Painter and sculptor Charles Stokes was born in Tacoma, Washington in 1944. He earned his B.F.A. from Central Washington University and his M.F.A. from the University of Oregon. From 1969 to 1985 he taught at the Cornish School of the Arts in Seattle, Washington, alongside Albert Fisher and Ron Winnington. A widely celebrated watercolor Abstractionist, he was among the last generation of painters to be associated with the "Mystic Painters" of the Northwest School.

Stokes' career had two distince paths, one in which he focused on the bold, iconographic work for which he would become primarily known. These gestural paintings were meticulously done in layers of transluscent watercolor washes over a graphite drawing, then finished with heavy, vivid gouache strokes, creating a three dimensional quality. In his later career, after moving to Manhattan in the early 1990s, he withdrew intentionally from the art world and focused on monumental canvases in acrylic, which he kept from public view. 

Among his awards and recognitions was the Seattle Art Museum's Betty Bowen Award, of which Stokes was the first recipient in 1978. His work is held in the collection of the Seattle Art Museum, the Museum of Northwest Art, and the Tacoma Art Museum, Washington.