Ninety-three-year-old Joe Lonsdale has always had an interest in art. He collected artworks with his late wife and they used to go to art galleries, but that was as far as it went.

He never really bothered with painting until five years ago when one of the women in the office at Annesley Bowral encouraged him to join the art class six years ago.

Having just won his third consecutive accolade in Mt Eymard's art competition, joining the art class has proved to be a good move.

"I've entered the competition for the past three years and I've received a highly commended award for each painting," Joe said.

Joe describes himself as a "late arrival painter rather than an artist".

He said he always took his camera with him and if he saw something he liked, he would look at the photo and paint it.

"I'm not a prolific painter; I kind of locate things I want to paint," he said.

A trip to Uluru for his 90th birthday inspired him to paint a scene of the Northern Territory outback featuring Uluru.

He said he painted realistic scenes such as water, trees and old buildings and, although he liked to look at abstract works, he had no interest in creating them.

"I'm not inspired that way. I like colour, but I also like to feature something (in my paintings)," he said.

Joe likes to achieve things, and when he has completed a painting and it "looks all right" it made him feel good.

At Christmas time he takes photos of his artworks and turns them into Christmas cards to send to family and friends.

Although painting isn't the easiest activity for Joe, as he has to use two magnifying glasses to do the details of his work because his short sight is going, he still enjoys it.

He said he was always looking for more physical aspects and liked to work with his hands; in the past he was a hobby carpenter and built bedside tables, mirrors and a magazine rack, to name a few things.

"I've always liked working with my hands. I could lay bricks," he said.