Regina Steele sits among her favorite works.

Local artist Regina Steele is holding a single-artist reception at Gallery R inside the brand Russo advertising agency on 116 E. Congress St in Lafayette March 9, from 6 to 9 p.m.

Steele has lived in New Iberia her entire life, where she is inspired by and captures the landscapes of the Teche Area. Many of her paintings are simple, but her use of color exemplifies the beauty in simplicity, expressing reflections on the water or light coming through the trees.

However landscapes are not where her passions lie, but rather painting eyes and people. She was first taught how to paint eyes by Kay Richoux, another local artist that creates many black and white drawings. Eventually, Steele wants Richoux to teach her how to paint hands, so she can make her dream piece, a portrait of Steele reaching to heaven with a hand reaching down to grasp her.

Steele initially started painting after her father’s death in 2015. He was her closest family member, and helped her hold herself together through the darkest and lightest of times. After his death, she searched for a way to stay grounded and suffering from Bipolar disorder, so she turned to painting.

“My daddy was my cheerleader, he was my backbone, he was my everything. Some of the things I’d tell him, I wouldn’t tell nobody, and he never judged me. Painting balances me now,” Steele said.

Steele began making portraits of Jesus, especially as a reflection of the people she’d met, but stopped after deciding she couldn’t capture his form accurately.

“I don’t know what Jesus really looks like, so I don’t feel like I can glorify Him enough. No matter what, I feel like the painting is inadequate,” Steele said.

After she started painting, she entered contests at the Spanish Festival and later the Sugarcane Festival, where she won first place. This gave her the confidence to start selling and extensively displaying her artwork. Steele is a member of the Lafayette Art Association and Gallery and the L’Acadian Art Guild. She sells many of her artworks as photographs in small frames, or as magnets, but she also sells her full paintings.

Now Steele specializes in using alternative mediums in her art, including clay and coffee. This initially started out of sheer necessity. Steele had run out of her traditional acrylic paint, but had coffee and Tabasco on hand. Well the Tabasco didn’t work out so well, but the coffee painting inspired her, so she continued until one day, while absently playing with some clay, she dropped it on a canvas, and in her attempts to scoop it up, saw how it smeared and spread color similar to a thick paint.

Recently, in November of last year, Steele faced another trauma after falling and hitting her head in the shower. It caused two discs in her spine to rupture and bulge, subsequently pinching her nerves. This caused her to go entirely numb in her right leg and partially numb in her right arm until she eventually suffered a seizure. She called a friend, Caroline Hallam, who recognized something was wrong and contacted Dixie Myers and then they called an ambulance for Steele. Just a few short hours later, Dr. Patrick Juneau performed a potentially life-saving surgery.

“Dr. Juneau was so good of a doctor, he cleared everything off his list, brought me into the emergency, and saved me. But really everybody saved me that day,” Steele said.

This hasn’t stopped Steele, however, as she doesn’t plan to stop painting any time soon. She was invited to display her large paintings on the wall of a cafe in Vermillionville .

Steele said she really appreciates her friends and family for their support of her art. At 55 years old, she is glad to have discovered this newfound passion for art.

“It’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me, besides my kids and my family. It levels me, and allows me to focus on the good. If I’m happy, I’m painting, if I’m sad, I’m painting. I’m actually a little obsessed with painting,” Steele said.

The art gallery runs from Feb. 27 to March 26. All art displayed will be for sale.