Michele West grew up at the beach in California. She began studying drawing and oil painting as a teenager with impressionist artist Corinne Hartley at her Venice, California studio. She married Corinne’s son, Trent West and together they owned and operated four custom jewelry stores named “Trent West Designer Jewelry” which were open from 1975 until 1999. During her career as a jewelry designer Michele created unusual and very popular wedding rings. Michele exhibited and sold her original paintings at their stores, located in Carmel Plaza, Capitola and Aptos, California.
She continued her art education at Scottsdale Artist School studying with Henry Yan, John Carter and Bye Bitney. She has also attended workshops taught by artists Hui Han Liu and Brian Blood. Michele continues to study figurative drawing at weekly live model classes taught by Susie Wilson of England. She is inspired to paint many different subjects including figurative, wildlife and abstracts in oil, acrylic and watercolor.