ARNO van der Plaat never thought he would become an artist and when he did, he certainly never dreamed that he would mount a public exhibition of his paintings - let alone at the age of 88.

"I only took up painting while I was going through a period of ill health, (painting) as my mother and her siblings had done all along," the Cooma octogenarian said.

"And then I never published any paintings, never spoke about them. I always thought they weren’t good enough. but what I thought obviously was not the case when finally someone in the know came and saw them and gave me some tips, said they are not rubbish, they are really good and should be shown. "

The result of that conversation is the Between Cultures exhibition which will not only feature 39 of Arlo's works, but a number created by his late mother Alida, son Brian and daughter Deborah. The exhibition opens at The Raglan Gallery, Cooma at 3.30pm on Easter Saturday, March 30 and members of the public have been invited to attend.

"When I dug out my paintings after being asked about an exhibition, I was surprised I had so many," Arno said. "I am still surprised that they are good enough and am very honoured to be able to have an exhibition at the Raglan."

He said he was encouraged when he won three prizes - a first, second and highly commended in Cooma Show last year and this year won third prize.

The exhibition brings together paintings and drawings produced by the three generations of the family, which emigrated from the Netherlands to Australia in the 1950s and settled in Cooma when working as contractors for the Snowy Mountains Scheme.

"We worked on farms and in the bush and nature has always attracted me," Arno said.

"I always saw the beauty of it. When I started painting, I was doing nature - the mountains, hills, trees, water and all.

"I did a lot of paintings from Dutch scenes, as that’s where we came from. I have quite a few of those which will also be on display. We are all excited. The family will be coming for the opening. I live here. Deb is in Brisbane, Brian in Sydney."

Arno was 15 when the family arrived in Cooma. He married Cooma girl Maria, who was also born in the Netherlands but came to Australia aged 12 with her family.

"She is not an artist, but might be an artist in the garden, as she is very good."

He took up painting in in the mid 1970 to 1990s, then after open heart surgery, got fit and went back to work until he retired at 81, then took up painting again.

The exhibition incorporates both paintings and drawings (wet and dry media), and includes multiple genres (landscape paintings, still life and figure drawing) and moves form the visual arts to architectural design.