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Both the inside and outside of Norm Dillinger's house is covered with his paintings. Still, he continues to paint in his living room, surrounded by his art.
Working on a thin piece of wood, Dillinger said he started with a few random lines that he will turn into colorful shapes and images - similar to the walls, windows and doors of his house that his brush has transformed.
From paintings of wild African animals to scenes of Chico's old City Plaza, Dillinger said he collected images from many areas, but he doesn't put any messages or themes into the 150-plus paintings around his house.
"I paint what isn't in my life," he said. "I don't have any tigers on my lawn, no beautiful women, no dolphins, no mermaids."
But when walking by his house at 821 Orient St., people have no trouble spotting the tigers, women, dolphins and mermaids on his house and in his yard.
"Some artists have other artists' art," Dillinger said. "I just have too much of my own."
In addition to his house, Dillinger has painted his car, fence and even some odd objects including a satellite dish.
Posted on Dillinger's front yard is a sign that says "Art lovers welcome."
Dillinger joked about the sign, saying that it was because he didn't want "art haters" to visit.
He usually gets four to five people a week who decide to come in and get the full tour. They're usually "very passionate art lovers," he said. Dillinger added that the free tours might help sell some of his paintings.
Dillinger's neighbor, graduate student Lucas Reid, said he often sees people going into Dillinger's house for a tour.
"It's nice living next to an open museum," he said. "And it's easy to give people directions to my house."
Reid said his favorite thing in Dillinger's yard is his Toyota pickup truck, which is covered in paintings and has animal sculptures riding on the roof of the car.
Dillinger said he's painted four cars, including a 1969 Volkswagen.
From Dillinger's yard, spectators may miss out on his style of painting, which people must get closer to in order to understand how he does it.
It's called pointillism, he said. Instead of brush strokes, the painting is done by many small dots of paint. In theory, the colors are supposed to play with each other and create recognizable shapes and colors from a distance, he said.
"There's theories," he said, "but I don't get into that. I just do what I want."
As it turns out, what he wants has caught some people's interest. Last month, Dillinger and his house made an appearance on the "Home and Garden Network."
"It took about six hours of filming to make four minutes of film," he said.
The program selected Dillinger's house out of 20 that were nominated in Chico, he said. Dillinger wasn't surprised when he won, joking that he didn't know where the other 19 came from.
Though it took Dillinger about 15 years for his house to the look the way it does, he said people shouldn't equate the value of art to the time it took to create it.
Dillinger said each painting takes a lifetime to paint, the last one taking him 70 years to finish.
"When you follow your bliss, you lose track of time," he said. "It's real art when you know when to stop."
Bob Main can be reached at bmain@theorion.com
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