Port Macquarie artist Antonija Gros was so moved by the image she decided to paint it.

Gros' beautiful painting of the Kundle-Moto RFS batting spot fires in Hillville near Taree is currently on display outside Target in Port Central.

She is hoping to raise money for our local firefighters and bushfire victims through a silent auction.

"Nick Moir was very gracious, he said please go for it, raise as much money as you can," she said.

"He photographs like a painter, a lot of his photographs would make great paintings."

Ms Gros only moved to Port Macquarie a couple of months ago from Singapore where she was painting, teaching and running a gallery.

She readily admits Singapore is very different to Port Macquarie.

"But I came for different," she said.

Ms Gros regularly holidayed in Port Macquarie from a young age as her grandmother lived at Telegraph Point. Her mother retired to Port Macquarie 10 years ago.

Interestingly she only started painting in her twenties.

"I liked to draw as a child but I didn't think I was very good," she said.

"At school I did art history rather than painting and drawing which I craved."

Her life changed when at age 26 she enrolled in a 'Learn to Draw Using the Right Side of the Brain' course.

"That experience changed my life," she said.

She moved to Singapore in 1996 and enrolled in a Fine Art degree at LASALLE College of the Arts.

Soon she had developed her own business selling greeting cards, illustrating books, teaching and running her own gallery.

"The opportunities grew and I feel blessed to get paid to do what I love," she said.

Ms Gros is hoping to develop further as an artist in Port Macquarie and give back to the community in return.

She runs art classes and will be collaborating with the Glasshouse.

"I hope it will be a nurturing space," she said.

You can bid on Antonija Gros' painting through a silent auction. Proceeds will go to the Port Macquarie Hastings RFS and Salvation Army Bushfire Appeal. Place all bids at the Port Central Concierge Desk, Monday to Saturday only. Bids close on Monday, 17 February.

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