In the cafe space of a Ballarat hotel, west of Melbourne, more than 200 paintings of different types of fungi hang on the walls.
It's the culmination of seven years of work for artist Rosalind Lawson, who found all of the fungi within a kilometre of her home in the bushland in Napoleons, 15 kilometres from Ballarat.
"You learn to wander," she said.
"Sometimes you feel like someone is guiding you to a certain place, and then suddenly there's a revelation of a fungus that you have never seen before."
Lawson said her fungi obsession began after spending three years on a similar project, researching and painting native wildflowers and small plants in the area surrounding her home.
"It was, 'What do I do next?'"she said.
"Fungi was the obvious thing."
Lawson said she would carefully examine any new fungi she found while wandering the forest and take a photograph before returning home to spend the next week painting it.
Sometimes identifying the fungi was the most challenging part. There are some on the exhibition that Lawson still can't identify.
"I have charts here [at the exhibition], which have identification names," she said.
"I have left some blank because I really can't find out what they are, and I have said to people, 'Come and help me.'"
The world of fungi
There are about 144,000 known species of fungi in the world.
Many people are familiar with the edible mushroom types of fungi — at least 350 species are consumed as foods — but there are thousands more out there that hold a range of properties and roles.
Some varieties of fungi help plants draw water and nutrients from the soil, and others are used in medicines, like penicillium.
Advances in research mean fungi are now being used to create fabrics and building materials.
Australian scientists have also discovered some fungi can break down plastics.
It's those big potentials that excite Lawson.
She hopes her art will encourage people to reflect on the beauty of fungi and prompt interest in the latest research because she's learnt so much herself through the process.
A new way of seeing
Lawson said spending seven years searching for fungi had taught her to look closely at the natural environment.
"You learn to look down but also look up because a lot of the fungus is found on trees high up or under fallen logs, as well as in the grassland and swamplands," she said.
"You learn to look everywhere.
"Sometimes you miss them because they are so miniature, so you have to look carefully."
Lawson said each season would bring new discoveries, and some only lasted in "full bloom" for a day or two.
She said one of her favourite types would have to be the ghost fungus.
"It is beautiful in the daytime, but at night it actually glows. You get this luminescence," Lawson said.
"Photographers have taken shots of it, and there is this green glow that comes from it."
Lawson, who is predominantly an abstract artist, laughed when asked if she thought she'd now be sought out as a fungi expert.
"I hope not," she said.
"I am an artist first, so I am a bit shy about that point.
"The skill in the art is in the problem-solving. How to get the right colour, the glow and the texture in the painting."
Although the exhibition is already underway, Lawon said it was unlikely her fungi painting would stop now.
Lawson said she's already found more types of fungi while out walking in the past few weeks.
"It's never-ending," she said.
The exhibition, Landscape over Time and Place: Fungi of the Napoleons Area, will run until June 12 at the Mercure Ballarat.
