VICTOR HARBOR - Victor Harbor artist Yvonne East has been nominated for Australia's most prestigious drawing prize for the second year running.

Working from her canvas on the back of a bookcase, Yvonne was one of 49 finalists selected from a field of 649 entrants for the 2009 Dobell Prize, which boasts a prize pool of $25,000.

The visual artist received the exciting phone call last week, and after "jumping around the house like a maniac," she boarded a plane for the awards ceremony in Sydney days later.

Her drawing The Black Dog is a charcoal version of an earlier painting and captures a woman suffering from depression.

The black dog symbolically represents depression, as once named by Winston Churchill, while the woman lies in its shadow.

Yvonne said she was ecstatic to receive a pat on the back for all her hard work.

"It's wonderful because it's what I work so hard for, and as a painter, I am so passionate about it that I don't want to do anything else," she said.

"I've got the motivation to paint because I love it, but at the same time it's nice to know someone else is getting something out of it as well."

Yvonne's artwork is on display at the Art Gallery of New South Wales until January 31.

"It's nice to go from my lounge room in little old Victor Harbor to one of the most important art galleries in the country," she said.

Yvonne has been named the artist in residence at Reynella East High School and is setting her sights on going one step futher in the Dobell Prize next year.

To view more recent works visit her website at www.yvonneeast.com.