Twenty-two years ago, Jennifer Riddle's dying sister encouraged her to pick up a paintbrush, and she has just won Australia's most prestigious landscape art award.
The Victorian has taken out the Glover Art Prize with her painting Wanderings of the Past and Now, which depicts the oceanic inlet of Port Davey in Tasmania's south-west.
Riddle has visited the area for the past six years, exploring by boat.
She snapped photos and jotted down quick sketches as the boat glided through the water, combining two of her photographs as inspiration for her award-winning work of art.
"This particular time was between lockdowns and going there I really felt the wilderness that I've been drawn to for a long time, everything was magnified and the emotions were more intense.
"And really look at humanity and the state that we're in right now."
But it was in Launceston's airport where Ms Riddle received the good news.
"When I was allowed to turn my phone off aeroplane mode, I saw there was a missed call from the Glover.
"I said to mum and dad, 'I've got a missed call from the Glover, but he's probably pocket dialled me'.
"I was elated, I've dreamt about winning the Glover for some time.
One of the judges for the prestigious $50,000 prize, Amber Koroluk-Stephenson, said that to a degree the pandemic was a common theme this year.
"I think we were drawn to Jennifer's work because it was poignant and apt to this current time in which things have been so anxious," she said.
"We've had much more time for reflection and appreciating the spaces and our environment that give us solitude.
Ms Koroluk-Stephenson said it was difficult to whittle down this year's 534 entries to pick the 42 finalists.
"I found it very taxing, I don't know about the others, just very hard because you have so many strong entries, and so many diverse entries as well.
"But for the winning selection and the highly commended, it felt like a very clear direction," she said.
"Overall there is a strong sense of calm, and reflection and people being homebound, it's just created a follow on in the way people are responding to their environment."
Art as a way to heal
Ms Riddle said she used painting as a way to cope after her sister, Andrea, died from a brain tumour.
"She told me I should be stopping to pick up the brushes, and she really gave me the courage to paint," she said.
"I found that the landscape was healing to me, being able to portray those feelings I get, within the premiers of the canvas is deeply rewarding.
"My response feels more shared now, it feel like less about personal healing and more about global healing."
Riddle has entered the Glover Art Prize 10 times and been a finalist five times.
She is "delighted and really honoured" to become the third woman to ever receive the award.
"The Glover is significant to me in that it draws my two loves together, art is a big part of my life but the landscape too," she said.
"The landscape has taught me a lot about myself and a lot about humanity."
