Brian West’s Artists Biography
Born in Nottinghamshire in 1945. As the son of an amateur artist I became familiar from an early age, with the strange smell of linseed oil and turpentine. I attended classes at Mansfield School of Art from the age of 10 and the charcoaled fingers and fleeting glimpses into the life-classrooms were indelible experiences and stimulated my interest in the opposite of figurative stillness. Following which, my involvement in both studying figurative movement and sport combined, for if not playing football or cricket every daylight hour (in preparation of playing for England) I was sketching some athletic action or other – I remember at this time I entered a competition in a national newspaper with a crayoned action drawing of my idol, goalkeeper Bert Williams of Wolves and England fame, and won first prize of a box of Reeves watercolour paints – which I still have!
Anyway I somehow managed to remain undiscovered by the scouts from Forest, Wolves or Notts County and found myself subsequently painting much more than playing.
