Hello - I am Ruth West
 

My Mum was an artist in the mid 1930s and created some beautiful works using pastels on sandpaper.

As a child I would sit for hours trying to copy one particular painting, never thinking that one day I too would love art and being creative. 
This didn't happen until I left the big city world and retired to the beautiful Bay of Islands in New Zealand.

At first I tried acrylic paint on paper or a small canvas, but quickly realised I needed much larger canvas plus charcoal, oil crayons and sometimes collage, to express the free style of art that seems to suit me best.

The joy of being an artist is that now I really see our amazing world all around me. Colour combinations, textures and shapes -  beauty I had  not really noticed before.

I am fascinated by clouds, but gardening, tramping in the bush and sailing also make up my life, so there is so much to paint!. I particularly love earthy colours - nothing delicate here - and that reflects in my paintings.

I try to convey the feeling of a recognisable subject, without getting into much detail.