Mount Isa artist Margaret Campbell is celebrating her hard work and dedication after winning a national art exhibition in Winton last week.
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Mrs Campbell was one of 166 entries from across Australia who entered in the annual John Villiers Outback Art Prize Exhibition to promote arts and culture in the outback.
A canvas print of "Grandpa Huey's Butcher Shop Kynuna" was selected as the winning artwork at the Outback Regional Gallery at Waltzing Matilda Centre on Friday March 29.
Mrs Campbell said she never imagined winning the competition.
"There were so many great artists in the final," she said.
"There were artists from art galleries all around Australia and when they announced my name as the winner I nearly fell off my chair!
"When I spoke to the judges afterwards they said they loved the people's faces, the horses looked so real, and they liked the half dead looking Gidgee tree glistening in the heat."
As the name suggests Mrs Campbell's artwork was a painted version of an old photograph taken of her grandpa Pat Huey's butcher shop in Kynuna.
Mrs Campbell said in the middle of the picture was her grandpa, Pat Huey, who was a drover.
"He came up from New South Wales a number of times bringing mobs of cattle up," she said.
"One time he bought grandma with him and when they got to Winton Jack was born, that's my dad.
"Also featured in the picture is my aunt Eileen, and grandpa's nephew Will Huey and two other people, but I am not 100 percent sure who they are."
Two prints were painted by Mrs Campbell, with one featuring at the exhibition and the other going to family members.
Mrs Campbell started painting after her husband, Charlie, died in 1998.
She relocated to town from their cattle station near Mount Isa joined the Mount Isa Quilters. It wasn't until one of her friends told her to learn painting in 2000 that she started learning the art.
After many classes and guidance from other local artists, today, Mrs Campbell's house is coloured with beautiful artworks from over the last 19 years mostly featuring station life and family members.
"I have been giving a lot of my paintings away lately. When my grand daughter Josie got engaged I told her and her fiance Cameron to come and choose any painting they would like," Mrs Campbell said.
"Josie chose a lovely tree leaning over the water and the reflection in the water with a rockhole above it, when Cameron came he chose a landscape photo of some camels."
Mrs Campbell said the win at the exhibition wouldn't change her passion for painting and would continue to go to Arts on Alma every second Sunday to continue her painting.
The John Villiers Outback Art Prize Exhibition runs from March 28 to July 12 at the Outback Regional Gallery in Winton.
Full disclosure: The author is currently engaged to Mrs Campbell's grandson.
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Samantha Campbell
Samantha Campbell (nee Walton) has worked for regional and rural publications across New South Wales, Queensland and the Northern Territory. She is currently writing for the North Queensland Register based in North West Queensland. Email: samantha.campbell@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Samantha Campbell (nee Walton) has worked for regional and rural publications across New South Wales, Queensland and the Northern Territory. She is currently writing for the North Queensland Register based in North West Queensland. Email: samantha.campbell@austcommunitymedia.com.au
