Art is bringing joy to Annie Delaine's retirement. (ABC Riverland: Amelia Walters)
Australians are being encouraged to take up hobbies as they enter retirement.
A public health professor says sustained periods of loneliness can cause long-term health impacts, including early mortality.
Two years since picking up the paintbrush, 70-year-old Annie Delaine is now exhibiting her art as part of the South Australian Living Artists Festival (SALA).
For more than 50 years, Annie Delaine cared for communities across Australia.
From working in the Torres Strait Islands as a remote-area nurse to managing operating rooms in regional South Australia, not a day went by when she did not love the work she was doing.
"I worked in the islands for 16 years … you did everything, from delivering babies, immunising children to looking after their parents," she said.
"You were looking after the entire health of the islands, and I just loved it."
The people and community connections are what stopped Annie Delaine (right) from wanting to retire. (Supplied: Annie Delaine)
As Ms Delaine approached her retirement years, she began to struggle with the idea of her next chapter.
"It took me four times to retire before I bit the bullet and did it," she said.
"I deregistered just so I wouldn't go back.
"When I did, I thought to myself, 'How am I going to fill in the gap?' Because it was a big one to fill."
Annie Delaine had bought paint years before but gave it to island locals instead. (ABC Riverland: Amelia Walters)
Nudging 70 and retiring for a fourth time, she tried her hand at art, a passion she secretly had for years but was too afraid to try.