More than ten years ago Maurice Goolagong first picked up a paintbrush.

He is completely self-taught and after years of hard work his skills were showcased in the 2010 National Parks and Wildlife Aboriginal art competition.

The winners of the competition were announced last week at the Connecting with Country – Central Coast and Lower Hunter exhibition at The Bouddi Gallery, Killcare.

Judges had a difficult task picking a winner and ended up sharing first place between two artists in the open category.

The winners were Goolagong with his work Respect, and Colin Wightman with his work Booderee – Bay of Plenty.

I just picked up a brush about 11 years ago and started painting, Goolagong said.