A Sunbury art exhibition immortalising Australian animals and nature in watercolours has launched and is free for residents to attend.
The exhibition, An Australian Spectrum by artist and Sunbury resident Ray Rattenbury, is on at the Gallery at Sunbury Hume Global Learning Centre, and is open 9am to 5pm.
Rattenbury took up watercolours when he joined the Sunbury Art Society in 2010.
“I’ve tried different mediums, and … I really enjoy [watercolours],” he said.
“I joined a pastel class and then at the Sunbury Art Society, a lot of people there were using watercolours and I tried it and it felt great.”
The paintings in the exhibition include a range of Australian landscapes, with a focus on native animals, as well as flora and fauna.
“I like Australian native animals, birds and bush scenes,” Rattenbury said. “Some of the paintings are about extinct and endangered parrots, which interest me.”
Rattenbury, who has been teaching art classes across Hume and the Macedon Ranges since 2012, said the experience has helped him to improve his own work.
“I thoroughly enjoy teaching, it gets you thinking about how to do things differently,” he said.
“I used to paint paintings and think I should do something else to it but was worried about ruining it. I’ve realised you have to take that risk.
“The whole [teaching] experience has been great for me, trying to improve all the time.
“I’ve been fortunate to win 22 awards in about 14 years.”
Rattenbury’s have also been added to overseas collections in Canada, England, Ireland and New Zealand.
