Nowadays the digital camera has become almost a necessity for some people. This, however, does not prevent 27-year-old Sherlun Norris, from taking up his pencils, a sheet of paper and someone’s picture and reproduce a realistic replica. Sherlun is a freelance artist of still life and portrait.
The Sorrell Lane, Eden Lodge, St Michael resident said growing up he had always had an interest in drawing.
“I am a big fan of the pencil art . . . my speciality is pencil-rendered drawings. From primary school I was doing little comics for my friends and what not, and I guess I got led astray later on in life as I tried to dabble in other stuff but it all came back to art,” he said.
“My mum always pushed me to do art . . . . But, I didn’t decide to actually take it seriously. My first interest was in the hospitality industry. I wanted to become a bartender, so I went to Barbados Community College (BCC) to do that,” said Norris.
The enthusiastic artist said it was “close to the end” of his studies in hospitality that he realised it was better to do something that he loved “rather than be in a long-term thing that I don’t really love. One of my teachers saw a sketch of mine at school and asked, ‘why don’t you do drawing?’ I was three years into my studies in hospitality when I changed . . . . I got the associate degree in visual arts – fine arts at BCC in 2006,” said the former St Giles Primary School and Queen’s College student.
Since taking up the art form as a part-time profession, Norris has entered the NIFCA competition (last year) and won bronze in his category and this year his work was on display at the 2010 Crop-Over Exhibition.
Sherlun said after making the sudden switch from hospitality to fine arts he received much encouragement and some criticism.
“The criticisms I got were constructive. . . . So far I think I am doing pretty good. I can’t do it full-time right now but eventually I plan to. I still want to go and do my bachelor’s degree,” said Norris, noting that he was considering doing sketches. He currently has a full-time job at the Grantley Adams International Airport as a customer service representative.
Norris, who has two sisters, describes himself as “just a regular guy. . . . I am into sports a lot. I represented my country in volleyball at the Caribbean level, and won Best Libero. I am a huge NFL fan. I used to play tennis at one point too. I am laid-back and easy-going,” he said.
But back to sketching his almost perfect renditions.
“I prefer people to come to me with a picture and I do the drawing from the picture. I ask them for a close-up shot so I can get as much detail as possible and tell me what they want in the background and also a little about themselves so I can probably put that in the portrait at some point and then I just move from there,” said Norris.
He said depending on how much time he had to spare, one drawing would take anywhere between four to six hours.
“I don’t always do that all at once. I might do an hour and a half, take a break and come back because it is always good to have a fresh look at it to see the differences and mistakes that I am probably making.
“My challenge would be getting supplies. I have to order the really good stuff from overseas, some of them that I can’t get anywhere in Barbados. Another challenge would be my skill level and what I think is good enough for my client. I go very hard on myself,” said the artist, who works solo.
“When I can look at a drawing . . . just seeing a finished product – you can’t get a better feeling than that, whether it is sold, whether it is for me, a friend or a client. Just the fact that I know I did my best and I am proud of it. That is all I need,” he said with a smile.
However, he lamented that people were not coming to him for portraits as often as he would like: “Bajans as a whole are not willing to purchase art just off the bat. The average Bajan doesn’t appreciate it that much. So it is really slow . . . that is why I really do just friends now and not much business,” he said.
“I am very optimistic. I haven’t delved into drawing as much as I could but I have a very good feeling that when I do step out there and make that decision, it is going to be very good. I am going to take Barbados’ art [scene] by storm one day”.
