A new exhibition paints our sense of place, natural and man made

Like the famous painter she's alluding to with the nickname - the impressionist Claude Monet - she can't help but be drawn back to it "again and again".

Monet's Haystacks, a series of paintings obsessed with how light fled in its daily variations across stacks of wheat in a field, were subjects he returned to almost 30 times.

For Wilson - a Tasmanian painter who and finalist in this year's Glover Prize exhibition - her obsession, too, is light. And the little lane is her Haystacks; she paints there in the plain air as often as she can.

The pastel painter has brought four works - each depicting scenes from the Mersey River, the Midlands, Stanley and the country lane - to The Launceston Art Society's latest exhibition, Our City, which opens June 11 at Legacy House Launceston.

Wilson said her inspiration for the pieces is always light, which influences not only the technical aspects of it - how it affects tone, colour - but also how it's fugitive and has a spiritually symbolic nature.

"There's the obvious sense of difference between light and dark," Wilson said.

"A great deal of emotion is tied to it; it's almost like the rhythm of the ebb and flow of life at times. It informs the way we look at places, which is how I think I fit into the exhibition.

"I think, for me, I try to capture the joy of life and the beauty in our world. That's the way I think about place and life."

Our City was curated to showcase the works of the society's members and, according to Joanna Castle, The Art Society's exhibition coordinator, its focus is on place.

"Our artists have painted this place, their place. They have painted the light, the landscape, the rocks, the trees, the sounds and the smells," Ms Castle said.

"These are the aspects of this city that bind us to it."

The Launceston Art Society's Our City launches at Legacy House Launceston on June 11, and is open 10am to 3pm daily until June 21. All exhibited artworks are available for acquisition.