Always striving to produce the perfect picture
WELCOME
Ray West is an international award-winning pastel artist from Essex in the UK. He has always strived to create artworks that have detail and accuracy, and this has evolved into the hyper-realism style that is seen in much of his work today.
Ray loves the challenge of bringing subjects to life using pastels and pastel pencils, ensuring the colouring, tonal values and depth are just right to make them emerge from the page. He wants the viewer to believe in its reality, whilst enjoying the original subject matter.
Ray is a self-taught pastel artist who enjoyed drawing in his early years, but then spent a career in the banking and investment industries before reigniting his passion for art in 2020.
Initially Ray focussed on commissions based on a wide variety of subject matter, but taking special enjoyment from painting automotive subjects from his own references. Currently he is creating a new body of original work that will define and refine his unique style. He very much continues striving to create the perfect picture every time.
ABOUT ME
From an early age I loved drawing, as a young lad I spent much of my spare time drawing and painting, trying out different techniques. I did consider taking on further education in Art, but chose to follow a career in Financial Services instead, which left little time to pursue my artistic talents.
From spring 2020 I returned to my passion and started 'Ray West Art' to spend my available time doing what I love most.
I am a self-taught artist living in Colchester, Essex, England. My favoured mediums to use are Fabre-Castell, Derwent & Stabilo CarbOthello pastel pencils and Rembrandt soft pastels on Clairefontaine Pastelmat board. When drawing my pictures I spend many hours on each one aiming to capture the true character of the subject and show as much detail as possible.
Thanks for visiting my site and if you like what you see, please follow my Instagram page to see new pictures once they are completed.
HOW TO COMMISSION A PICTURE
If you would like to discuss a commission with me then you can Contact me by phone, email or Messenger. It will then be good to have a conversation to chat about what you would like - if you are happy with what I can do, then we can agree the details.
All I need from you are good quality digital photograph(s) to use as a reference, and to understand any special requirements such as grouping subjects together, background details or any other element of detail you would like included or focussed on.
We can then agree a target date for completion and if required I can keep you up to date as the picture progresses. When your picture is ready I will send you a digital photograph for your review. If there was any detail you felt was not quite right, I will be able to make a final adjustment at that stage.
Once you are happy with the photo, I will provide an invoice and ask for payment to be made by bank transfer.
I will then securely package up your picture ready for posting (unless you are local). I use strong cardboard boxing that delivers your picture flat and ready to mount and frame. I use acid free tissue and/or glassine paper to protect the picture surface, then packing materials for protection against movement.
I do not offer a framing service as I think selecting the right mount and frame is a very personal thing, and it needs to fit in with your home decor and budget.
Please note: I do not use fixative sprays on my pictures as this can cause some of the vibrancy in the picture to be reduced.
I can offer pictures in a variety of sizes up to 50cm x 70cm and my Prices page shows some indicative prices for the most common sizes. However, please feel free to contact me about any special requirements. I will happily discuss ideas and costs with you without any obligation.
CONTACT ME
email me: complete the form below and press 'Submit'
Phone or text me : +44 (0)7530 289 263
Use messenger: www.facebook.com/RayWestArt
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/raywestart/