Solo show about tides of time

AFTER servicing Ballarat’s mental health sector for decades,
a local psychologist has shifted
her interests to a different outlet.
Admiring the cliffs of Anglesea during COVID lockdowns,
Monica Maud was inspired to capture the terrain using pastel and paints.
“I got a bit caught up in looking at lines,” she said. “When you went out into paddocks, they had lines in them and so did the beach and cliffs.
“I thought about the way the lines on the south coast have been eaten away over time. It was about the effect of time for me.
“Every picture I took reflected
a certain time of the day as well. The question is how did all those layers get washed away and
what does the future bring for them?”
The results of Maud’s fascination are now on display as part of her first-ever solo exhibition Time and Tide on show at the Old Butchers Shop Gallery.
With 17 pastel-painted and drawn A2 works featured, the pieces resemble regional Victoria’s hillsides and terrain from Lake Esmond to Gippsland, Jan Juc, and Geelong Road, which Maud took photos of for reference.
“I never set out to have an exhibition,” she said. “It was more a way to entertain myself during COVID.
“One of my earliest memories is of a bedroom in central Africa which had these giant canvases. My father would spend his weekends falling into caves and record them to bring them back and render them on these canvases.
“I think he’d be pretty chuffed and amazed about this. I’ve always been a supporter of the Old Butchers Shop as well since the beginning so I’m very lucky to have an exhibition here.
“I always thought one day when I retire, I’ll go into art, not realising that was what was happening during COVID.”
With about eight works left out of the show, Maud said there’s the potential for her to follow up with another exhibition.
Time and Tide is on display until Sunday 28 April.