Phyllis Kindler stepped through the doors of Planet Art Gallery last spring and relaunched a storied painting career that has spanned decades.

Ms. Kindler, 79, of Mt. Lebanon, visited the recently opened Mt. Lebanon gallery that spring day after learning it planned to specialize in the work of local artists. While she wasn't the only artist to approach the new owners in search of a showcase, gallery owners Linda and Gregory Mitchell soon learned Ms. Kindler was different.

Ms. Mitchell discovered Ms. Kindler's extensive career when she requested background information for the gallery's Web site.

"She brought in this folder with all of these news clippings, and it turned out that she was pretty well known,'" Ms. Mitchell said.

The subject of numerous prior art shows, Ms. Kindler's impressionistic paintings are part of many private collections, as well as the corporate collections of PNC Financial Services Group, US Steel Corp., PPG Industries Inc. and Chatham College.

During her career, she was active with the Society for Contemporary Craft in Pittsburgh and vice president of the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh, an organization that admits members based on the quality of their work.

The opening of a gallery in her own neighborhood reawakened Ms. Kindler's interest in showing her work. Her last show was nearly 10 years ago at the Bird in Hand Gallery in Sewickley, now closed.

These days, Ms. Kindler's impressionist acrylic paintings often can be found on the Planet Art Gallery walls. The gallery, at 632 Washington Road, will host an artist reception from 6 to 9 p.m. March 24 to kick off a three-week showing of Ms. Kindler's work.

Artists selected for a one-person show at Planet Art have to meet certain criteria. "They need to have enough pieces, and to be a sellable artist," Ms. Mitchell said.

Growing up in Brooklyn, N.Y., Ms. Kindler showed early talent. "One of my high school teachers encouraged me to pursue art," she said. She graduated with a fine arts degree from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University in 1950.

After college, Ms. Kindler, along with some other alumnae, started a greeting card business in Philadelphia using silk-screen techniques. The enterprise lasted until the partners, all women, got married.

Ms. Kindler and her husband moved to Pittsburgh in the late 1950s, settling in Mt. Lebanon to raise their three children, Alex, Peggy and David, now grown.

Art remained a constant in her life. She always found time to paint, whether it was while the children were at school or on weekends when she was away from her full-time job as director of development for the Pittsburgh Blind Association, now Pittsburgh Vision Services.

Some art critics have described her style as pointillism, a movement made famous in the 19th century by Georges-Pierre Seurat. Pointillism is a style of painting where small dots of primary colors give the impression of a wider range of secondary color. In a broad sense, her paintings fall into the category of impressionism, and much of her recent work features bright garden scenes and landscapes. In earlier work, she focused on interiors.

Ms. Kindler doesn't paint from pictures or window views. "They're all in her mind. It's not something she actually sees," her daughter, Peggy Kindler, said.

Mother and daughter are happy to have stumbled upon a venue for her art so close to home. The Kindlers live a few blocks from the gallery.

"Peggy and Phyllis walk up and down Washington Road," Ms. Mitchell said. "They stopped in and brought some postcards from previous art shows she had done."

A gallery show can generate a number of sales for an artist, but Ms. Kindler doesn't view it as a way to make money. "That's never been my greatest desire," she said.

As is typical, Ms. Kindler and the gallery negotiate a split of the sale price for each painting sold.

Planet Art Gallery has helped develop the careers of other artists, such as Scott Hunter, of Bethel Park, who creates oil paintings when he's not working at Fidelity Investments. Mr. Hunter had never shown his work in a gallery until his wife, Molly, heard about Planet Art from a friend.

While Scott was at work, she loaded up her minivan with several of his pieces and showed them to Ms. Mitchell. It wasn't long before he had sold several. Mr. Hunter is working toward his second one-person show at Planet Art Gallery scheduled this year.