Thornton Academy Postscripts Alumni Magazine Fall 2016 | Page 21

The advertising business was not where Norwood wanted
to stay, however. He remembered, “When we were
presented with a buyout opportunity of the company,
I took it. Our agency had 60 employees. We were
approached by a much bigger firm and we accepted their
offer and walked away. Advertising is a business where it’s
more fun to be a worker than a manager. I was too far from
the fun stuff - and there’s also a ton of pressure. I never
worked so hard in my life. Getting the agency to the next
level would’ve killed me, and definitely would’ve killed my
friendship with my best friend. So we decided to take the
deal and not look back.”
Paul walked away from his advertising career and started
painting full time. The son of a Maine lobsterman,
Norwood said, “I gained a great work ethic working in
the lobster pound. It took awhile to get my feet under me
again, but that work ethic helped me build a career as an
artist. My advertising background taught me about the
business end of art and about competition. I put my own
artwork together, bound it, and pitched it to galleries. I
think galleries took me on not only because they liked the
work, but because I knew how to present it.
“There was no technology in advertising initially. To
represent a photo in a layout, you had to draw it with a
broad tip marker. I learned a lot about representing ideas
simply. I draw upon that now with my landscape and
figurative paintings. I break it down to its simplest form. I
let the viewer put it back together with their own eyes. Any
artist matures; I’ve moved to larger brushes, strokes, and
formats. On my bigger pieces, for instance, I work with a
palette knife to make sure everything stays loose and fresh.”
Norwood lives with his wife Liz and their two children in
Mill Valley, California. He called it, “a quaint town with
lots of music history and a lively art scene.” They spend
their summers on Martha’s Vineyard, having owned a
house there since his Boston ad agency days. Norwood
said, “It was just a beat-up shack near a land preserve. I
met my wife around the same time and we fixed it up over
the years. It started out being a place to escape the crazy

Photos in clockwide order: One of Norwood’s paintings, Paul
Norwood in his studio, and Norwood and his friend, Ben Godley,
as kids and as business partners 30 years later.

advertising world. Now it’s a great place for me to paint.” They
moved to California nine years ago and report that they don’t miss
the cold winters at all.
You can view Paul Norwood’s paintings online at www.paulnorwood.com.

21