Brisbane born artist Ralph Coles started painting in oils in 1970 when his brother gave him a set of oil paints for his birthday.
Prior to then he had shown an ability to sketch and draw, and as a schoolboy he attended an Art Class conducted by St George Technical College at Kogarah on Saturday mornings, and was offered a course by The Art Training Institute which was declined due to financial considerations.
He had been inspired by a collection of sketches sent to him in letters to his mother, Violet, by his father, Flight Lieutenant Harold E Coles, while he was Commanding Officer for RAAF unit 22RSU in New Guinea during WW2 in 1944, and treasured a sketch by his grandfather John Frederick Coles given to him by his grandmother. His grandfather died before Ralph was born.
Ralph devoured a series of Art Teaching Manuals, and early paintings were influenced by suggested techniques drawn from those various sources to offset the lack of formal training, while he pursued and succeeded in a management accounting career with Wormald International and other companies and qualified as a CPA, now with over 50 years membership.
Early on Ralph resolved to use only his own material as inspiration for his paintings and has accumulated a vast collection of scenes from around the world photographed during his travels, always with wife, Jill, and often other family members.
Ralph grew up at Dolls Point near the mouth of Georges River, in Sydney, and as a teenager sailed VJs competitively at the local sailing clubs, moved up to 16ft skiffs, and after moving to Hervey Bay in 1975, raced skiffs and Lasers. He has a close affinity with the sea and seascapes and yachts feature in many of his paintings.
Ralph and Jill married in 1966 and raised five children, now all married, and parents to their thirteen grandchildren. As the children became independent Ralph and Jill were able to travel extensively, have cruised around the globe in two parts, around Australia and New Zealand, to Asia, and around the Pacific, and Alaska.
Within Australia travel has included all states and territories, and for ten years while working for a major foundry in Innisfail the family enjoyed the wet tropics of Far North Queensland and lived at Mission Beach.
Ralph is a member of Hervey Bay Art Society and regularly supports the Society by entering paintings in monthly competitions, with the different themes providing a challenge to create new art. He has also prepared entries for the annual Fraser Coast Regional Art Competition, and received a Commendation for a landscape.