MARYSVILLE – When Marysville artist Aletha Tatge puts paint and brush to the four corners of empty canvas, the vivid colors and images draw the eye to another world.

When Tatge was offered an opportunity to see what she could do with the four blank walls in a storage room in the Attic Secrets tea room in Marysville, she jumped at the chance.

With a touch of imagination, she created a magical mural – her first ever – that transformed an empty room into a sometimes familiar panorama of deep-blue waters and white-capped mountains, viewed through columns of sandstone-colored Italianate loggia bursting with climbing Wisteria vines in their full lavender-colored bloom.

“I paint with a lot of passion and emotion,” said Tatge, owner of Revealed Lines, a business that provides art and fitness services that help others heal from the inside out.

For Tatge, art is more than an expression of talent – it’s therapy. She teaches people of all ages and fellow veterans about the art-making process and its power to increase self-awareness, empowerment and healing, in addition to freedom of expression.

While painting the mural, Tatge was dealing with a difficult personal matter that has since been resolved. When she was behind the brush and focused on painting, the pain drifted elsewhere.

“Art allows you to let go of things and just relax in the moment,” Tatge said.

That’s a theme she teaches others during her company’s Paint and Sip parties, fun paint nights, art workshops and classes.

“At the peak when you start out to paint, it can be a daunting, stressful process,” she said. “But with every brushstroke, you start to trust the process. You can step back and see that you’ve created something unique and personal, and your body relaxes.”

The U.S. Naval Academy graduate and Surface and Warfare Operations Officer made that connection early, when she discovered her passion for sketching and painting while serving aboard the Everett-based USS Abraham Lincoln while out at sea. In her stateroom, she would put pens to paper to draw ocean-scapes, surroundings and pictures from her imagination that leapt off the page. It carried over to her assignment on the now-decommissioned Pacific Fleet destroyer USS Fife, where poems and journal writings also became part of her artistic expression. Kelli Sobczuk, general manager of Attic Secrets on 76th Street NE, initially hired Tatge to touch up the paint in a separate room in the eatery, which includes alcoves done up in various floral prints, Victorian designs and tea room décor and fixtures. The tea room is popular locally for birthdays, showers, social gatherings and other special occasions. Sobczuk knew about Tatge’s talent and, as part of a business expansion from four to six rooms, asked the artist if she would do a mural room. After deciding on a general design, Tagte got painting.

Sobczuk likes what she’s produced. “It turned out great,” she said. “Aletha does beautiful work.”

The room accommodates about 20 people for larger functions, such as small wedding receptions.

Tatge calls the freshly painted room ‘The Mystic Room,’” she said, admiring her handiwork. “This is like my secret garden.”