Cambewarra artist Faye Suffolk has snatched another prize for her porcelain plate picturing Shoalhaven character Terry Bennett.
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Faye took out the Standard of Excellence prize at the Sydney Royal Easter Show arts and craft 2022 over the weekend after earlier winning at the Nowra Show.
Mr Bennett, or "Buster" as he was fondly known passed away on July 6 last year, just weeks short of his 74th birthday.
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Faye said the portrait took "12 or 13 firings in the kiln" to complete using a special lead powder mixed with a medium to brush on in thin coats similar to a watercolour.
It's a time consuming and nerve wracking process where the porcelain or paint could crack during any of the firings.
"It's a very good possibility of cracking it," Faye said. "I only had a couple of weeks to complete it, but always made sure to let it cool completely before pulling it from the kiln."
Mr Bennett was a natural subject for the portrait with a bond between the two going back about 40 years after Faye had given him a couple of ponies - Crystal and Emma - to break in for Mr Bennett's daughters to ride.
"I didn't think my daughter Beth would ride so I gave these ponies to Terry for his girls, my daughter did later take up riding and ended up with a horse," Faye said with a laugh.
Faye said Terry had been a wonderful man and was delighted to give him a second result at the Sydney Royal Easter Show.
"Apparently he won the buck jumping at the Royal and always loved to go and so I decided I'd enter him and give him another run," she said.
"And he's won the supreme so I was very pleased with that.
"I was quite happy with the result so I took it to the framers and had it framed."
She completed the portrait using an image that had been published in the South Coast Register that her daughter had kept a clipping of.
Faye said she had a lifelong connection to the show after it had been something of a pilgrimage for her family since childhood.
"Dad always took us and that was the feature of the year - now my husband and I work on the fruit and veg displays and select stuff for judging with the Southern Districts," she said.
Her favourite part of the show this year has been a panorama taking up about a third of the dome showing the history of the Royal Agricultural Society.
Following the result, Faye said she was now considering a piece for next year's show, but plans to be a lot more patient and take about nine months to complete the next artwork.
"I'm now starting to think about next year's royal," she said.
"It took probably about three weeks to paint Terry. It was really full on so I had got stuck in, but I like to take my time, set it up and look at the piece, change it or deepen it.
"I'll take my time and probably paint that over the next nine months."