The Wimmera is no stranger to art on unconventional canvases - witness the Silo Art Trail and the giant puppet in Murtoa's Stick Shed last year.
But it's still been a surprise for Rainbow residents this week to see Belinda Eckermann's animal creations on tree trunks throughout the town.
Mrs Eckermann, who owns the Turbo Gallery and has exhibited across Victoria, has painted more than a dozen tree trunks with animals.
She said the charcoal drawings were of animals identified by the World Wildlife Foundation as "self-isolators".
"I was camping in January and I was a little bit bored, and I had some charcoal in my bag, so I went and drew some goannas on the trees around Lake Lascelles in Hopetoun," she said.
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"I got some good feedback from that and one of the locals said I should be doing something like that in Rainbow.
"In the first lockdown, the rain moths emerged for the first time this year, so to celebrate that, I went for the walk I was allowed to go on, and I drew some rain moths on the trees on King Street.
"Then I got contacted by the Wander Inn in Wartook, and they asked to come and draw moths on the trees there. I waited until thy were about to open and I went there.
"When this lockdown started, I was sticking to Australian animals like a bat or a koala, but then I saw online there were animals that self-isolate and the WWF had specified eight species. I decided to do those eight on the trees on Taverner Street."
The drawings now have QR codes so people can use their phones to read how the panda, polar bear, platypus and other species isolate.
"People are thanking me for giving them something to look forward to when they go out on their walks," she said.
"It's sort of positive I suppose and encouraging people to still get out and have their walk.
"We have to keep people's mental health up, this is another way of having art still going in Rainbow."
Mrs Eckermann is married to farmer Adrian and previously taught at Rainbow P12 College.
She has had to cancel artists that were set to exhibit at the Turbo Gallery this year and is receiving support from the federal government's JobKeeper wage subsidy program.
She also makes art using snails trailing across paper, and stitching together the linings which rain moths leave when they leave their holes.
She said she did not harm the trees when drawing on them.
"Different trees have different textures," she said. "On some, you can blend the charcoal, others are a bit grainier. You also have to try and work with the shapes of trees: I just did some orangutans on trees with bulges, and I used them as their mouth-chin area that sticks out, and that worked well."
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Alexander Darling
Alexander has been a member of the Wimmera Mail-Times' editorial team since December 2018, covering politics, business and property among other rounds. He is a passionate St.Kilda and rock and roll fan, and has previously worked as a radio reporter in Port Macquarie and Gosford, NSW.
Alexander has been a member of the Wimmera Mail-Times' editorial team since December 2018, covering politics, business and property among other rounds. He is a passionate St.Kilda and rock and roll fan, and has previously worked as a radio reporter in Port Macquarie and Gosford, NSW.
