ARTIST Norman Gilbert has reason to celebrate his latest solo exhibition and it is not because he is nearly 90.

It’s fair to say he has had a rollercoaster of a career — feted by critics one minute and scorned by the establishment the next.

But while the lows may have been disheartening Gilbert has remained committed to his work even when he had at one point to take a job looking after pigs to make ends meet.

Intricate and vibrant, his paintings are as colourful as his life which began in Trinidad where he was born to Scottish parents in 1926.

He arrived back in Glasgow when he was nine years old and joined the Royal Navy in 1944 when he was just 17.

However, painting was his passion and he decided to apply to Glasgow School of Art after the war, believing that art would be a career that would last a lifetime.

That indeed is how it has turned out but it was a rocky start as Gilbert found he was at odds with the style of painting being taught at art school.

On the plus side, he met his future wife, Pat, who was also an art student, but he clashed with the teachers and the “academic impressionism” they favoured.

“I have no regrets because if I had followed their advice I would have got nowhere,” said Gilbert. “Cezanne said he who follows is always behind and I was determined not to follow them.”

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?

THE decision to plough his own furrow came at a cost at the time as he was refused his diploma at the end of his four years at art school.

Life immediately afterwards was not easy. The couple and their baby lived in a caravan where Pat had the second of their four sons and Gilbert found a job looking after pigs while continuing to paint in his spare time.

Later he worked as an art teacher in Dumbarton but was paid less than other teachers because he had was uncertificated.

“When our third son was on the way I realised the situation was ridiculous as I was being paid half of what I should have been getting so I went back to GSA to resit the final year.”

In 1962, Gilbert was finally granted his diploma and was able to work as a qualified art teacher. Pat also became an art teacher and worked full time so he could work part time and continue with his paintings.

WHEN DID HE FIND SUCCESS?

GILBERT’S perseverance paid off and in 1966 he had his first one man show in London’s prestigious Upper Grosvenor Gallery just off Park Lane.

The same year Vogue magazine published a feature on his work entitled “The Loneliness of the Long Distance Painter”.

Another solo show followed in 1970 and he was due to have a third when the gallery closed which was a major blow.

“It took me 15 years to find a gallery then I had to start all over again,” he said. “It’s not been plain sailing – I went from flying down to London to find 30 of my pictures hanging in the Park Lane gallery with a copy of Vogue and a feature in it to the gallery closing.”

Again perseverance paid off and he had solo shows at other galleries in London as well as Leeds and Montreal. In 1974 his work was the subject of a BBC film as part of a series of arts programs called Scope, presented by the critic and writer W Gordon Smith. The broadcast coincided with a solo show in the Edinburgh Talbot Rice Centre.

WHAT ABOUT THE CRITICS?

OVER the years he has continued to sell even though the art critics, particularly in Scotland, have not always been kind.

A boost came when he was 76 and entered a London exhibition called Fresh Art where his work was chosen from a blind selection.

“His work is fresh and exciting, the colours are current. He will bring a richness to the exhibition. Technically, his work is strong and fits into the contemporary aesthetic,” said one of the judges.

While Gilbert has sold more pictures than Van Gogh he cannot be described as prolific. He does several drawings before starting a painting which can take a couple of months to complete.

Technically, the paintings are prepared with meticulous attention to the materials and methods used. The oil paint is applied to a traditional, semi absorbent, chalk ground on rigid board, which best maintains the colour and the permanence of the pigment.

WILL HE CONTINUE?

PAINTINGS depict his family and friends, seizing on the vitality of the young and their modes. The models have changed over time as his four sons were born, grew up, formed relationships, and most recently, have had children of their own.

His most recent work continues to deal with the same pictorial concerns, but omits the human figure. Now, Norman’s subject is the planter-cultivated back yard of and images from his Victorian town house in Glasgow

“I try to make each colour and shape enhance every other colour and shape so it’s entirely satisfactory, so it’s at peace,” he said.

Happiest in his studio, he has no desire to give up his art but admits to being apprehensive about the forthcoming show in Edinburgh.

“I have had adverse criticism although not so much recently,” he said. “I think perhaps the whole art world has changed and people have come round more to my thinking than they were at the beginning.”

The results of a lifetime’s endeavour will be on show from July 2-22.

The Sutton Gallery, is at 18a Dundas Street, Edinburgh. It is open Tuesday-Saturday from 11am-5pm, or by appointment on 0131 557 4810.

See thesuttongallery.com and normangilbert.com.