Frederick Donald Blake

Born in Greenock, Scotland, on 7 June 1908,[1] Blake's family moved to London when he was a child and he remained in the South for the rest of his life.

He trained at Camberwell School of Art and at 15 years of age started work as an architectural draughtsman in the interior design business.

As a freelance designer after the war, he worked for the aircraft industry, the railways and on road safety campaigns to mention but a few.

Whether he was painting a muddy foreshore with rusting cranes, the wilds of the Cornish Moors, people, deckchairs blowing in the breeze, market scenes, his beloved Tuscany, delicate flower studies, buildings or bric-a-brac, the viewer was always drawn to the painting.

[2] His work has been shown in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Düsseldorf and Brussels, as well as a number of noted galleries in London.