Visitors who step into Gallery 621 beginning today will be whisked into a world of abstractness, surreality and colors of all hues. In other words, Marjorie Lutz is this month’s featured artist with her new show “Backstage.”

Lutz, a Fairfield painter, had previously spent 30 years as a stone and wood sculptor until she developed arthritis in 2001.

“I couldn’t hold the tools properly anymore and I couldn’t stand up on a cement floor all day,” she said. “You don’t carve stone sitting down.”

A friend of Lutz told her about a series of watercolor workshops in Santa Fe, N.M. and asked her if she wanted to join.

“I said ‘Absolutely,’ and I never looked back,” Lutz said. “Within a few months, I closed down my studio in Santa Fe and started painting entirely.”

Lutz eventually transitioned from watercolor painting to acrylics, which she said was a natural progression.

“The acrylic is so much more versatile,” she said. “You can make it look like watercolor, you can make it look like oil.”

“It has intense color and texture,” she added.

Color happens to be a large facet of Lutz’s work, which is largely abstract and amorphous.

“I love color,” she said. “Intense color, interesting color, bright color, lots of color— my work reflects that. There’s a lot of color in my work.”

Those wanting to get an idea of Lutz’s work can visit her exhibit “Backstage,” named after one of her larger paintings— running 30 X 40 inches— which is the centerpiece of the gallery.

“It (the painting) looks like the organized chaos of a backstage in a busy, active theater,” she said.

Lutz said the paintings are all abstract except for one piece depicting a Native American dancing with feathers and ribbons flying.

“It’s a fun piece,” she said.

Lutz does not see painting as a chore or a hobby but as something she feels naturally inclined to do.

“It’s in my bones and it feels so right,” she said. “It’s natural to do it, and not doing it would be unthinkable to it.”

“I very often paint all night in my dreams,” she said with a laugh.

Lutz hopes Gallery 621 viewers will enjoy her paintings and see something of themselves in them.

“When you look at a painting, your own reaction is what makes it important,” she said. “What I think about it is not important. What’s most important is what you think about it when you see it, and it’s not a matter of thinking as much as feeling.”

“That’s what abstract art is all about: it’s feeling,” she added. “It comes from the heart, and it has to speak to your heart.”

“Backstage” will be on display at Gallery 621— located at 309 First St.— through Monday, Aug. 6. The gallery’s hours are noon to 3 p.m. Thursdays and noon to 6 p.m. Fridays through Sundays. There will be an artist’s reception Saturday, July 14 during the city’s Art Walk. The reception will officially be held from 5 to 7 p.m., although Lutz said it will probably open before 4. There will be wine, cheese and crackers, cookies, brownies throughout and an artist’s talk at approximately 5:30 p.m. For more information, call the gallery at 297-6860.