Percy Gray studied at the California School of Design during the 1880s before launching into a career as a newspaper artist, first in San Francisco and then in New York. While in the East, he studied at the Art Students League and with William Merritt Chase. Gray returned to San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake and started exhibiting paintings for sale. His newspaper career had given him much practice in the fluid, spontaneous medium of watercolor, and it was as a watercolor painter that he established his reputation in San Francisco. He became known as one of the foremost interpreters of eucalyptus and oak trees depicted in foggy Coast Range landscapes. Gray also ventured into the mountains, visiting Yosemite Valley in 1911 and again in 1922.
