Trudy Smith had always dreamed of being a painter, but she did not pick up a paintbrush until she was 85.
Now 102, Ms Smith said it was a mixture of loneliness and newfound freedom that gave her the courage to start pursuing her passion following her husband’s death.
“The one thing I wanted to do was to paint,” she said. “I never did very much before that because he [husband] was very critical. “It has taken quite a while but suddenly I have realised that it is lovely to be free of everything.
Some of Ms Smith’s latest work, ranging from colourful abstract art to landscape pieces, will feature in an exhibition at her local seniors community centre in Eaton, in Western Australia’s south-west. She said organising the exhibition had been a lot of work, but she is not looking forward to the attention.
Trudy Smith had always wanted to be a painter, but it was not the life her father, a doctor, encouraged. “I was sort of a misfit,” she said. She saw herself as the weed growing in the middle of her family, a position she encouraged other black sheep to embrace.
Ms Smith spends most of her time painting in her studio at the back of her house. She is often asked how she keeps fit and healthy at her age but she said there is really no secret to it.
Instead, her advice is to just give anything a go, like painting in your senior years.
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