This weekend was a homecoming of sorts for Paula Elliott.

The Austin native flew into Austin this week, saw plenty of friends this past Friday, and set up for her spot as the featured artist of the Austin ArtWorks Festival.

“It’s wonderful to come back here,” Elliott said.

Elliott, a 1968 Austin High School graduate, has come a long way since she grew up in Austin. She followed her passion in art to a bachelor’s degree in fine arts at the University of Wisconsin — Stout, and a master’s in painting at Cornell University.

From there, she embarked on a decades-long career as a canvas artist working with paints, charcoal, and other elements. Of course, her day job, working at a financial firm, helped support her artistic habit.

“I learned so much there,” she said.

Yet the dichotomy between her day job and her passion isn’t a surprise for people who view Elliott’s art.

Elliott’s works often combine rigid, geometric shapes with a blurring effect, combining ordered form and a sense of unbound creation.

“Over the years, I’ve treated my acrylics a little like watercolor in a way,” Elliott said. “I layer up all of these sort of atmospheric things.”

This atmospheric layering, combined with her interest in architecture among other forms, shapes the way Elliott’s work stands out.

Elliott’s interesting work was why she was asked by a few friends to submit her work for the festival this year.

“This is part of why the whole event exists,” Jennie Knoebel, executive director of the Austin Area Commission for the Arts, said. “We love to give people opportunities to bring their work back home.”

Elliott said Saturday she was pleased with the way the festival turned out, as well as the community’s embrace of the arts.

“I think they’ve done a phenomenal job,” she said. “I’m proud to be from Austin.”