JARKLIN artist Sarah Wallace-Smith had the biggest Cheshire grin in Pyramid Hill Memorial Hall on Friday night.
The one-time gardener had just won best in show at the second annual exhibition organised by the town’s progress association.
Sarah’s good composition, drawing, tone and colour had caught the eye of judge Terry Jarvis as he put the critical eye over almost 180 paintings by artists from across Victoria.
Her depiction of Dy Dy the cat about to leap from a flower bed had Mr Jarvis jumping with praise for Sarah, who grew up on a Riverina farm and now lives on the family farm at Jarklin with husband Chris.
“I love painting animals and I’ve always worked with them,” said Sarah who turned her full-time focus to painting just before COVID and now shares studio space in Bendigo.
“One of my Instagram followers sent me this photo of her daughter’s cat. I asked if I could do a painting and that’s how Dy Dy the artwork started.”
Sarah only entered two works in the exhibition - she has watercolours also on display at three other exhibitions running in February and March in Bendigo and Echuca.
The Pyramid Hill prize is among the most important she was taken out and sits alongside top honours picked up at last year’s Camberwell show in Melbourne.
Sarah will also be at the Lost Trades Fair in Bendigo next month demonstrating her watercolour techniques.
But she says her main artistic focus is on creating a series of works featuring war dogs.
Mr Jarvis said the Pyramid Hill show provided a wonderful art space to bring the community together.
“This show is a celebration of artists in this area and beyond,” he said.
Progress association president Drew Chislett opened the show and said art was the “ultimate culmination of reality and imagination ... the seedbed of innovation and development”.
He paid tribute to show organisers including Anne Grogan and Terry Wood for their work in again staging the event.
Following Friday night’s preview opening that was attended by Murray Plains MP and Nationals leader Peter Walsh, memorial hall doors were thrown open to the public from Saturday.
Mr Wood said the exhibition had been well attended with great interest in Sunday’s demonstration of painting techniques by Mr Jarvis.
He said sale of artworks had also been strong.
The second Pyramid Hill Major’s Vision Exhibition and Art show runs until today.