Trudy Meijer finds her tribe at 69 with Exeter art groups

She won a shared first prize at the Pilgrims Art Festival, Huonville, and has already started taking on commissions from admirers of her style.

Her most recent exhibition was at the Windsor Gallery, Riverside (now concluded), with many of her paintings also displayed at Exeter Art Studios until April 30.

She's thrilled with her success.

But that's not why the 70-year-old grandmother-of-14 wants to share her story.

She wants to show others that it's never too late to pick up a new hobby, or find a new passion - two years ago, she'd never have predicted that she'd be selling paintings. 

"I'm at an age when most people are slowing down," she said. 

"I'd never, ever, painted in my life; didn't even know how to hold a brush. And now, a year and a half later, I've got 27 paintings." 

Meijer lives in Launceston, but she's found her place in the thriving, generous arts community of Exeter. 

She first started with a card-making group through her job as a chaplain at Exeter Primary School.

Then, she started experimenting with painting through Tresca, the community centre, that hosts a weekly art group at $1 admission on Friday mornings. 

She's since taken advantage of the Exeter Art Studio, which opened November last year, and involves 25 artists using the Showgrounds Hall from Wednesday to Saturday in summer, to work on, and display, their creations. 

She's joined the West Tamar Art Group, and met Victoria Jansen-Riley, who curates the Windsor Gallery Cafe. 

Meijer said the Exeter artists quickly went from total strangers, to friends that gave her "all the advice in the world" - much-needed for an absolute beginner. 

They've helped her move from realistic landscapes, to an impressionistic style she finds more comfortable. 

"People say loneliness is one of the most important issues [for older people]," she said.  

"Well, why don't you start a hobby? Connect with a group? 

"[Tresca and Exeter Art Studio] are social groups more than anything else.

"There's either a lot of chatter, when everybody seems to be talking at once, or a lot of quiet, when everybody seems to be working." 

Meijer's advice is simple: if someone tries to get you to take up a new hobby, and you, have the time, do it. 

The friend who first insisted she give it a try, Debbie Killer, died three months later - she has never seen any of her paintings. 

But Meijer thinks she'd be impressed if she had. 

"Apparently, she thought I was a natural that first time she made me try - although of course she didn't say anything," she laughed.