Old Hospital in Vientiane

All my paintings are oils on canvas.  I add a curved molding to the stretchers’ outside edge before stretching the canvas. The resulting canvas hugs the wall nicely and there is no need for a frame. For the last 10 years, I have poured glitter over the last primer coating while the paint is wet.  I spray a color over it to calm the canvas down. Then I have, even before beginning on the image, a sparkly, rough-surfaced, bulky-cornered, starting point, which is already looking alive to me.

Then it becomes a long dance, using thick oils, marking pens, oil sticks, and even an angle grinder to level down dried paint that has become too thick. I keep working on canvases that are still in my possession, sometimes for a decade. The two panel paintings work well hung together in a corner. All the paintings are signed and dated on the back.

I will get better at photographing my art.

— Pat West