Travelling the countryside for more than a decade, artist John Bailey has spent a lot of time in search of places like where the rivers meet at Wellington.
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He never knows where his search will take him next, but so far it has led him through Queensland, South Australia and Victoria in the days since exhibiting in Melbourne and Sydney.
For the past few weeks he has been painting at the junction of the Bell and Macquarie rivers before he leaves again within the month.
The oil paintings take weeks to complete because he has to work on four or five canvasses to allow for the changing light and atmosphere.
Born in Dublin, he arrived in Australia in 1969 after living in England.
He has never had lessons, but has been a keen painter from a young age.
"By the time I got around to thinking about having art lessons, there wasn't anybody that was working in an area that I felt I could benefit from," he said.
His favourite artists have always been Constable and Turner, but he has never been to see their work in the Tate gallery because he didn't want to be directly influenced by their style, much as he would like to be associated with their work.
People often ask him what they should do to start painting, he tells them the most important thing in his opinion is not to be too serious about the painting you are working on.
His best advice is for people to get some paint and a board and just play with it like kids do and learn to feel the texture.
"Try not to be too serious, many times you will get to a point where you really like what you are doing," he said.
"That's when you have got to be careful.
"Don't be afraid to block it out if it is going to take you in the wrong direction."
