Done different

Of all the quotes dragged up about Norfolk, the two that most people know are firstly what most think is the county motto - "Do Different" and secondly Noel Coward's "Very flat, Norfolk".  Well as most of us know the latter of these isn't exactly true whilst the former is in danger of going the same way as more and more is 'discovered' by the weekend supplements.  However, Norfolk does remain different for those who care to look and in a final quote "Once you get to know Norfolk, there is no better place to live" in the words of the late John Timpson.

So what prompted all this navel gazing?  Well not actually the current exhibition by Kevin and Ann-Marie Ryan, but more the reaction to it.  Just in case you haven't seen it or don't know their work, they are - like most - incomers,  and have lived in a quiet corner of high Norfolk for the last 20 years.  Their palettes are dominated by intense colour - orange, brown, red punctuated by the occasional intense blue, whilst their compositions are singularly lacking in either horizontality or any obvious reference to big skies.

So - not flat, and very different. And people love it.  Which just goes to show that the Ryan's are firmly in the Timpson camp and that there are plenty out there who understand and can look beyond the Norfolk being peddled by the Sunday supplements.