“Sometimes if you spend too long on it you lose the freshness of it, so in some ways it’s good to do it, leave it and not look at it for a couple of days and then come back to it,” she said.  

Mrs Howell said the piece originated from a photograph. She plans to spend her prize money on more art supplies. 

“It wasn’t a very good photograph because it was taken on a fairly misty day,” she said. 

Mrs Howell, who has entered the competition six times, said winning the award was ‘unexpected’, but amazing.

“I had two or three other [entries] that I had decided were going to be the winner,” she said.

Eskleigh chief executive Dale Luttrell said more than 1000 people visited the exhibition. 

“We normally have the event for nine days but this year it’s down to three days and it’s been quite a successful change,” Mr Luttrell said. 

“The number of entries is down (on previous years), but the people through have been good.”

There were 136 entrants for this year’s awards.

The proceeds from the exhibition go to the residents of Eskleigh.

Mrs Howell’s piece will now be added to the permanent Eskleigh art  gallery collection.

The Tasmanian Art Award at Eskleigh is designed to promote Eskleigh by raising public interest and appreciation of Eskleigh’s work in the community.