{{Short description|English painter (1896-1979)}} {{Use British English|date=July 2018}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2026}} {{Infobox artist | name = Billie Waters | image = | imagesize = | caption = | birth_name = Phyllis Mary Waters | birth_date = 6 April 1896 | birth_place = Richmond, Surrey | death_date = {{Death year and age|1979|1896}} | death_place = | education = {{ubl|Heatherley School of Fine Art|Grosvenor School of Modern Art}} | field = Painting | training = | movement = | works = | patrons = | awards = | spouse = | partner = }}

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

==Biography== 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.<ref name="BuckmanVol2">{{cite book|author=David Buckman|publisher=Art Dictionaries Ltd|year=2006|title=Artists in Britain Since 1945 Vol 2, M to Z |isbn=0-953260-95-X}}</ref> From 1926 to 1931 she lived in Newlyn, Cornwall and studied with the artists Ernest Procter and Harold Harvey at their art school for some time.<ref name="MWhybrow">{{cite book|author=Marion Whybrow|publisher=Antique Collectors' Club|year=1994|title=St Ives 1883-1993 Portrait of an Art Colony |isbn=1-85149-170-8}}</ref><ref name="Spalding">{{cite book|author=Frances Spalding|publisher=Antique Collectors' Club|year=1990|title=20th Century Painters and Sculptors |isbn=1-85149-106-6}}</ref> For a period Waters worked as an apprentice to Proctor and learnt several techniques from him.<ref name="CFox">{{cite book|author=Caroline Fox|publisher=Newlyn Orion|year=1985|title=Painting in Newlyn 1900-1930|isbn=0-9506579-4-8}}</ref>

Waters first exhibited at the Royal Academy in London in 1928 and showed there annually throughout her working life.<ref name="Spalding"/> She also exhibited with the New English Art Club, the Royal Institute of Oil Painters and the Society of Women Artists.<ref name="BuckmanVol2"/> Waters was an elected member of the National Society of Painters, Sculptors and Gravers.<ref name="GMWaters">{{cite book|author=Grant M. Waters|publisher=Eastbourne Fine Art|year=1975|title=Dictionary of British Artists Working 1900-1950}}</ref> In 1933, she had her first solo exhibition at the Leicester Galleries in London.<ref name="Spalding"/><ref name="CFox"/> In 1934 Waters was commissioned to create a mural for the Knightsbridge Grille in London.<ref name="Spalding"/>

Waters lived in London but continued to visit Cornwall on a regular basis and eventually moved to Lelant in the county.<ref name="BuckmanVol2"/> Waters was a frequent visitor to both France and Italy and became interested in fresco techniques early in her artistic career. She developed a distinct style of working in oils which created the appearance of tempera works.<ref name="CAIbw">{{cite web |url=https://cornwallartists.org/cornwall-artists/billie-waters|title=Billie Waters|access-date=18 June 2018|work=Cornwall Artists Index}}</ref> Meeting Ben Nicholson in Cornwall led Waters to experiment with abstraction, but the majority of her works are realistic and representational.<ref name="Spalding"/>

==References== {{Reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Waters, Billie}} Category:1896 births Category:1979 deaths Category:20th-century English painters Category:20th-century English women painters Category:Alumni of the Grosvenor School of Modern Art Category:Alumni of the Heatherley School of Fine Art Category:People from Richmond, London