Nuriootpa's Bistro Cheney may be in his 90s but he isn't slowing down anytime soon, with the local artist busy as ever hosting art classes at Eudunda and painting up to 16 hours each day.

The class, which runs one day a month, has been running for three years, with many of the original students still regularly attending.

"It's just an absolute fun day," Bistro said.
"They're lovely people, they love their art."

Bistro provides all the equipment for the class, with each lesson having a theme or subject to work on.

However that's where the restrictions end, with students free to interpret the theme however they'd like to and paint in their own style.

"It's lovely,...everybody can do the same thing but not everybody can do it (the same) way," said Bistro.

"It's just absolutely brilliant."

Bistro took over the classes, after the former teacher began struggling to make the trip from Adelaide, with the support of Barossa Village.

The classes run from the Eudunda Golf Club but with the warmer weather returning soon the class will go outside to gain inspiration from nature.

Many of Bistro's students have had their work win awards at local shows and he is happy to welcome anyone to the classes.

Tim Knight, along with being Bistro's close friend, is also one of his art students, and helps with the running of the class while developing his own art skills.

Tim said he throughly enjoys watching Bistro at work, and that he is a great teacher.

"He understands people and he (parts) with the knowledge that he has but he wants people to grow from their own experiences," said Tim

"He allows you to just feel what painting is all about, and that is about relaxing.

"You find yourself going into this little world of your own and you can be in a room with 10 people and it's absolutely silent.

"It's really quite lovely."

Tim and Bistro met while working in the world of T-Shirts and Tim said while he wasn't involved in the design side of things he is glad now to have found his creative side.

"Now to be able to do all the art and love the art side of things, it's really very rewarding," said Tim.

While Bistro may be the teacher of the class and always happy to give advice to students, he said he feels like he learns a lot from the classes as well.

"I'm enjoying it, being involved with other people, it's outstanding," he said.

"You're picking up their styles, you're picking up their talent, you're picking up their moods and everything as well for yourself and learning from it.

"It's all about learning."

Bistro's artistic style

Bistro describes his art style as 'Australiana', with native landscape scenes and native animals a common element in his pieces.

He also always incorporates a story within his art, often inspired by events that have happened in his life.

As an extra bit of fun he also puts 'Easter eggs' in his art with every piece containing the same things: two emus, a koala, a black cat and five birds.

He has also recently began adding in a blue tree as a symbol for men's health.

Bistro said while he has been artistic all his life, his passion for painting came when he was encouraged by Tim to pick up a brush and do art while he was struggling with illness around 30 years ago.

The illness left him mostly bed-bound and as a result he was growing bored.

"(Tim) gave a tube of white and a tube of red ad a paint brush and said 'start painting!'" Bistro recalled.

"It all took off from there.

"I've still got some of my paintings I did back then and today theres a lot still hinges on what I did back then."

Now all these years later, Bistro said he has well over 200 pieces hung up in his home, with many more catalogued in his bookcase.

He also enjoys painting on a wide range of 'canvases' with every surface in his home covered in an art piece.

"Anything, I sit down for five minutes I'll paint, from toothpicks right through to bathroom doors," said Bistro.