Art in isolation

‘‘My philosophy right from the start has been the more you do something, the better you get,’’ Mrs Rourke said.

‘‘So I make sure I do some type of art at least once a day. It doesn’t matter if it is five minutes, an hour or the whole day.

‘‘I am quite an energetic person, but when I do my art I have to sit still, so I put my music on and it becomes quiet time. You don’t have to interact with anyone and it is quite calming.

‘‘Then when you have that time to yourself, you start to think outside of the box and try new things. The other day I created a koala and its baby with lots of flowers and bits of colours over it as well black and white, which was something I had never done before.’’

While Mrs Rourke has been drawing all her life, she did not ‘‘seriously get into it’’ until 2017 when she joined the Edward River Art Society.

‘‘I have drawn all my life with pencil, not always full on or anything for long periods of time, but I used to just doodle around,’’ she said.

‘‘When I was older and stuck at home sick, I would draw some rough portraits and things like that. Just sketching; I didn’t really know what I was doing.

‘‘Then in 2017 I semi-retired and had a bit more time, so I decided to join ERAS and that opened up a lot of possibilities with other mediums I could use.’’

She soon started painting in watercolour and acrylics, fascinated with the way she could create all sorts of works with colours.

‘‘I just took to water colour and acrylics straight away. I absolutely loved them,’’ Mrs Rourke said.

‘‘Last April I also started using coloured pencils, because I like things that are very detailed and the pencils give me the opportunity to do that. I have drawn a lot of animals, but it all comes back to colour.

‘‘After some time I worked up the courage to enter a few of my paintings in the annual art exhibition at the Peppin Heritage Centre, and both of my works sold in the first hour. 

‘‘I didn’t realise I could draw and paint well until then, so I have continued to sell my works at Naponda, hand painted cards at the Peppin Heritage Centre and have entered a few exhibitions including the Pfeiffer Wines Rutherglen Art Show.’’

Mrs Rourke is encouraging others to spend their time in lockdown creating, ‘‘even if you don’t feel that you can’’.

‘‘A lot of people think they can’t do art, but I think there is always something in everyone that gives them the ability to create something,’’ she said.

‘‘It doesn’t have to be with a paintbrush or pencil, it could be hammering a nail or doing some knitting, the options are endless.

‘‘But you won’t know if you can do it until you try.

‘‘So my advice is to give everything a go. Now that you have the time, try something new.’’