What: At Water's Edge

When: April 25 to April 29 from 11am to 4pm

Where: Steps Gallery, Lygon Street, Carlton

IT HAS been four years since Ballarat's Cliff Adeney had his last exhibition.

With his mother suffering from Alzheimer's disease, the Ballarat midwife said it had become harder finding time to paint.

"Caring for someone with Alzheimer's is more challenging than I thought," Adeney said.

"I've been painting a lot more in the last 12 months and have got together some work for this new show. It's long overdue."

Adeney's latest exhibition At Water's Edge is being showcased in Melbourne until the end of the month.

Featuring more than 40 works based on the theme of water, the local artist said every painting featured or was closely associated with water.

He said the exhibition included a lot of coastal work, people fishing in rivers, and sailing boats inspired by locations both local and international.

"I love being down at the beach and will spend all summer there if I can," Adeney said.

As well as aiming to delight the senses, Adeney said he hoped his exhibition served another more worthy purpose.

Almost a year ago, Adeney's colleague lost her daughter Lou Quinn to Ovarian cancer 13 days after being diagnosed.

Adeney said a percentage of sales from his exhibition would be donated to the Lou Quinn Ovarian Cancer Fund which was established soon after her death.

"I'm in nursing so generally you think when someone is diagnosed with cancer, you assume they have a couple of years to come to terms with it all," he said.

"For (my colleague) and her family, it was just unrelenting to hear that all of a sudden Lou's cancer was terminal.

"I hope in a small way the exhibition will raise awareness of Ovarian Cancer and raise money towards its research. If it can help somebody, that will be terrific."