Artist Statement: Annette Norman

In my Spotlight Exhibit “Unexpected Visions” I draw my inspiration from nature with all its wonders and fleeting beauty. In my landscape paintings, I use figurative styles to convey the settings and their subtleties of form and color (“Hidden Marsh” and “Cascade”). Some landscapes are serene, even mystical, others chaotic (“Tumult”). Other paintings, like “Passion” and “Leap of Faith” are abstracts where I play with colors, images and forms to evoke emotions and hopefully to connect with the viewer. In “Bridge View” I worked from my photo of the Roman Coliseum but decided to abstractly present an example of its classical form without any clear reference to the structure.

In preparing for the Spotlight Show I benefited from the fact that both styles— figurative and abstract—play off each other in the creative process.