It started with a question and ended with a month-long art exhibition.
Once retired and now full-time artist Alan Cartlidge walked into Stellar Coffee in Shepparton, introduced himself and inquired about the art exhibitions the cafe hosts.
“I said, ‘so how do you get space up here?’ and he [the cafe’s owner] says you just talk to me,” Alan said.
“I couldn’t get in for a while, which is good because I needed to frame them and get them ready, but from the end of October, he said ‘the wall’s all yours’.”
Alan has enjoyed watching the success of the show since it began, with 23 original artworks decorating the brick walls of the cafe.
His artistic career emerged from humble beginnings, painting as a hobby.
“I would paint and then just put them away in a folder, but when I retired I started to get into it again,” Alan said.
“I got some pieces in Milestone Cafe (in Kialla) and then it sort of snowballed from there and now I’m a full-time artist.”
Since beginning his visual art journey, his style and artistic niche have developed with him.
“It’s evolved over the years but lately I’ve been attracted to a paddock with nothing in it except for a car, so I usually stop and take a photo since I’ve found out my memory is shot,” Alan said.
“So I take photos and I don’t use the whole photo, I just take out what I need.”
His love for painting comes from the calming nature of the activity, he said.
“It’s relaxing and when I’m painting I switch off what’s around me. [Alan’s wife Sue] could come in and talk to me and I wouldn’t even hear her,” he said.
The future of Alan’s art career looks bright, having just been accepted into the Splinters Art Group.
“So it’ll be interesting to see how my style changes now that I’ve joined the group,” Alan said.
If you want to check out or purchase a piece of Alan’s work, make your way down to Stellar Coffee on Wyndham St, Shepparton.