PROFILE: MY FAVOURITE WATERCOLOURIST - MIKE YATES IN BILLERICAY

Art, in all its various forms, is uppermost in my mind at present. You will find out why this is so in a few months' time.  But in the meantime, I thought my family and colleagues may like to see the work of a good friend, Mike Yates, whose paintings can be  seen on his website: mey@yatesmail.co.uk 

Michael attended a short 'introduction to watercolour' course at Hylands House, Chelmsford in 2008 and found watercolour painting quite a challenge - but great fun. His artist's statement for the 2017 Billericay Town Art Trail, was "A painting turns a flat sheet of paper into an illusion." 

Whether it is The subject matter or a style, he just loves to see what 'new illusions' he can produce. He generally paints for himself, but it is great when other people like the results, too. When people want Mike's paintings hanging on their walls, he considers that this is the icing on the cake. Many of the pictures that Mike paints are based on photos that photographers have uploaded to the pmp-art.com site, for which he is grateful. 
To get the best results, he use high quality paints and paper. Mike’s current work focuses on views of the Italian cities of Venice and Florence as well as flower presentations. The views are constructed from three tonal washes, light, medium and then dark. The results have been unpredictable and varied.The free and easy approach to the flower presentations has allowed interesting use of colour to provide the settings for the flowers.  mey@yatesmail.co.uk