Billie Cook - artist and photographer

When I left school in 1947 I should have gone to Art School. But it wasn’t possible for family reasons. So a few years later when I left my hometown Kirkcaldy, in Scotland, to live in Portsmouth I got a job with a photographer.

This was fortunate as it followed on that when I went to London when I was 21, my working career was with the Pathé Film Company. Then as an Art Buyer in an Advertising Agency and later as Personal Assistant to a West End London Advertising Photographer. Not taking photographs but as a Girl Friday, running the office, booking models and getting props.

So the point of this web site is to show that at the age of 35 when I stopped working my creative life began. I was married and living in Wimbledon Village, London, in a lovely new town house with two pussy cats, BUT because I had worked with highly talented artists and photographers I had little or no opinion of my own artistic ability.

Starting a family was not an option, so to fill in my days I joined a Pottery Class at the Putney Art School. To cut this down, I will just say that I found I had a talent for pottery and for eight years I became deeply involved with this craft and had a studio, kiln and several very successful exhibitions of my work in London.

In 1971 we bought a villa in Javea, on the Costa Blanca in Spain for holidays. This was a very important inspirational point for me. I loved so much of what I saw, the angular shapes of the Spanish houses and the beautiful countryside.

I came back to London, bought canvas boards and acrylics and waded in. The painting alongside is my first effort. Simplistic, almost child-like but I think it has a certain strength and visual impact.

So, after 26 years of living in Spain and including a successful side career as a photo-journalist with a leading English Publication Magazine as their photographer on the Costa Blanca, I am presenting my work on this site partly as an ego trip, and as I said at the start, hopefully as an inspiration to other late-start aspirant artists and photographers.

How to use this site - The links at the bottom of each page tell a chronological story, with stop off points to view work in galleries representing work around that time. Please follow these links to view work sequentially, or simply 'dip in' by using the links along the top! And do please sign my guestbook... I would love to hear from anyone!

the pottery years...

www.memories-of-javea.com

billiecook@wizmail.eu