Eleven years ago, 90-year-old Juanita Powers completed her first oil painting. Now her Lakewood home is filled with dozens of her pictures, some of them landscapes, some buildings, some bridges, some birds — and all of them framed in gold.

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“It’s consuming,” she says. “When your into it, your into it.”

 

Powers had never thought of painting until one of her friends convinced her to take a class at The Heritage Hut in Fort Worth .

 

“She really got on me to go. So I went just to appease her. I thought I would show her that I couldn’t do it, but I’ve been painting ever since,” she says, laughing.

 

Now that she has done more than 200 paintings, Powers looks forward to showing off her work at local art festivals, such as the one coming up at Greenland Hills United Methodist Church this month. The festival, in its fifth year, showcases the work of 18 local artists, displaying everything from Powers’ oil paintings to Christmas wreaths to wine bottle holders made from wood.

 

          Powers says her paintings sell anywhere from $45 to $1,000, depending on the size, difficulty, time and frame. Although she has sold quite a few pieces, she gives just as many away to her children.

 

“My kids have several of them, and my daughters are always talking me out of them,” she says, smiling as she points out a landscape of Lake Erie she finished for her daughter’s birthday. 

 

          “For me, it’s about relaxation and fun,” says Powers, who still attends painting classes once a week on Wednesdays at The Heritage Hut.

 

“My class is a great group of people, and we’ve all become good friends.”