Michael Norman PS

Statement

Michael lives within ten minutes walk of the Exe Estuary and the adjacent South Devon coastline. This is one of the landscape subjects that has inspired him for many years, and still does. He tries to capture the light and atmospheric effects that he sees throughout the year.

Methodology

Michael usually works from sketches made on site. He often takes a Unison pastels colour chart, which he uses to annotate my sketches with colour references. He also use a digital camera for back-up information, and for detail that he may have omitted to record at the time. Michael paints in soft pastel on either pumice paper, solid-core mountboard, to which he applies a coloured pumice surface, Sennelier pastel card or Canson paper. He quite often makes an underpainting in pastel by blocking in all the main areas of colour and then dragging the applied pastel down with the side of my hand over the whole picture area. This creates a ghostlike image, and also has the effect of unifying the colour. He sometimes draws out my subject in charcoal. Michael usually has three or four paintings in progress at any one time.

Bio

1943 Born on 6th February, Clevedon, Somerset

2007 Elected Member of The Pastel Society

2008 Elected Honorary Treasurer of The Pastel Society

2016 Elected Vice President of The Pastel Society