About The Artist

North Shore artist Brian Norton has been painting for nearly 40 years. He has held a number of exhibitions of his work featuring New Zealand landscapes. Brian’s lifelong intimate relationship with the land has infused his painting with both detail and perspective.He has developed his own distinctive style of painting, making his work fresh and original.He enjoys working mainly in oils, finding this medium allows him to feature light and its influence on the natural landscape.He particularly enjoys scenes which feature water, including the sea, rivers and lakes,reflections and moonlit scenes,raging waters and glass like calmness. Brian is a Christian who believes he has a mission to share his faith through his art.Take a closer look and you will see that some of his work incorporates a Christian message. On this website the message paintings have a category of their own. Brian was born in Morrinsville, New Zealand, grew up in Whakatane until he was twelve and spent his high school years in Dunedin. He attended Kings High School and is a member of the Old Boys Association today. He attended Hamilton Teachers College and Waikato University and attained a 4 year Bachelor of Education, a Diploma of Education and a teacher’s certificate. He taught for 5 years at the primary level and the next 24 years at high school level,mainly in French, English and Maori. He left to take up a lawn and gardening franchise for the next ten years, and is now focusing on his art. Brian is married and has 6 children from his first marriage and now has two lovely stepchildren as well. He is a proud grandfather of two and a third on the way. His wife Karen, who is also a Christian, can often be seen supporting him by selling cards and prints of his art.He is a proud member of Long Bay Baptist Church on Auckland’s North Shore and sees his art as a special way in which he can reach out into the wider community.He is also a member of the East Coast Bays Lions Club which also allows him to reach out into the community and be of some help. Brian enjoys doing commissioned work. He has worked from photographs of a place that is special to a client, creating unique paintings that continue to be enjoyed and cherished.He enjoys painting ‘live ‘around the North Shore for people to engage with him as he paints so that people can enjoy the process and be encouraged to further their own talents. Brian has produced prints and cards of his art work for sale and more details of these will be given on this web site shortly.