The 30 watercolour artworks a Port Stephens pastor and self-confessed hobby painter created during a 30-day challenge will be shown in Nelson Bay next month.
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In a pursuit to stretch himself as an artist, Andrew East, pastor of Nelson Bay Baptist Church, challenged himself to complete a painting a day for 30 days, which he did between June 3 and July 2.
"I was fascinated by the idea and thought 'I have to give that a go sometime'," Mr East said.
"I often find it very hard to make time to paint. So I decided to force myself to pick up my brushes by committing to my friends and family to paint a painting every day for 30 days.
"Committing to this challenge helped me to prioritise painting in early morning and late at night for a time and not to be too worried about the outcome.
"I found that as I freed myself up and got into a habit of painting regularly, I produced some surprising outcomes."
Mr East said the inspiration for his 30 watercolour paintings was his own ideas combined with photos or artworks found during online research.
"I found that I needed to be interested and passionate about a subject to paint it well," he said.
"Often I felt drawn to paint animals because I found them so full of life and personality. Other times my mind was drawn to more quirky art that incorporated humour or surprise.
"At other times I interested fascinated in trying to capture the effect of light in landscapes. In all these areas to tried to push the boundaries of what I have done before."
Asked whether he thought the exercise had helped him grow as an artist, Mr East said it had.
"I found that my confidence as a painter has improved and I am more willing to try new subject matter and experiment with different techniques," he said.
"I learnt not to take myself too seriously and at time loosen up in my style and not worry about every painting needing to be a masterpiece. As I embraced these ideas I produced some of my best work."
The 30 paintings will be available to see from 11am on Sunday, August 18.
They will be shown in the community hall behind Nelson Bay Baptist Church.
The exhibition is free to view. There will be a morning tea provided.
A time-lapse video showing the 30 paintings being created will also be available to see during the exhibition.
