The Warrnambool artist usually paints away in his studio, upstairs at The F Project, and has been able to continue doing so throughout the year.

"Lockdown was fantastic for me, highly productive," Manifold said. "I really enjoyed the studio time and it allowed me to focus on my connections through social media.

"I've been painting live on Instagram and really connected with people. A lot of my paintings have been selling before they're finished which happened a few times before but not as much as they did in lockdown.

"One lady said she was looking for her art fix and she got it from my videos, when you hear you're helping someone it's a nice incentive to keep going, especially when it's so easy.."

Manifold's Panmure landscape entitled 'they went over and had tacoooss...uuughhhhh' was recently chosen in the Salon des Refusés, a prestigious Australian exhibition.

Each year the Salon des Refusés panel go behind the scenes of the judging process for the Archibald Prize for portraiture and Wynne Prize for landscape painting and figure sculpture to select an exhibition from the many hundreds of works entered but not chosen for the official prize exhibition.

This is the second time Manifold has been chosen for the exhibition and each time his work has sold on opening night.

"The painting is of the telephone box in Panmure at night with a house in the background. I thought it was a really beautiful light from the phone box, referencing the ability to communicate as a beacon of hope, especially in lockdown," he said. "The light is quite warm and acts as hope amidst all other darkness."

Manifold currently features in a group exhibition Terra Firma II alongside five other artists in Geelong's Boom Gallery.

"I had three different shows for this year, two cancelled and one (Terra Firma II) was shifted," Manifold said. "I was really concerned in March and April about what could happen to my work, but despite it all, it's been a very successful year."

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