{"id":1376,"date":"2012-05-07T18:15:58","date_gmt":"2012-05-07T17:15:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/normantaylorgallery.co.uk\/?page_id=1376"},"modified":"2013-09-21T16:50:46","modified_gmt":"2013-09-21T15:50:46","slug":"gabrielle-brace","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/normantaylorgallery.co.uk\/?page_id=1376","title":{"rendered":"Gabrielle Brace"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

From an Art Graduate<\/strong><\/em><\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

When I first looked at Norman Taylor\u2019s work I was aware I was being presented with\u00a0just\u00a0a\u00a0cross-section of a life\u2019s work. The images\u00a0I saw\u00a0straddle\u00a0decades and genres with such casual, effortless eclecticism I might have thought\u00a0these were the\u00a0works of several artists.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

I could see his work ranged from bold woodcuts and masterful ink drawings, full of stark lighting, architecture and contrast. “One image which stood out was Norman Taylor\u2019s drawing of a 1940s pinup\u00a0who\u00a0is conjured in just a few expressive\u00a0lines\u00a0and there she pouts;\u00a0sultry, flimsy, fun”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\n

\"\"<\/a>I\u00a0felt\u00a0sure\u00a0that\u00a0I was looking at a\u00a0strong graphic artist.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

But quite aside from print making and black ink, Norman Taylor was a\u00a0talented\u00a0watercolourist.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

I feel\u00a0that perhaps\u00a0what makes\u00a0his\u00a0watercolours\u00a0especially good\u00a0is the application of one medium\u2019s sensibility to another.\u00a0This same aptitude for graphic imagery has been applied to the\u00a0wishy-washy medium.\u00a0It might seem,\u00a0at first,\u00a0a diffuse body of work but this cross-disciplinary approach\u00a0could be\u00a0what\u00a0made these paintings\u00a0impressive; because\u00a0creating a great watercolour is all about knowing when to stop.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

In his painting of\u00a0Rozelle\u00a0Close, the house is rendered with the\u00a0same\u00a0precision\u00a0as\u00a0the aeroplane diagrams he drew for a living. While the\u00a0bungalow\u00a0has an authoritative geometry, the garden\u00a0makes use of the\u00a0watercolour\u2019s natural behaviour\u00a0to become more loose,\u00a0more fluid and unpredictable. “The tree\u00a0the centre of the painting\u00a0is so obviously painted,\u00a0offering a\u00a0pleasing\u00a0contrast to the bricks behind”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\n

So\u00a0many\u00a0fall\u00a0at the first hurdle of watercolour, myself included:\u00a0you\u00a0didn\u2019t like the first mark\u00a0you\u00a0made and it just got worse from there.\u00a0\u00a0To be a great watercolourist you need to start confidently and stop\u00a0before you over\u00a0work it.\u00a0In fact, stop before you even think about over working it\u00a0because there\u2019s no\u00a0going back.\u00a0It is clear Norman Taylor was totally in control of this unpredictable and\u00a0un-correctable medium\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The connecting thread that runs though Norman\u00a0Taylor\u2019s\u00a0varied work is an\u00a0absolute certainty of when to stop. It is this which\u00a0makes his paintings so successful; he knows when to meticulously build a wall and when to make a gesture of a flower bed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Gabrielle Brace, BA\u00a0(Hons)\u00a0Illustration, Hereford College of Arts\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From an Art Graduate   When I first looked at Norman Taylor\u2019s work I was aware I was being presented with\u00a0just\u00a0a\u00a0cross-section of a life\u2019s work. The images\u00a0I saw\u00a0straddle\u00a0decades and genres with such casual, effortless eclecticism I might have thought\u00a0these were the\u00a0works of several artists. I could see his work ranged …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":973,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-full-width.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/normantaylorgallery.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1376"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/normantaylorgallery.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/normantaylorgallery.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/normantaylorgallery.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/normantaylorgallery.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1376"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/normantaylorgallery.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1376\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1664,"href":"https:\/\/normantaylorgallery.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1376\/revisions\/1664"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/normantaylorgallery.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/normantaylorgallery.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}