“I just totally enjoy it I love it. If I don’t paint, I’m not happy” she says.

Carruthers proved her mettle in a recent move, from Nerriga to Braidwood, moving into her new studio when it was just half finished.

“I moved in when there was only three walls, I was so desperate for it” says Carruthers.

‘Out of Range’, an exhibition of six months worth of Carruthers’ work is currently on display at Altenburg & Co.

Moving into town in late 2016, after seven years living at Nerriga, has slightly changed the nature of her works, says Carruthers. Where once she painted primarily to the north of Braidwood, she’s now painting more of the town itself, and landscapes towards the south.

“It’s very different seeing the landscape being in town. I used to sort of just go outside and see these amazing skies, and now I have to kind of get on my bike and go out. So I’m sort of painting slightly differently” she says.

She finds landscapes on her bike, riding out along the Cooma Road and out towards Majors Creek to paint.

Thick brush strokes, and the use of a palate knife, characterise Carruther’s works, creating highly textural paintings.

The play of light in the sky fascinates her, and appropriately Turner’s work is a particular inspiration. 

“I just love the light, the way he captures light,” says Carruthers.

“I’m all about sky really, that’s basically it. I love clouds, I love looking at the sky, trying to recreate what I’m seeing.”

Carruthers loves to capture an impression of a moment in the weather, and the interplay between clouds and light.

“A lot of my paintings are about the light, and the way that light plays with the clouds and the landscape, and just trying to capture a moment when the weather changes,” she says.

She loves that painting sucks her in and absorbs her, so much so that she has had to set an alarm on her phone for school pick up time.

“When you get in the zone of it, like three hours can go by, and it’s like five minutes,” says Carruthers.

“You do just get sucked in. I guess it’s like meditation in a way, it just takes you do a different place, and I love that about it.”