Fred was a contemporary of LS Lowry and a fellow Manchester artist but came to Cornwall in 1969 seeking brighter colours and warmer climes. Out of financial necessity most of Fred Yates's early works in Cornwall were painted on rough hardboard, sometimes even just cardboard, employing household paints. Many of these works have a restricted monochrome palette. But Fred’s approachable style won over some notable early collectors. In 1976 he had his first solo show at the Reynolds Gallery in Plymouth and in the same year he was a finalist in the John Moore’s Prize. Throughout the 1970s and 80s Yates’s public and critical acceptance grew and was confirmed by his inclusion in the 1985 exhibition, St Ives 1939–64 at the Tate in London. 

As he became more commercially successful, Fred’s consumption of oil paint and employment of colour, grew exponentially. Later in life Fred moved to the south of France where, upon entering a new French town or village, he would seek out the local art supplier and buy the entire stock of tubes of oil paint, such was his need!

The Sea Glimpse is a great example of this exuberance of colour and abundance of oil paint, much of it squeezed straight from the tube onto the board.