A little about myself : John West the Artist
Welcome to my web site. I have been asked so many times if I have one; so here it is. Most of my work comes by recommendation but there is no harm in letting all who are interested see what I can do. You can never predict who will see a need. My training was at Croydon College of Art where the tutors were mainly from the Old Vic, Saddlers Wells and the Royal Opera. Despite being there in the ‘sixties and striving to be modern, there is still a traditional feel to much of my work. I have used air-brush and many more modern skills.
My background
During my time as an artist I have had the great fortune for my talents to be spotted and used by various companies and indviduals. This has created opportunities for me to work on my interests in Conservation work, Canal Boats and Theatre.
As a child I loved the colourful artwork of the Disney studios which was very avant guard in the 1930s (the Dali Exhibition at the Tate Modern has a recently completed cartoon designed by Dali, which had been abandoned during the artist’s lifetime). I loved the colourful world of the theatre, as expressed in musicals and pantomimes. Having grown up in the north-west London suburbs, Hampstead, followed by Hendon and Mill Hill, I sought the magical world of the stage and screen. The reality was very different from what I had imagined it to be, but I trained in Inscape (TV, film and theatre design) at Croydon College of Art, Theatre Department, which was largely staffed by professionals from The Old Vic, The Royal Opera and Sadler’s Wells. While still a student I designed and painted or repainted several professional productions. These included Shakespeare productions for the English Shakespeare Company in Regents Park, summer shows and pantomimes for Cyril Fletcher at Croydon, Swanage and The Arts Theatre, Cambridge.
My first job was as a result of meeting Vic Hallam, Hughie Green’s manager at the King’s Theatre, Southsea, where I was painting a pantomime during my vacation. (Hughie hosted Opportunity Knocks and Double your Money on ITV for many years.) This resulted in me being offered the job of Designer for a scenery company in Windsor. I designed and painted several productions for them including the Christmas production for The Royal Shakespeare Theatre at Stratford upon Avon in 1969. Sadly the company was striving to produce scenery and costumes without enough finance and they closed. After that I worked as a scenic artist in the West End painting productions for major London and provincial theatres and for BBC TV. At that time if you wanted to see my work all you had to do was to tune into BBC 1 at 7.30 on a Saturday night…
I was advised that if I wanted to design I should work in repertory theatre, so after painting rep seasons and a pantomime at the Alexandra Theatre in
Birmingham, I became the Designer for the Playhouse Theatre at Derby, at the tender age of 22. Photographers asked me to produce backgrounds for their work and this became a lucrative side-line for me.
The quality of the support staff in provincial theatres is disappointing compared that which I knew in the West End, so I moved over to doing the traditional painting of canal boats which had fascinated me since I first learnt of it. This then led to painting pub interiors, signs and other work which I had not anticipated. I am still in demand for painting and restoring canal boats, though I have stopped advertising my services several years ago.
The lure of theatre lead me to become the scenic artist for the Theatre Royal, Norwich, which was then being very successfully run by the enterprising Dick Condon. They were producing major productions and Anglia TV was also in need of scenic artists. When they closed their workshops I found myself painting themed attractions and designing for the rival Maddermarket Theatre, Norwich.
A move to the Midlands found me becoming a Friend of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists and exhibiting in their exhibitions. Presently I strive to balance exhibition and conservation work with time to paint. Eventually, I propose to spend more time painting art work and less time on commercial activities. I am developing my own style striving to shake-off the representational style developed for TV backgrounds (which had to be purely representational) and to be freer more colourful and very personal.
Professional Bodies of which I am a member
Broadcasting Entertainment Cinematography and Theatre Union
The Friends of the Theatres Trust
The Association of British Theatre Technicians