Collector exhibition inspired by the outback

This is Vanessa Bell - farmer, mother, businesswoman, mindfulness coach and now an exhibiting artist, who is channelling some of her boundless energy and enthusiasm into her first solo art show which will be open in Collector, near Goulburn, until December 5.

Mrs Bell splits her time between her Southern Tablelands home base at Breadalbane, and outback station, Wirchilliba, at Gilgunnia, in far western NSW.

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The vastness, yet vitality, of the ancient Wirchilliba landscape, where she and husband Philip farm livestock and grow cereal crops, has inspired this inaugural show, capturing the "power and energy of nature" in a series of abstract landscape works.

Mrs Bell says while not classically trained, she has always painted, and is inspired by the block-print style of modernist artists such as Margaret Preston.

"I really wanted to work on some western-inspired paintings which show the light and spirit of being out west," Mrs Bell said.

"I've painted close-ups of gums and have been influenced by the intensity of nature which we've seen in dust storms and fires.

"There is a lot of colour and movement in the outback landscape, and I see this beauty - it struck me when I first visited, and it still strikes me every time I go there."

Wirchilliba is a long way from the couture catwalks where she began her career as a model, or Sydney Harbour where she lived before moving to Breadalbane.

"I don't have that connection of being born in the outback, but there's a happiness I feel from the climate, the remoteness and the vastness.

"A lot of people from the city can't really comprehend the energy and power of these remote landscapes, I really don't think they understand the roar of kangaroos powering past a creek, or the complete stillness and tranquillity you can also feel.

"I guess that's the power of nature and I feel so fortunate to experience it."

Mrs Bell has always found creativity calms her - she works as an advocate for wool and women and is the force behind Sarah Jane Bond hand-knitted woollen baby blankets.

She has recently developed a mindfulness course on the power of craft, particularly knitting, to bring calm and focus and help alleviate stress and anxiety.

She wants to take that course to children and teach them ways to find their own means of calm through creativity.

"Knitting has always helped calm me, and in the same way painting allows me to relax and find stillness," she said.

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