Winners announced at a Gala Opening night for this month’s Taste of Arts Prize included Susie Goodyear from near Rutherglen and Beechworth teenager Adelle Croft.

The annual event held by Arts Rutherglen offered a prize pool of $16,900 for awards across a variety of categories covering painting/mixed media, work on paper, photography and 3D artworks.

Susie clinched a $2000 first prize sponsored by Destination Rutherglen in the Painting/Mixed Media category with her painting of kelpie Rosebank Grizzly titled ‘Locked and Loaded’.

Susie won the prize for the second time in consecutive years and also won the ‘People’s Choice’ award four years in a row.

“I'm a very fortunate artist, and grateful for the support,” she said.

“I was raised on sheep and cattle stations in western Queensland, jillarooed in several areas and competed in three sheep, one dog trials with Border Collies for 17 years.

“The personalities and gestures of sheep, cattle and working dogs are what I want to paint, and I sought to capture Grizzly's intensity and strength.”

Susie uses Atelier acrylics building up layers and tries to keep the focal points realistic but "lose the edges" of many other areas to portray movement and the essence of the moment.

The artist said the Taste of Arts Prize is a wonderful platform for artists from near and far to present their work to a wide audience.

With Arts Rutherglen continuing to develop participation for young people from 12 to 18 years old, Indigo Shire Council helped increase sponsorship with four $250 prizes in the youth section.

Prizes totalled $1300 for this section with two encouragement awards of $150 each from Rutherglen Rotary Club.

Adelle impressed the judges with a first prize in the youth section with her painting of a ram called ‘Roger’.

The 17-year-old said she uses a lot of colour in her paintings.

“I painted Roger as a challenge to myself to see how I could use colour to show texture and shape on an animal that people think is just white,” she said.

“I used acrylic paint and painted this artwork with just one large angled flat paint brush.”

Adelle said she delved more into painting about a year ago with a progression from drawing.

“Because of this, I am inspired to paint as there are so many things about it I have never tried before,” she said.

“The art has always been a very big part of my life and enjoyable as I find it very satisfying to create something exactly how I picture it with my own hands."

Adelle said the youth section of the ‘Taste of Arts Rutherglen Prize’ gives youth artists a chance to display their work with few other shows or opportunities available.

An exhibition ran at the Rutherglen Memorial Hall until 15 March where many works could be purchased.