Tom Norris: Nov. 2005
November 1st, 2005
November 1, 2004 — “It’s All About the Drawing”
Like most artists, I have worked in just about every medium known to man. Oils, watercolor, Prismacolor pencils, acrylics, china painting; I’ve done it all. I’ve been a potter and done clay sculpture, but drawing has become my passion and pastels have become my medium of choice. I found that once you learn the “particulars” of each medium, all things go back to the basics…drawing.
It’s been very interesting to teach drawing and pastel classes and see people’s apprehension and collective fear of drawing. I’ve had beginning students come in to class with oil paints, brushes and canvases and tell me they want to paint a picture of wolves or of a family member. When I tell them that you have to be able to draw those wolves on the canvas, because there is no wolf paint that magically makes them appear on the canvas- they tell me they want to paint, not draw.
It’s natural that all beginners can’t wait to get to color. A color portrait is very impressive but without a good drawing underneath, all the color in the world will not produce a good painting. This brings me back to the point of the discussion in November…it is all about the drawing.
If you love art as much as I do, you want to get better with each picture, and the best way to do that is taking the time to learn to draw.
There is a method to drawing. It’s not based on luck or God-given talent Once you get past the individual nuances of each unique medium, a good painting always comes back to composition, perspective, and all the basic rules of drawing. A painting based on tracing or copying a picture does not have the “life” that a drawing done “from scratch” has.
I have been drawing and painting basically for a lifetime; professionally for the past twenty-two years. I have been teaching for the last few years because I believe in Winston Churchill’s quote: “What you get is a living, what you give is a life.” It has been a joy to share a God-given talent with others and watch them progress, grow, develop and do things they didn’t believe they could do when they started.
It’s not like me to talk about myself, but for the sake of introduction, let me say that I don’t just enjoy art, I am passionate about art. I tell people who ask that I love to do two things; I love spending time with my wife of twenty years, Karen, and I love to be in front of my easel. They go hand in hand because without the support of Karen, I would not be a professional artist. I cannot tell you how much that support has meant to me in my life.
Through the years, I have done the Fort Worth Main Street Arts Festival, the Grapevine Grapefest Show for 19 years, Texas State Arts Festival in Kerrville, Scarborough Faire, Texas Renaissance Festival, Salado Art Fair, and shows all over the Southwest. I have done commissioned work for the State Fair of Texas, painted murals in a number of restaurants, and done hundreds of commissioned portraits. I have worked all over the world, having had a studio several years ago at the West End Marketplace in Dallas and selling my artwork to visitors from China, England, Spain, and Italy. Until recently, I had my work on display in the Visual Expressions Gallery in Cedar Hill, TX. My work can be viewed on my website at www.tomnorrisart.com.
I hope you will join me in the passion at my demonstration November 1. We’ll discuss drawing and pastel techniques, and I’ll be happy to answer any questions you may have on what makes a person crazy enough to be a professional artist!
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