Gayle Blair Tate was born in Texas. He studied engineering at the University of Wyoming and received a degree from Florida State University. He then joined the United States Air Force as a commissioned officer. Having already opened an art gallery in 1967, upon his discharge from the Air Force in 1972 he began to pursue private studies at the Loch Haven Art Center in Orlando and subsequently with a number of private ateliers. Tate was a charter member of the Trompe L'oeil Society of Artists, 2001-2003.