Her colourful pieces are a favourite of Sydney curator and collector Peter Fay, described by Art Collector magazine as having “ahead-of-the-curve taste”.

“I just love it and enjoy doing it because it’s relaxing,” the 66-year-old said of the process of putting paint to paper.

The most exciting thing about Ms Kydd’s story is the fact she first picked up a paintbrush just six years ago.

“I started when I was 60 and I’ve gotten better since then,” she said.

Ms Kydd paints vivid portraits of “mostly lovers and women” that find a place in the hearts of everyone who comes in contact with them.

“I just get stuck into it and I just love it,” she said.

There was a time when the avid painter of lovers was in love once herself.

“I was married once but it didn’t work out so I’ll never do it again,” she said with a rye smile alongside her mentor and former art teacher, Jenny McKenzie.

Ms Kydd is also extremely prolific, completing a painting every three weeks.

Her creativity has been fostered by Tulgeen Disability Service’s Art in the Garage project to the point where she now regularly sells her work.

The youngest of seven children, Ms Kydd grew up in difficult conditions in Wolumla where her mother made a name for herself on the local show circuit.

“Mum used to paint horses and put them in the Bega Show and always used to win,” she said

A short documentary made by Deb Pearce as part of the ABC Open project has recently become one of only six to be shown ABC iView and Ms Kydd says she’s enjoying the extra attention her art has brought her.

“For one thing it’s increased her self-esteem and given her an identity.” Ms McKenzie said.

“She has had a tough life and this has given her a new life.”

Three of her works were recently purchased by Edlong Dairy Technologies’ CEO Laurette Rondenet-Smith and shipped to Chicago, while Bega Regional Gallery curator Iain Dawson also hangs Ms Kydds work in his personal collection.

When Ms Kydd first picked up a brush and dipped it into her paint she would recreate every day scenes of hanging and washing laundry and shopping in supermarkets, because it was all she knew.

Her subject matter has now exploded after combining her old love of textiles with her new love of painting.

“A trip to see the Ballet Russes in Canberra and being exposed to the costumes was a big trigger for her,” Ms McKenzie said of Ms Kydds ever expanding imagination that sees her prolifically complete a painting every three weeks.

“She drinks in any new experience because she’s been deprived of so much.”