Leona Adams has a passion for painting
By Joan Janzen
Many residents of Kindersley may need to be made aware of the art gallery on the first block of 1st Avenue East in Kindersley. Adams Gallery shares its accommodation with Gentle Touch Animal Care. The two businesses have a family connection; Leona Adams runs the art gallery, and her daughter Darlene Hyatt has her dog grooming business in the same building.
“My daughter Darlene needed a place to groom dogs,” Leona said. “This place was available, and it couldn’t have worked out better. She has room for her business, and I have room to display my paintings.”
Leona’s paintings are displayed throughout three of the gallery’s rooms. “I haven’t got a clue how many paintings I have,” Leona said.
Leona’s paintings are on display at Adams Gallery, located at 111-1st Avenue East in Kindersley. Photo by Joan Janzen
Painting of a Greek Orthodox Church near Aberdeen, SK. Photo by Joan Janzen
According to Leona, her gallery has been open for approximately six years. You will find this senior citizen walking to the gallery four days a week - winter, spring, summer and fall. “I paint four days a week, in the afternoons,” she said. But Leona gets a lot done in those few hours each day.
Upon entering the gallery, I took time to view Leona’s paintings. There were bright tiger lilies, prairie landscapes, old churches, pet portraits, antique farm equipment and wagons, and a couple of portraits of her grandchildren. Finally, I discovered Leona working in a quiet room in the back, surrounded by a huge amount of art supplies.
Leona explained that her interest in painting was a gradual occurrence. “I’d pick up a few supplies and work on something. I didn’t paint as much back then and used to store my paintings under my bed,” she said.
She had been painting on her own for a long time when a university art class became available at the community college. Although she was concerned she would be the oldest person in her class; she soon discovered many of her peers were also enrolled. “Most of the people at the class were my age. I met other artists, and it was the best thing I ever did!” Leona exclaimed.
During her art classes, she learned about acrylics, pastels and some oils, but Leona said she prefers working with acrylics. “I paint landscapes, sometimes flowers; I’m very unpredictable,” she said. But one thing that is predictable is Leona only paints from the photos she takes herself. “I’m not a photographer; I just do it. I take the photos; I don’t use someone else’s.”
She was busy manually cropping a physical photo on her desk when I entered her work area. It’s an unfamiliar process to most people, who are accustomed to cropping their photos on their smartphones.
“You can paint on anything; it doesn’t have to be canvass,” she explained. “Canvass seems to absorb the paint more than wood. I do a lot of prairie landscapes; most people think the prairies are dull, but they’re not. I do some abstracts; they sometimes turn out so good because you don’t know where you’re going.”
When I asked Leona what compels her to continue painting four afternoons each week, she replied, “It’s just like being hungry, and you want to eat; I don’t even give it a thought. I just do it because I enjoy it.” She also offered a bit of advice to her fellow seniors, saying, “You must have an interest; I don’t care what it is.”
Leona’s interest is her passionate love of painting prairie landscapes and anything else that captures her artistic eye.