 Canadian Artist George E. Bates |
George was born in Cardston, Alberta in 1935, moving with his parents to B.C., first Nelson, then Trail and Rossland and finally into the Vancouver and Burnaby areas. His mother was very musical and wanted her children to become familiar with the arts, both piano, drawing, and singing in musicals. They rebelled at singing (except in her church choir) but felt at home with piano and drawing. Mother's rule was to have George and his brother draw a picture each day, copying something (anything) from a magazine. George trained his eye for careful attention to detail from these experiences. Although he could muster nothing over a B or C in his art classes at school he remained very interested in art, drawing aerial and tank battle scenes of World War II and caricatures of the axis leaders (nothing that would appeal to a teacher).
George received his best support and encouragement from a professor of art in a summer class he took at the age of 15. He knew he had potential for high quality work, and kept that in the back of his mind while pursuing his High School and University training in Chemical Engineering and then Psychology.
Marriage to Lucy, another artist, brought numerous conversations about art, and although work and the raising of a large family demanded most of their time, they found many occasions to go out sketching together (a cheap but very rewarding date). Of particular memory are the times, while living in the Tongan Islands, when they'd settle down for some sketches only to see myriads of children emerge from the bush to see this strange phenomena. Tongan children were often the subject for his sketches as well as his own wife and children. Speed in drawing later improved with frequent sessions of sketching people directly from the TV programs.
Although he initially took on the challenge of painting in oils with a
pallet knife, for many years George's favorite medium was pen, pencil or
marking pen along with watercolour washes. He often yearned for all the
training others had received by majoring in art at a University, but knowing
that he would never have that opportunity he settled with buying and reading
numerous books and taking the occasional evening class, all the while
studying particular paintings he liked, plumbing for the secrets they held.
Being able to discuss the principles of art with Lucy brought a much deeper
understanding and flexibility, although this is still in progress.Presently retired, George, after some evening classes in the medium of oils, took on the challenge of painting in acrylics. At present his favourite topic is the great outdoors, but he has the goal of returning to the human arena. He is most comfortable painting representational subjects with an impressionistic approach and loves experimenting with various colour schemes and colour theories.
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George E. Bates
The Roze Gallery
P.O. Box 53
Fruitvale, BC V0G-IL0
Phone: (250) 367-7466
E-mail: gbates2@telus.net
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