Those who go to see Beth Basista’s paintings at Fellows Riverside Gardens’ Weller Gallery will be able to walk outside and see the inspiration for many of the works on the walls.

More than half of the work featured in “Painted Memories” was inspired by the Boardman artist’s visit to Mill Creek MetroParks.

“This is a dream come true,” Basista said. “All my life I’ve loved the park. My parents took us there frequently, so I developed a knowledge of the park and navigating the trails and so forth. And then I continued to do that. I bought a house close by, so I rode my bike from my house to the old mill and back for years.”

Having her own advertising business prevented her from picking up her paintbrushes very often, but in the last decade it’s become more of a passion.

“I switch between different mediums,” she said. “I go from oil to acrylics to watercolors, and I’ve just enjoyed it ever since. I’m pretty much a full-time artist.”

Basista enjoys plein air painting — painting in nature — and Mill Creek provides a bounty of options.

“There’s so many scenes I still have tucked in the back of my mind I want to paint,” Basista said. “You can go back to the scene and just turn and paint that scene again from a different view.”

Lanterman’s Mill has been a frequent backdrop for many of Basista’s paintings, whether it’s capturing the structure during different seasons or from different angles. In some cases, Basista’s work captures scenes that no longer exist. Florida is another destination that she puts on canvas, in some cases capturing sights that no longer exist because of such natural disasters as hurricanes.

“You can preserve a memory and capture a scene that maybe means a lot to somebody else as well, and it brings joy and kind of like tranquility to it, you know, where you can step into the scene and be there,” she said.

Basista is a member of the Mahoning Valley Watercolor Society, and her work has been included in the Butler Institute of American Art’s Area Artists Annual exhibition and the YWCA Women’s Art Show. She had an exhibition earlier this year at the Salem Chamber of Commerce.

Most of the work on display will be available for purchase.

Basista said she hopes the Weller Gallery exhibition inspires visitors to explore the park the way she did as a child and continues to do today, and she sees her work as a continuation of the mission of Volney Rogers, who founded the metropolitan park.

“I look at this as God’s amazing creation, and I get to take and put just a snippet of it on the canvas for others to see,” Basista said. “I like to think, not only am I using my gifts to the fullest to share with others, but I also think of Volney Rogers up there and probably he’s looking down (on it today).

“He always wanted to bring people to the park. He wanted people to enjoy it. So here’s the chance that people might come to my show and see these paintings. I hope they bring their tennis shoes or hiking boots and enjoy the park while they’re there, bring a picnic lunch. There’s just so much to enjoy.”