Life need not stop during a pandemic, whether you're an painter, fundraiser or gallery owner.
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Creative In Confinement is a collection of paintings by Albury artist Chris Ellis completed during this year of unusual events, first bushfires, then the impact of COVID-19.
The oil on canvas works have filled the walls at Art Partners Australia, 488 David Street, Albury, throughout September.
Ellis, who has painted since childhood and presented half a dozen solo exhibitions, said he preferred working to a larger scale.
"It's a good size for a good arm movement, you get a certain fluidity in your artwork," he said.
Some themes come from his own thoughts, others from photographic references such as the Murray River.
"I do some abstract painting too," he said.
"It's good for other reasons, makes you concentrate on your colours and less on the form and let your imagination go."
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Ellis adjusts his style all the time, partly in response to the effects of Parkinson's, with which he was diagnosed more than two decades ago. Although the condition restricts his ability to paint fine detail, it does not stop his output.
"I feel my symptoms subside a bit when I get engrossed in my paintings, so it's therapy, really, a good influence on my Parkinson's," the artist said.
Shake it Up Australia Foundation, which funds Parkinson's research, will receive 10 per cent of the exhibition's proceeds.
A group of Border region friends who have raised $120,000 in three years for the foundation talked about their efforts during a function at Art Partners Australia on Thursday.
Harry Chisholm, of Albury, explained he'd wanted to cross from Monkey Mia in Western Australia to Byron Bay, NSW, "and it took about 20 years to put it together".
When the friends finally organised their trip with motorbikes and support vehicles, one of their wives suggested making it a fundraiser and Parkinson's research seemed a natural choice as two of the men had the disorder.
After raising about three times what they expected, a second ride followed last year and even the 2020 restrictions didn't stop a northern NSW expedition.
"So we've been enjoying ourselves, having adventures and doing it for a good cause," Mr Chisholm said.
"The first trip was amazing, four and a half weeks, six and a half thousand kilometres, right through the middle of Australia.
"It was tough stuff, out of that whole trip I think it was about 300km of bitumen, the rest, 6200km, was dirt."
Art Partners Australia opened its Albury gallery a year ago and founder Jacinta Mirams said restrictions had reduced visitor numbers but the situation was improving.
The gallery works with 35 Australian artists and rotates exhibitions each month.