Mr Overton has been involved in all eight episodes of the festival, but will not be involved this year.
Instead, he has produced a piece of artwork, The Giants of Sherbrooke, and has put it on display at Rochester and Elmore District Health Service’s Yalukang Aged Care facility.
The work depicts lush green foliage that can be found in Victoria’s Sherbrooke Forest.
Huge trees and ferns sprout from the forest floor while the sky can be seen from the background peeking through the trees.
Festival organiser Judy Anderson said the forest was one of Mr Overton’s favourite places to find inspiration for his artworks.
“He does go out and complete his initial drawings in the forest,” she said.
Mr Overton then takes the drafts back to the studio for subsequent painting.
Ms Anderson said she thought the painting would be a wonderful display of art for both visitors and residents of Yalukang Aged Care.
“When I saw it, I just thought how beautiful it would be for people in the nursing home,” she said.
Ms Anderson explained that her own mother had been a resident of an aged care facility for three years.
“I just thought they might need to have some original artwork to look at,” she said.
Ms Anderson said she chose this particular painting because she wanted the image to represent something other than a farm, as she says it is commonplace for agricultural images to be used in public settings.
She wanted the artwork to encapsulate something that was for everyone and not just for farmers.
“Everybody has memories of being in a forest. It’s just a peaceful, tranquil scene,” Ms Anderson said.
“It’s so detailed. You can sit there, stare at it for ages and just enjoy it.”
The painting was put up for display in Yalukang around six weeks ago.
REDHS executive assistant Sharolyn Taylor said Ms Anderson had contacted the hospital to inform staff about an artwork that would suit their aged care facility.
“Upon viewing by our CEO and director of clinical services, they agreed and the artwork was purchased,” Ms Taylor said.
The painting hangs in the lounge area of the dining room where a piano and some recliner chairs are also situated.
Ms Taylor advised that Yalukang Aged Care’s dining and lounge area had been renovated prior to Christmas 2021.
“This artwork creates a lovely peaceful atmosphere for the residents, and takes pride of place in our dining room,” Ms Taylor said.
According to Ms Taylor, the artist had viewed the painting last week and was “thrilled with the location”.
“Elsworth is a charming character and has a love for both the Dandenong ranges and Rochester,” Ms Taylor said.
The artwork was brought to Rochester by Mr Overton for the Rochester Mural Festival.
Mr Overton has been a finalist for the past seven years.
“We had 22 entries this year and sadly he didn’t get in as a finalist this year for the first time in a long time,” Ms Anderson.
“The most entries we’ve ever had before is 14. Every year it’s going up, so that’s great.”
The theme for the 2022 Rochester Mural Festival is ‘paint us a song’, which asks artists to paint something in relation to a song they love.
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