Heros- Mrs. Coates



Mrs. Coates was my private art instructor for two years, starting when I was 11. She, like Mr. Styers and Mr. Buehl (stories to come later), is a senior role model to me. She is why I do not fear growing old.

Mrs. Coates was in her late 70s, early 80s when I studied with her. She was a sculptor and painted water colors. At that time, she was still exhibiting. She was also doing things like teaching art to children, managing her life including major household repairs (one time we found her on the roof, replacing shingles) and caring for an invalid husband. She also had a really fascinating history. At one point, she studied art in the Netherlands . She had to give up her studies when the Nazis invaded that country in 1940.

Mrs. Coates had great energy and a great level of patience. She was very firm with me and insisted that if I was going to study with her, then I needed to focus and develop a foundation. I was very unfocused and didn't have the patience or discipline to sketch beginner still lifes. I wanted to draw cartoons all the time, mostly of rabbits. I was obsessed with Watership Down.

Mrs. Coates, in her way, won me over or wore me down and got me to focus long enough to start to develop a decent level of drawing skill. She reminded us (there were 4 or 5 other students) that we needed to practice drawing every day. Unfortunately, any talent I may have demonstrated was negated by the fact that I had absolutlely no discipline. By the time I was out of high school my drawing skills were almost non-existent. Today, I can barely sketch something out. But during the two years I studied with her, my drawings were finally starting to resemble the images I had in my head.

The dog in the picture is a cast iron door stop she had. This dog was a compromise between she and I. I wouldn't have to draw fabric and fruit if I promised to sketch this dog and not my cartoon rabbits.