THE exuberance of actors acting is realised in Nicholas Harding’s watercolour and gouache collection at Beaver Galleries.

Given the opportunity to sit in on rehearsals and performances for the Sydney Theatre Company’s production of Samuel Beckett’s, “Waiting for Godot”, Harding has given this play a charming energy and found something delightful in the characters.

Harding’s portfolio is a perspective that finds what he calls “ a quenelle of tenderness” in the bleakness of the play and while the colour palette is drab, it’s the imagined aromas that emanate from the pictures that arouse a sense of being there.

Dr Sarah Engledow opened the exhibition, which ties in nicely with Harding’s floor talk at the National Portrait Gallery in conjunction with the “Arcadia:Sound of the Sea” exhibition.

But what was special was the interaction between the two for the opening and the sniff test – yes, we sniffed – recommended for the magnificent oil painting “Playing for Godot” that is as aromatic as Harding’s Sydney studio.

“Drawing Godot” is at Beaver Galleries, Deakin, until October 14.