Beach Scene with Girls and Boys

Oil on board
61cm x 122cm

Norman Long (BA, MAFA) was born in Preston (1976) and studied at Newcastle University and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art. His work features regularly in London exhibitions such as the BP Portrait Award, New English Art Club and Royal Institute of Oil Painters. He is a prizewinner with the Royal Society of Portrait Painters and was Artist and Illustrators Artist of the Year in 2013.

Norman is a member of the Northern Boys outdoor painting group, travelling to London, Venice and other locations to paint en plein air. He is a trustee of the Manchester Academy of Fine Art and has held over 20 solo exhibitions.

Norman also runs popular courses in Oil Painting. His first book on the subject was published in 2018. He lives in Lytham St Annes with his American wife Lindsey and three young boys.

This piece and its companion (“Beach Scene with Arrival of the Queen of Sheba”) were originally intended as sketch versions for very large triptych paintings. Upon completing the works on this scale, I felt that the ideas were already fully expressed.

Beach Scene with Girls and Boys is the first in the pair. It reflects youthful, hormone-charged attraction between girls and boys, taking its title from a Blur song. At times I was thinking of the Degas painting “Young Spartans Exercising.” In a similar way, my scene was concocted from photos and drawings, slowly developed in the studio to reflect the gazes passing between the girls and boys.