Norman Perryman grew up surrounded by the Worcestershire countryside, so it was natural that his early work consisted mainly of landscapes. A year painting in southern France in 1963 provided the inspiration for hundreds of landscapes, often containing groups of figures. During the seventies work in oils was generally replaced by watercolours. But there always seemed to be a relationship with music or dance.

The composer Elgar once said - “you can hear music in the countryside”. 
But Perryman could also see it. In France, Switzerland or Holland, he would search for diagonal compositions of figures, shapes and silhouettes that could dance across his canvas, the diagonal expressing energy, dance or musical rhythm. A sweeping mountain range often seemed like a movement from a symphony. Ragged olive tree branches were like bursts of musical energy - their leaves a delicate twittering sound.  The black twisted vines of the Provence sounded like the bass-section in a wild passage from Stravinsky. In Holland the low-lying farms, cows and willows, stretched on the horizon as misty blobs between heaven and earth, created a delicate line to be played as a muted woodwind rhythm. As in Asian paintings, Perryman has often placed the emphasis on that line and allowed the rest of the painting to fade away.