An artist from Beer has won the best painting in show prize at the South West Academy art show.

David Norman is a prominent, award-winning professional watercolourist who recently won the SWAc Best Painting in Show sponsored by Marine House. He was also shortlisted for the Sunday Times watercolour prize and his paintings were recently selected by the president of the Royal Watercolour Society.

He is the winner of the Art of Watercolour prize and has written two books and produced a DVD on watercolour painting.

His work is figurative and underpinned by a strong sense of draughtsmanship, a legacy from rigorous training in architectural drawing and rendering.

The inspiration for his work comes from a sometimes accidental or sudden glimpse of the subject whether a seascape or townscape. The time of day, the position of the sun, and the weather, also have a part to play.

There’s usually a story behind the image and this narrative thread grows with the painting, often informing the outcome and influencing the atmosphere of the finished work.

David’s passion for capturing the effects of light is obvious in the scenes of the towns and harbours painted during his time spent in Europe and in England, influenced by the South coast and living most of his life in Devon.