Show sells town and works

PRYAMID Hill’s Major’s Vision art show has received praise from visitors and exhibitors.

The show finished its seven-day viewing in the memorial hall last Thursday and according to an organiser Terry Wood, more than 30 per cent of paintings entered in the competition were sold.

“That’s an amazing result for any art show and more astonishing for us in our first year,” he said.

“We had so many visitors come to town to see the show. Some said they expected a little country event and were more than impressed with the quality and number of paintings in the competition.”

Among artists praising the organisers has been Des Lowry.

His portrait of Pyramid Hill’s Brigitte

Local bird hotspots attract watchers

BIRD enthusiasts will tour Mount Korong and other hotspots around Inglewood and Wedderburn on Sunday as part of Bird Day Out.

Birdwatcher Simon Starr will lead the tour as part of the Loddon Plains Landcare Network event.

Simon will talk on birds of the Loddon Plains and give an introduction to birdwatching at the network’s Inglewood base before the afternoon tour.

The new event received funding from Victorian Government’s volunteer innovation fund.

Cain was awarded first prize on its section. “When announced in the middle of last year, the show attracted my attention immediately, both for its subject categories and the prize money,” he wrote to the Loddon Herald.

“It was intriguing that such a small, and to most observers, unprepossessing town, which most travellers pass through without a second glance, had been able to attract sponsorship from local businesses and the progress association worth more than $4000.

“I wanted to paint a work for the people and portraits section, having enjoyed some success painting portraits of friends. I decided I had to make another trip to Pyramid Hill, to see if I could find a local identity who might be willing to be painted. On the return trip from a few nights in a cabin on the banks of the Gunbower Creek last September, I called in to the bakery and introduced myself to the lady behind the counter. I’m Des and I’m looking for a local identity to paint for the Pyramid Hill Art Show I said.

“There’s one, she called out. At that very moment an elderly lady on a walker was passing. Brigitte came in and while I took a few photographs, Dee Simm told me Brigitte’s life story. What do you like about Pyramid Hill, I asked Brigitte. It’s the people; I love them,” she said.

Des said his participation in the show was pleasurable, selling three paintings. The progress association will donate money from the show for the historical society’s new historic engine display.