9 February, 2012 3:54PM AEDT

Animal world inspires dirt dreamer

From drawing with a stick in the dirt, Gloria Whalan is now painting artworks on canvas, inspired by the animals she loves.

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These days Yallourn North artist Gloria Whalan paints vibrant scenes of native Australian animals on large canvases, but her first attempts at art were much more humble.

"I can remember being about four, we lived in a tent in the bush, and my grandma showed me the charcoal (and how) you could draw on paper.

"My first canvas was the side of the tent. I can remember getting my bottom paddled and then explained, 'you can't do that'. So she showed me how to draw with a stick in the dirt and then rub it out with my foot, which was much better, because I didn't get smacked for that.

"I've always wanted to draw, it's just one of those things," says Gloria who has been shortlisted for the 2012 Victorian Indigenous Art Awards.

Art has been a constant in Gloria's life and has helped her get through difficult situations. Over the years, Gloria has taken in a number of foster children and says that drawing has been an ideal way of establishing a rapport with the boys she has fostered.

"I've used it to teach small children, I've used it to teach boys when I was fostering those 30 years. Sometimes children don't want to draw, but I've never found a child that doesn't want to stand and watch. By standing and watching children relax, they don't tend to be stressed out.

"Then they tend to relax and talk about the things that they need to talk about."

For Gloria, painting has also been a way to share her passion for animals and her environment.

"My paintings all come from the country and the animals that are around it. I'm very much aware of everything that is going on in the world where animals and land and everything is concerned.

"Frogs are the main ones (that I paint) because they're my totem. I have painted a lot of animals that live in this area because this area is the Gunai Kurnai people and of course their totem is the fairy wren and I paint them.

"Sometimes I paint snakes, a lot of people don't like snakes, but snakes are the sort of thing that are a part of the land as well. I don't want to be close to snakes but I respect them. I very much like lizards, all sorts of lizards. And just basically, really, everyday animals that people see, but sometimes they don't really think about what they see."