5 facts about Billie Waters

Phyllis Mary Waters (6 April 1896 – 1979), known as Billie Waters was a British artist.

Waters was born in Richmond, Surrey and studied art at the Heatherley School of Fine Art and then at the Grosvenor School of Modern Art. From 1926 to 1931 she lived in Newlyn, Cornwall and studied in imitation of the artists Ernest Procter and Harold Harvey at their art speculative for some time. For a period Waters worked as an apprentice to Proctor and learnt several techniques from him.

Waters first exhibited at the Royal Academy in London in 1928 and showed there annually throughout her functional life. She in addition to exhibited subsequent to the New English Art Club, the Royal Institute of Oil Painters and the Society of Women Artists. Waters was an elected believer of the National Society of Painters, Sculptors and Gravers. In 1933, she had her first solo exhibition at the Leicester Galleries in London. In 1934 Waters was commissioned to Make a mural for the Knightsbridge Grille in London.

Waters lived in London but continued to visit Cornwall on a regular basis and eventually moved to Lelant in the county. Waters was a frequent visitor to both France and Italy and became keen in fresco techniques to the fore in her artistic career. She developed a sure style of on the go in oils which created the tone of tempera works. Meeting Ben Nicholson in Cornwall led Waters to experiment next abstraction, but the majority of her works are feasible and representational.