From the outside, Wendy Ray’s house looks much like the other houses that line her suburban street in Lakeland Hills.

Step through the doors, however, and the interior tells a different story.

Warmth radiates from the abundance of antique furnishings in the living room, gracing the home with a patina of age much greater than can be found in any of the late-’70s-style suburban tract houses that surround her.

Sunlight streams through large windows on both sides of the house, illuminating an easel in the dining room.

“This is where I paint,” she said, pointing to a still life taking shape on the canvas. “I like the way the light hits from both sides.”

It’s also where she draws her inspiration.

“The warmth of the wood and the age that is in the furniture inspires me,” she said of her antiques. “They all have a story to tell it seems like. I enjoy using the antiques in my pictures and paintings. I think my paintings tend to have that older look.”

From now until April 24, Ray’s art work — oil and watercolor paintings that highlight her love of animals, her family and the beauty in a simple landscape or bouquet of flowers – will be on display at the Auburn Avenue Theater.

Ray first touched brush to canvas as a teenager in Alaska.

“I took my first painting class when I was 17 with my mother,” Ray said. “We had fun and I painted one painting. My teacher entered it into a show.”

Although she started painting at a young age, Ray said she didn’t get serious about it until a couple of years ago, despite taking several classes here and there.

“Ten years ago I took another class,” she said. “The teacher told me I should keep painting, but life is busy.”

Ray said she kept herself occupied as a mother and wife to her husband, Gary, and her sons, Billy, 22, and Steve, 21, both away in college, as well as running an antique business.

Two years ago, however, fate inspired Ray to pick up the brush again.

“My son (Steve) was a senior in high school (at Auburn Riverside) and he was asked to do a mural,” she said. “He has always drawn, since he has been able to hold a pencil. But it was the first time he had put paint to it. And it came out really good.”

Ray said her son’s work inspired her to get serious about painting.

So she began taking classes.

“My mother, who I first started painting with, was living in Winlock,” she said. “She decided that she wanted to take a painting class in the senior center. So every week I would drive down there and take this painting class with her. Mostly just to help her. That got me to haul out my paints again and got me really feeling it again.”

Ray added that she also began painting with her mother-in-law and a group of artists, including Covington-based Lydia Sutton, on a weekly basis.

“There is about six of us,” she said. “And we still paint every week.”

Since then Ray has found her groove with the brush, painting pet portraits for friends and on commission, in addition to the work she does for herself.

She said she got a big boost this past November when her painting “A Little Curious” won fourth place out of 369 entries at the White River Valley Museum and City of Auburn Arts Commission’s “Small Works, Big Presents” art contest.

Her showing at the contest gave her the confidence to reply to the Auburn Art Commission’s call to artists to display at the city’s three galleries – at the Auburn City Hall, the Auburn Senior Center and Auburn Avenue Theater.

“I saw the call to artists and thought ‘it doesn’t hurt to try,’” she said.

So Ray put ten digital images on a disc and sent it off to the city.

“And they called for me to do this,” she said. “I was so excited.”

Although the accolades she’s received feel good, Ray said she paints for a different reason.

“I feel like it’s a good way to preserve our memories,” she said. “Whatever is important to us, we can have a work of art. Whether it’s our dogs or our kids or the places we visit. Whatever is special to us can be a lasting keepsake.

“I love the process of painting, but when I can see that it can bring someone that much joy, it becomes more than just an enjoyable hobby for me, because I am giving people a gift, a memorable keepsake that they can enjoy every day for the rest of their life.”

For now, Ray means to continue doing what she’s doing.

“I feel like God has given me the ability to paint,” she said. “So I guess I’m waiting to see where he takes me with that.

“Because I’m still new at this, I’m at the stage where I want to paint everything. I want to paint it all.”

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More information on Wendy Ray and her artwork can be found at www.wendyray.com