Normand’s career and creative breakthrough as an artist came when he moved to New Mexico and began painting the high desert landscape en plein air. Having grown up in the northeast, he finds the light, earth, and atmosphere of New Mexico particularly alien and awe-inspiring. Having worked in countless “soul-confining” settings, he feels rapturous gratitude and joy to be able to make art outdoors as a livelihood. These sentiments permeate his paintings and are most readily apparent in the earnest colors and painterly brushwork.
