Paris and Beyond

About the Artist

It’s not often one gets to start her adult life over again taking a bad situation and turning it into a good one. Sometimes an opportunity can arise in the most unexpected way. There are usually two choices — watch it pass by or grab it and see where it leads. It’s a 50-50 proposition. It’s much easier to be passive than active because actually doing something different can be a bit scary and uncertain. It requires a certain amount of bravery to take action and change even if you can see that it’s for the better. Fortunately, I had such an opportunity 21 years ago and was brave enough to make the right choice. That’s how I ended up with a husband who is, among many other things, an artist.

I have always enjoyed going to art museums, but my husband has taught me so much about art that I enjoy them even more. He’s always my personal tour guide and can answer questions about anything and everything. We have been to some of the best art museums the world, but my favorite art museum is the one in my house. My husband is an amazingly talented man, not the least of which is in the field of art where he can produce work in just about any medium. We have watercolors, prints, ceramics, and photographs displayed in our home all created by him. While these works may never hang in any famous gallery, they hang in ours and I appreciate them every day.

Norman has loved art since he was a young child drawing and sculpting dinosaurs. In junior high and high school he excelled in art so when he enrolled in college, he decided to pursue a degree in Fine Art. He enjoyed many very creative years at the University of California, Riverside, at Cranbrook Academy in Detroit, at Washington State University in Pullman, and in Tokyo, Japan. When he eventually earned his Masters in Fine Art, he hoped to teach and pursue his artwork. However, the reality of succeeding in this endeavor is slim. Few artists are given the opportunity to share and display their talents. So, over the years Norman has had a variety of jobs unrelated to the field of art while doing his artwork now and then on the side.

When we got together, Norman was presented with a rare opportunity to teach art at the College of the Desert in Palm Desert, California. He taught ceramics, drawing, painting, color and design, and was responsible for developing the digital photography program there. This post lasted for 10 years until we decided it was time to move north and pursue a better way of life together. In the area where we live now, the competition for such jobs is tough. You really have to know people and have connections to get in to any teaching position at the college or university level. After several years of effort at securing even a part-time teaching position, Norman was basically forced into retirement. The upside to this was that he had all the time in the world to create his own artwork. However, that is much easier said than done as the saying goes. Our new home provided a multitude of necessary and desired projects to occupy his time and he has only recently finished them.

One of my greatest desires has been to see Norman take time for himself and his art. I have yearned to watch him paint or create on a regular basis. I have always wanted to see my artist at work. I have finally been rewarded on this trip to France. Norman has suddenly been inspired and has been hard at work since day one drawing and painting many of the scenes we have photographed along the way. So far he has finished 12 sketches and four watercolors which you will find in Gallery 1 and Gallery 2 of this blog. Every day he becomes more and more comfortable working in these mediums and his work flows more quickly with much more skill. It is a joy to see this finally happening and I am very happy and proud to be able to share it with everyone who follows our blog.

Here’s the artist at work…

Here are some of the easily portable tools the artist uses…

Make sure to check out Gallery 1 and Gallery 2 if you haven’t done so already to see his work. Check back regularly as the Gallery collection grows.