Valley Heights painter Paula Garrard has cracked the big time.
The 44-year-old will fly to Italy on September 2 for her first solo exhibition in Rome.
She will carry her 21-piece exhibition (oil on fabriano paper) on the plane to be hung at the Hara-Holistic Arts Academy in Rome.
Called Appnotic, the exhibition opens on September 11 and runs until September 20.
It explores the interaction of technology, social media and aesthetics in an abstract way.
"It [exhibition name] came from the notion everyone's a bit hypnotic. We've been hypnotised around our phones and pretty little apps and games ... it's app and hypnotic blended," Ms Garrard said.
"It's not political or ideology, it's purely about aesthetics," she said.
"There's a human attraction to things that are beautiful and pretty. In advertising the colours are perfect and mesmerising."
She enjoys using social media, in particular to showcase her art, admits being "a little bit addicted to Facebook" and is intrigued by the beauty of apps and icons.
Ms Garrard wouldn't be heading to Rome without the assistance of mentor Shadee Selim.
She met him 20 years ago when he taught her at Nepean College of Fine Arts Tafe. Now he's working in Rome curating shows and teaching art, and suggested she exhibit in Rome.
Even back when she was studying, Ms Garrard loved art's futurism movement.
She can see that coming to the fore in her latest exhibition.
"There's a connection to Italian futurists - celebrating the beauty of technology and speed and the industrial revolution," she said.
Ms Garrard, who pays the bills as a hairdresser, juggles a family, and has painted for the past 20 years "for my soul", has had exhibitions at the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre, Penrith Regional Gallery, Braemar Gallery, the University of Western Sydney and Parliament House.
"I never gave up and kept on going and opportunity happened," she said.
See Ms Garrard's website for more information: www.paulagarrard.com