The new book, The Dual Lives of Artist and Farmer Andrew Trotter, is now selling at selected bookshops around the region.
Mr Trotter did not get much time to celebrate his freshly-printed books, after ending up in hospital with a broken back soon after.
He is home now, and while he is still very tender he is up and walking.
In 2013, Mr Trotter had written about his life, including stories about growing up and farming in Fairlie.
The book had some early history of the area and the people, but now he has also added about three pages about his artistic career, including photographs of some of his many paintings.
"I thought it was about time to tell the story about my art."
"I found it difficult to choose a few paintings [for the book] out of nearly six hundred I have done."
He said the paintings in the book included some of the buildings and scenes that are no longer there.
He said when he first started painting it was very relaxing, but when the paintings began receiving higher prices — in the four-figured mark — it became very stressful.
He said he did not want to make a mistake, and was overthinking things.
While he was well known in the Fairlie area, it was not for art but for his other love of farming.
He said that was down to him keeping a low profile and not promoting himself at all.
Before marriage he had worked for his father on the family farm.
His days off were spent painting, he said it was "very spasmodic" but at times he had managed to finish an artwork every second weekend.
In 1973 he married Dale Trotter, and continued to paint a lot — "perhaps even more".
It was not until he suffered chemical poisoning from a farm product that his art took a hit.
While he managed to keep farming afterwards, he could not paint for the following four years.
When he did start painting again he felt his works were not as vibrant or spontaneous.
The book is available at Bay Bookshop in Timaru, Paper Plus in Ashburton, the Resource Centre in Fairlie and Petronella’s book store in Lake Tekapo.
