WHEN artist Kerry Fletcher moved to the edge of the bush near Smythesdale, the focus of her painting practice shifted.<\/p>\n
She started to paint landscape scenes in her studio, depicting different elements of nature she had committed to memory.<\/p>\n
Years later, Fletcher is showcasing a collection of works called Air. Water. Farm.<\/em> at the Old Butcher\u2019s Shop Gallery, developed since 2020.<\/p>\n Visitors to the space can see a mix of larger and smaller paintings, some which have been inspired by locations including the western district of Victoria, the Yarrowee River, Black Hill, Smythesdale, and the Surf Coast.<\/p>\n \u201cIt takes a long time of looking before I know how the landscape speaks to me, what I want to say about it, and how I want to present it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cI never thought I would be a landscape painter… but I\u2019ve been blessed with a good visual memory, so hopefully I can keep that up.\u201d<\/p>\n Fletcher said the exhibition is all about moving, and the question of, \u2018what, where, or who is home?\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cLooking back, I probably have had a fairly nomadic life,\u201d she said. \u201cMy dad did call me a gypsy at one point.<\/p>\n \u201cI haven\u2019t lived in vary many places for more than a few years, although I did stay in Smythesdale for 10, before I moved to the western district where a lot of the images in the show are from.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce I\u2019ve been somewhere it kind of influences everything.\u201d<\/p>\n