David West was born in 1939, Mitcham, Surrey. In the 1950s he studied painting and printmaking at Sutton School of Art and Camberwell School of Art, and went on to teach part-time until 1972. As a freelance artist he has produced both commissioned and non-commissioned works, gradually working more with wood. He has exhibited at Fischer Fine Art, London; Ulster Museum, Belfast; Glyn Vivian, Swansea; Mead Gallery, Warwick University; and the Royal Albert Museum, Exeter. He has lived and worked in Lyme Regis, Dorset, since 1981. His association with Japan began in the 1990s, when he was asked to hold workshops in different parts of Japan.

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In 2008 David West was invited by the Sasakawa Foundation of Great Britain to undertake a journey, recording what interested him, and observing  daily life.  He chose to travel between Kyoto and Okinawa, staying in many different types of accommodation, walking on parts of the Kumano Kodo and Yakushima Island, visiting shrines and gardens, and meeting artists and craftspeople.

 

He returned with over 200 drawings and many memories. These formed the basis of a number carved and gilded panels, and later a collection of woodblock prints. The prints in oil-based inks are hand printed in very limited editions, from 3 to 20, each print varying in colour and texture.