Denis Baxter was born in Southsea in 1936 and attained his Teacher̛̛s qualification from Stockwell College of Education and continued his art education at the Bournemouth and Poole College of Art (now the Bournemouth University). He is primarily a fine art printmaker with the emphasis on etching. He also uses other mediums such as oils and watercolour.

He has exhibited in numerous open exhibitions including the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, The New English Art Club, The Discerning Eye with his work selected by Sir Brinsley Ford and awarded The Art Newspaper prize.
He was elected an Academician of the Royal West of England Academy in 2002 and elected a member of The Royal Society of British Artists in 2003.
He has organised a number of exhibitions including one for the Printmakers Council with an Anglo-German exchange with printmakers in Landau resulting in his work being purchased for the Rhineland Pfalz State Collection in Main. He organised the first exhibition in the UK for the EuroArt Touring Exhibition which was first shown in Christchurch, Dorset before going onto Ahrenshoop and Brussels. Other foreign exhibitions in which he has had work exhibited include the Print Consortium of Missouri USA, The Mini Print International Barcelona, Spain The International Print Triennial Society Cracow Poland.
He was awarded the gold medal for Graphic Art at the 2nd Biennale Internazionale Dell Arte Contemporanea in Florence in 1999 and awarded the Gold Medal for Graphic Art presented by the Spanish Embassy at the Kyoto international Exchange Exhibition Japan 1999.

Exhibited etchings in the World Festival of Art on Paper, Kranj 2000 and wrote two articles for the catalogue, one on the use of paper in art and the other on Art Societies in the UK. He has had a number of solo exhibitions in London and Bath and a touring exhibition to four Hampshire County Museums and held printmaking workshops for schools and the general public at each venue.