[2] He studied painting at the West of England College of Art, Bristol (1941–50) with his education being interrupted, though not curtailed, by the Second World War.
[3] Military service, in World War II, took Folkes to Africa, Sicily and Italy, as a draughtsman in the Signal Corps; he was mentioned in dispatches.
His early sketches and paintings are of the estuaries of the rivers Test and Itchen, boatyards, the docklands and Southampton Water.
[7] Graham Blakesley of Gable Contemporary Art has written: “Spanning sixty years of artistic output across the 20th century, the influences on Peter Folkes are eminently identifiable in his work.
From the academic discipline of the Classical Renaissance to the French Impressionists, from the mid-century Abstract Expressionists through to Pop Art and social realism of the sixties, Peter has always retained an ability to absorb ongoing external influences only to process his own personal style which re-emerges with artistic interest.