INSPIRE: Pat Promaine, 90, sits in the art room of her Mill Street home where the wall is covered with two of her most recent Mennonite paintings.

Pat Promaine--or "Grams" as her family and friends call her--might be considered a late bloomer. But for her many clients, her entry into the art world was well worth the wait. The 90-year-old Mill Street North resident has a particular knack for detail and her artistic talent has caught the eye of some well-known people, including former Toronto mayor David Crombie.

"He bought two of my paintings and now he wants another one," Promaine said during a recent interview with the Review.

The subjects of most of her works are Mennonites who live simply and quietly in several parts of Canada, including the nearby Kitchener-Waterloo area. Promaine didn't start painting Mennonite scenes until she was retired, in her 70s and living in Kitchener. "I became familiar with Mennonites when I moved to Kitchener," she recalled. "I just love them; they are good people. They do more charity than people realize."

This affection comes through in Promaine's paintings, which convey people in rural settings participating in a number of activities, such as building barns, attending farm auctions and attending a country wedding.

Done with acrylics, Promaine's unique style caught the eye of a gallery owner in North Hatley, Quebec, who asked her to exhibit one of her works at the gallery in 1993. Promaine chose the one with a quilt show theme. Before the show was over, the painting had been sold and there were orders for six more.

The popularity of her work was also proven when she exhibited paintings in the One of a Kind Sale at the CNE grounds in Toronto in 1998: she sold out during the first day of the show and had to scramble to find replacements from the private collections of family and friends to display for the remaining show days.

Promaine said she panicked when all of her works sold so quickly. "I'm still getting clients from that time."

While she has had no formal artistic training, Promaine said that art has always been part of her life. Her father taught art in Montreal and painted several portraits during his career. When she moved to Toronto as a young adult, she held a number of jobs that always seemed to have a creative or artistic aspect to them.

CAREERS

For eight years, she worked as an occupational therapist for Metropolitan Toronto. She helped to teach clients how to use art to strengthen their arms and minds. She also worked as a milliner, designing and making hats from straw or felt for a chain of stores. For a while, she worked for the Salvation Army, where art was used as a form of therapy.

"I've always been associated with something involving art," Promaine said, adding that she does a lot of sewing. She made all the drapes that hang from the windows of her 1835 stone house and she also made all the coverings for her furniture. During the past year, besides completing two large Mennonite paintings, she made 28 cloth purses, lined and with zippered pockets. Her artwork also includes ink sketches of men and women dressed in the distinctive garb of the Great Gatsby era.

Promaine has no trouble selling her works. "Most people learn about my work by word of mouth," she explained. Almost all of her purses have been snatched up by friends and many of her paintings have been sold to private collectors. "When I'm painting, I forget time; I forget everything. It's like telling a story in your head."

She also likes the people who she meets through her art. "They're always very interesting and intelligent. "A lot of them keep in touch, either by phoning me or sending me a card every Christmas."

Promaine says she is blessed that her family lives close by. Her son, John Atley, lives in Carlisle while her daughter, Pat Jasper, lives in Kitchener. She also has six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren who live only a few minutes or hours away.

The Atley household hosted a 90th birthday party for "Grams" last Saturday. Although she celebrated her birthday on March 7, everything was put on hold to accommodate the end of hockey season as many of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren are involved in the sport.

Promaine took the delay good-naturedly. It allowed for more relatives to attend her birthday party and she has never minded waiting for good things to happen. It took her almost 70 years to take up painting but she's happy to have found something productive to do in her retirement years. She recommends art to those in their senior years. "It's a wonderful hobby for those who can't get around."