The natural, almost childlike simplicity and emotion expressed in LeAnn Adams’ acrylic paintings evolved honestly.

She was a small child when she received the thrilling gift of a box of art supplies. She never lost touch with that joy, and almost stumbled onto her signature style because she was able to share her delight in art with preschoolers.

Only five years after becoming a professional artist, Adams was selected to paint the 2008 Anacortes Arts Festival poster art. Although she was invited to submit an already existing piece, she said she needed to do something special.

“I wanted to do a perfect day at the festival,” she said. “It’s a fun piece.”

Appropriately called “A Perfect Day,” it does capture the spirit of the event — a brilliant blue sky, a warm sun, artists at work and music and colors weaving in and out of the festivities.

“I just tried to get all the elements,” she said.

Even now, she isn’t sure how she won the commission.

“I believe someone mentioned my name. They just presented me with the idea. I was just blown away. I was very excited,” she said.

Adams was born in Idaho. Her family moved to Mount Vernon so her father could work at Texaco. They moved to Arlington, where she attended school from the sixth grade on, but she found herself pulled back toward Skagit Valley. Eventually she landed in Anacortes.

“I just kind of made my way this way. Skagit Valley felt like home,” she said.

She has loved art her entire life.

“I always remember doing crafts,” she said.

She was about 7 when she got the big box of art supplies for Christmas.

“I spent all Christmas day trying to sketch the parrot that was on the sketch book,” she said.

She was encouraged by her family’s “oohs” and “aahs,” or a heartfelt “My word, LeAnn,” but all her work stayed close to home.

“I’ve always painted and given my work to friends and family,” she said.

That changed about five years ago when she worked at Best PLACE preschool.

“I was always assigned to do the art projects with the kids,” she said.

The teacher introduced Australian aboriginal art and Adams was immediately hooked on all the dots and dashes, applied with Q-Tips.

“I loved it,” she said.

The resulting style, which she calls Northwest Aboriginal, immediately turned heads.

Her family told her she should submit her paintings to galleries, so she walked into Insights and asked Mitch Everton how he picked art. He offered to look at some samples, then told her they were really unique — were they for sale?

Although they were all earmarked as gifts for friends, she made some phone calls. Her friends urged her to go for it.

“They’ve all gotten new paintings,” she added.

Described at times as “natural” and “primitive” her work reflects the aboriginal influence in a use of repeated pattern and texture that connects directly and personally with viewers. Her sense of form and color transform familiar images.

Adams, whose work now sells for $250 to $800, will be featured in her own show at Insights during August.

“It’s called ‘A Celebration of Life.’ It’s in memory of my mom and dad,” she said.

Adams is still recovering from their tragic loss last year. They clearly were proud of her and she is pleased they were able to see her achieve success. As she was painting the Arts Festival poster, she took it to them. She knew her father liked it when he said what he often did: “You need to raise your prices by three times that amount.”

The “Celebration” show is filled with striking works that reflect her state of mind through the difficult year, such as “Vertigo,” a piece featuring crows surrounded by circles of colors, dots, flowers and embellishments.

“It just kind of evolved from the center,” she said of the composition. “My head was kind of spinning and spinning.”

Another piece, featuring a racing tortoise and hare, is called “Slow and Steady.”

“It was one day at a time, slow and steady,” she said.

Her paintings have a vintage graphic appeal, like old embroidery pieces from the 1930s or 1940s or illustrations from antique children’s books. She said her work attracts a lot of attention from quilters, who respond to the folk art influence.

Adams started working part time at Insights during summers, then took over Everton’s days as he transition out of daily gallery administration. The timing coincided with the end of the grant that funded the preschool where she worked.

“One door closed and another door opened,” she said.

She has stayed in at Insights as artist and office manager following Bill Dingle’s purchase of the gallery from Everton and his partners Anne Schreivogl and Al Currier. Adams describes the new arrangement as a win-win-win for everyone involved, providing more time for the artists to focus on their work.

Adams only paints when she’s not working at Insights, doing housework or spending time with her boyfriend or two daughters — one is at college and the other is still in high school. She has no studio or specific work space, and painting is intrinsic to everyday life at home with her younger daughter.

“Sometimes we paint together and talk, or she’ll be working on the computer,” Adams said. “I’ll even be cooking, and I’ll run over and put on a couple of dots. I don’t have big spaces of time where I can paint.”

She said she finds most of her subjects nearby.

“I get most of my ideas from outdoors. I just love to be in nature,” she said.

Many years after she labored to sketch her first parrot, birds are still a favorite subject.

“I do a lot of birds. Everyone sees them. Everyone loves them. They’re universal,” she said.

“They are kind of Northwest scenes, as far as birds. I used to do more landscapes, but I’ve evolved to close-ups of the birds,” she said. “I will probably continue to go in this direction.”