She stayed with a friend at an established camp at the Grawin and said she was fortunate to have met and become friends with miners and noodlers.

Ms Waller said these people were very kind and allowed her to photograph them to assist with her paintings.

She said at that time she had no plans to paint a series of 'Ridge Faces and Places'.

However, Ms Waller said she had found a wealth of inspirational material to paint from her love of the people and the landscape.

She said some of her paintings were completed on location while the portraits were completed at home.

Ms Waller lives in the Bega Valley, in southern NSW, where she resides with her daughter Hayley.

Having visited the Ridge again last June and September, she said the skies, vast spaces, free lifestyle and the people all made the Ridge a unique area and it had come to feel like her ‘other home'.

"Living is simple and day-to-day, time is of no consequence.

"The stresses of city life simply do not exist here," she said.

Ms Waller said she enjoyed the experience of working down a mine.

"I was shovelling opal dirt and hauling a rickshaw and appreciate the hard work involved in chasing the alluring gem opal."

Last September, Ms Waller took a few paintings to the Ridge to show friends, when Lightning Ridge Historical Society secretary, Barbara Moritz, had suggested an Easter 2002 exhibition.

Bowling Club manager Ian Woodcock was contacted and the venue was agreed.

Ms Waller said what began as a holiday to visit a friend resulted in a focus for her painting, embarking on a new way of life.

"Leaving here is always hard, but I always look forward to returning to the Ridge."

"Painting is my passion and I am grateful to all the people who have contributed towards this exhibition," she said.

Ms Waller's watercolour exhibition of ‘Ridge Faces and Places' will go on display tomorrow.