One of the most surprising things about Jerry Norton is his humility.
“I’m always embarrassed to say I’m an artist,” he says, while sitting in a room filled with evidence of his artistic achievement.
There are portraits of dogs, paintings of sailboats and more. But even these are but an introduction to Norton’s work. In another room – a studio in Starling at Nocatee Independent Living, where Norton lives – every surface is occupied, mostly by pictures of historic figures, including each of the 45 presidents. (If you count 46, it’s because Grover Cleveland was elected to two nonconsecutive terms.)
In all, Norton estimates that he has produced about 400 paintings.
And he’s done it all in just two years.
As an artist, Norton, who first set brush to canvas at age 88, might be considered a late bloomer. But he might not have discovered his talent had it not been for something so often affiliated with age: chronic pain.
It was at the Mayo Clinic that he learned how creative outlets could help mitigate the pain.
So, at first, he returned to a pastime he’d discovered in his post-retirement years: writing. It did help, but he discovered the process of composition too often left the door open for pain to sneak back in. So, he tried something new, painting.
“When I paint, I don’t feel any pain,” he said. “When I’m mixing colors, I don’t feel any pain. When I’m painting, putting things on the easel, I don’t feel pain. And that really surprised me.”
And that’s when he began to paint for eight, pain-free hours a day.
Soon, many of those paintings will appear in a book he is publishing titled “Faces in America History – From My Palette.” The book features his portraits of the presidents with a short bio for each to give historical context with key legislation and events of each administration. Included are portraits of other significant figures from that period.
Columbia, Grumman and Beyond
Norton attended high school in Long Island, New York, and went on to college at St. Lawrence University, which was less than 20 miles from the Canadian border and offered too many temptations to visit the Great White North.
Two years into his collegiate career, his absences from class got him “thrown out,” as he recalled.
Norton entered the military, where he was stationed on Enewetak Atoll, Marshall Islands, during the atomic bomb tests conducted there after the end of World War II. It was during this time that Norton discovered an interest in electronics.
After completing his military duty, he was admitted to Columbia University with the help of Edwin Howard Armstrong, the developer of FM radio. Armstrong was a professor emeritus at Columbia, and Norton’s father was his patent lawyer.
Norton earned a degree in electrical engineering and upon graduation landed a job at Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corp., where he worked for the next 40 years, starting as a radar engineer and rising to director of engineering at the Melbourne, Florida, division. He retired in 1992 and moved to Ponte Vedra Beach.
Three years later, he began coaching football for kids. His hobby of sports photography for all the kids’ teams got him an offer to cover games for The Ponte Vedra Recorder, which he did from 1995 until two years ago. He also covered the Jaguars for The Orlando Sentinel.
Painting the presidents
Norton didn’t originally plan to paint all the presidents. He was doing a series of paintings of kids, but found it difficult to paint their faces. So, to get some practice in that area, he did a portrait of Santa Claus. Then, Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, Barack Obama and Donald Trump.
“All of sudden, I was doing presidents,” he said.
At first, he didn’t know what to do with all these portraits. But then, he was inspired to create “Faces in America History – From My Palette.”
It won’t be his first book – he’s written five others. But it will be the first featuring his paintings. The book is to be published in September.
Norton said he previously never suspected he could paint, maintaining that he “can’t even sketch.”
He works from pictures, as do many renowned artists, but admits he must struggle against his technical background.
“My engineering mind says it has to be really perfect,” he said. “If you want a picture, take a picture of it. Why paint it?”
But paint it he does. And his commitment to perfection may be the reason his portraits are immediately identifiable.
“The placement of things like eyes and nose make all the difference in the world if you’re trying to create a particular person,” he said.
He uses the Zorn palette – named for Swedish portrait painter Anders Zorn – which typically employs only ivory black, titanium white, cadmium red and yellow ochre.
“I always start with the eyes on anything,” Norton said. “When I do dogs, I do the eyes first, because eyes are so important in making whatever it is look like who they are.”
He said he finds painting women “extremely challenging” and painting whiskers and beards “really hard,” but you wouldn’t know it by the pieces he’s produced.
He likes to work in three-quarter profiles and relies on shadows to produce depth. He paints in water-soluble oils, which requires planning to ensure light colors are not buried in dark ones.
Anticipating publication of his book, Norton took time recently to ponder this new, creative chapter in his life.
“I really enjoy it,” he said with satisfaction. “And not only do I enjoy it, it serves a purpose. I makes for pain-free hours.”
