environmental work, and draws on this experience in his painting.

His artistic goal is to express the specialness of places, whether mountains, streams, fields or skies. He draws much inspiration from his work and travels, in the prairie, woodlands and mountain areas of Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan.

While his most frequent subjects are of landscapes of B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan, he has also painted subjects from visits to some of his favourite places, such as India, Thailand, Brazil and Africa. His paintings have been sold to a number of private collections and have shown in various galleries and displays. He also does paintings of landscapes and other outdoor subjects on commission.