Watercolours to go on show at Oak Street Gallery

* Rocks, Frikes, Ithaca, Greece (2001).

* St Agnes in the Scilly Isles (2001).

Watercolour paintings by  late Wrexham artist Mike Coates will be on show in an exhibition which opens at The Oak Street Gallery in Llangollen at 7pm on Saturday January 4.

Mike Coates (1943-2006) achieved his Art Degree at Cheltenham College of Art and Design. He also spent a two formative years at Falmouth College of Art. 

He taught all his life and after retiring from Bryn Offa School in Wrexham he went sailing in the Mediterranean, visiting new islands and countries as he traversed the Bay of Biscay and entered the Mediterranean via a quick stop in Gibraltar. 

Mike found true fulfillment in his sailing and painting. All his work was painted ‘Plein Air’ and once the boat was anchored safely he would trek off with his rucksack to find that image, that view, to paint. 

In 2005 whilst on an impromtu cycling trip to France he became ill. Eventually being diagnosed with Glioblastoma Multiform, a brain tumour. He died in 2006. 

These watercolours are a record of all the places he  visited, seen from his unique perspective - Journeys by sea.