When Fall Turns to Gold, oil, 36˝ by 48˝ “This is a quiet scene by a brook in autumn. Two Indians are sitting by the stream, taking in the quiet.”
A SU C C E S S F U L GAMB L E By Vicki Stavig “I
think the Lord gives you tal- ent, but you have to sacrifice. You have to pay your dues.”
So says Jim Norton, who did
indeed pay his dues as he followed his dream of becoming an artist. He studied, he painted when he was dog tired after working a full-time job to support his growing family and, with the support of his wife Pam, he gam- bled on his talent taking him where he wanted to go.
That gamble, combined with tal-
ent and a lot of hard work, paid off. In fact, it paid off in ways Norton would not have dared to consider, not the least of which was an invitation to become a member of the prestigious Cowboy Artists of America (CAA). Add to that the many awards he has earned over the years and the fact that his Western paintings are much sought after by collectors, and Norton would be the first to tell you
that life couldn’t get much better. Born in Utah, Norton spent por-
tions of his childhood there and in New Mexico and Wyoming. “Dad was in the mining profession, so wherever there was a better job, that’s where we went,” he says, add- ing that he spent his teen years in Wyoming, where he played sports, took art classes, and enjoyed pack trips with his friends to hunt and fish. He also had racing pigeons, a
May/June 2011 • ART of the WEST 35
