The hair salon had morphed into a temporary art salon for the River of Art Festival and paintings were caught in the crossfire on September 20.

Amongst those lost were Janet Jones' Rockwall 5, a striking painting of the Narooma south rockwall which was hung in the 2012 Basil Sellers Art Prize.

"I first saw Narooma's south Rockwall in 2005 and my fascination with it has resulted in six artworks," Ms Jones said.

"It immediately reminded me of a jumble of children's blocks and so there is a very surreal atmosphere there, in which scale plays a big part. The scene constantly changes and offers unexpected views of wildlife, both human and animal."

Ms Jones said the painting was "a little quirky and slightly surreal".

"And that is how I feel about the rock wall. It is larger than life."

Ms Jones has sold several of her impressions of the rock wall, "but sadly, no more".

River of Art co-chairs Di Jay and Vicki Lascelles were relieved no-one was hurt in the fire.

"Our thoughts are with the business owners and each of the artists whose work was lost," they said.

They said Ms Jones won the River of Art prize last year and was a judge this year.

"Other artists whose work was sadly lost include Judith Thompson, Heidi Uhlig, Karen Elphick and Bernadette Miles," they said.

"These and other works in this year's festival bring so much joy and colour to people's lives and add so much culturally and socially to our communities.