NORMAN SMITH P.S.

Norman Smith studied Art and Design at Bristol before qualifying as a teacher. He travelled extensively in India and the Far East, eventually arriving in Western Australia, where he worked for three years before returning to England in 1987 to paint professionally. Norman works predominantly in pastel, to depict the changing moods of landscape and it is here that the viewer can appreciate the influence the strong Australian light has had on his work. But he is also attracted to coastal and marine subjects as they offer different challenges, a huge variety of colour and constant movement. Although equally at home with oil paints, he is best known as a pastel artist, but rebuffs the general perception of pastel as either gentle or subtle. His technique is to apply solid patches of pure colour in thick layers that create a heavily textured effect, treating the medium much like oil paint. His dramatic, deliberately limited palette combines with a great talent for draughtsmanship and the pastel's vigorous application suggests a real passion for his subject. Now a very well established name on the contemporary English art market, he has had many successful one-man exhibitions throughout the United Kingdom and exhibits regularly with the Pastel Society at the Mall Galleries, where he won the Longley Memorial Prize in 1999. He was elected a member in 2000. He is also winner of the Inscribe Prize and in 2001 won the Thompson Gallery Award. His paintings hang in many collections worldwide.