Freya Job had spent most of her life writing but after the Black Summer bushfires she found words completely failed her.
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"I just couldn't give voice to what I was experiencing so I just started painting," Ms Job said.
"It wasn't intentionally to process things but that's what happened."
Her early paintings expressed grief but quickly became hopeful as the earth revealed its infinite ability to heal.
"I have since realised there were themes in those early works that have continued - a sense of belonging to country and a connection to country and with each other."
Landscape and the light inspire Ms Job's work.
Her art practice includes walking in the bush, mountains and the coast.
Without that, she would lose touch with the reason she paints.
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Nearly didn't go to the festival opening
The River of Art Festival felt accessible to the nascent artist.
"It didn't feel too scary because it was in my area and I knew people from Braidwood who had been finalists," Ms Job said.
She's not big on openings so despite being selected as a finalist, she nearly didn't go.
"I felt it was big enough, courageous enough to have entered but then thought I may as well go.
"On the way down the mountain I was telling myself 'you've already won. You are painting, you have submitted your work and been selected as a finalist'."
Two-way family legacy
Winning the River of Art prize convinced Ms Job to take her art more seriously.
Other influences were doing the same thing.
Ms Job home schools her two sons and consistently teaches the value of creativity.
"I thought one day I am telling them this but not modelling it so that also made me keep painting so they could see how incredibly enriching it can be."
Her mother was an abstract painter who passed away when Ms Job was aged three.
Ms Job has found that painting has really connected her with the mother she barely remembers.
"It feels like she is in there somewhere and that is a part of the legacy, to be painting."
Life-changing
After winning the prize Ms Job decided she wanted to push her work out into the world a bit more through putting it on her website, writing about her work and featuring in art magazines.
"It was truly life-changing.
"I really don't think I would have leapt in the deep, not as I have, because it was a such a vote of confidence."
The River of Art Festival runs from September 15-24.
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