LOS ANGELES — Barbara Mendes believes her life has been a series of miracles.

Certain events have led her to embrace Judaism and paint vividly colored biblical narratives based on Genesis, Exodus and now Leviticus, the third book of the Torah.

"Vayikra Mural," her newest work, is a 6-by-16-foot mural depicting the book's 859 verses in tiny, intricately detailed pictures.

Mendes, an Orthodox Jew, said she names her murals in Hebrew to emphasize the language's use in the Bible. The latest mural, on display in her Los Angeles gallery, took her more than three years to complete, with the illustrations of each verse numbered so viewers can find it in the Bible.

The artwork, though universal, is a perfect expression of who Mendes is, said Rabbi Emeritus Marc Angel of Congregation Shearith Israel in New York City. Mendes calls Angel a mentor; he also serves the same congregation that her great-grandfather, also a rabbi, once did.

"She is very full of vitality and full of life," Angel said. "She is very imaginative, creative, and she has an eye for color."

But Mendes, a spunky 61-year-old, wasn't always painting biblical narratives.

In the 1970s, the New York-born artist went by "Willy." She was one of the only women in the underground, or alternative, comics movement, said Trina Robbins, author of "The Great Women Cartoonists."

Mendes calls herself a "crazy hippie." But even in her days as an underground comic artist, her work, unlike that of many of her harder-edged counterparts, was infused with spirituality.

"My stuff was never raw and sexual," she said of her comics. "It was about hippies saving the world through spirituality."

A longtime friend of Mendes, Robbins said she was not surprised at Mendes' journey from secular to observant Jew. As for her art, in one sense, Mendes has just expanded what she did originally, her friend said.

"Her biblical illustrations are really like comics," Robbins said. "If you look at them, each picture is told in a separate panel."

On a recent afternoon in her gallery, Mendes, wearing a tie-dyed T-shirt, pointed out scenes from her work, her bright pink fingernails matching the art.

Other paintings in her gallery — there are more than 150 displayed or leaning against the walls — also pop with color.

Her work is influenced by her interest in Eastern mysticism in her 20s and African culture in her 30s, she said. It reflects her life and what she feels. "I always paint what I'm involved in," she said.

Mendes said her family had deep roots in Sephardic Jewish tradition, but it was not until she met Nathan Misraje, the man who would become her second husband, that she became seriously interested in Judaism. She also believes her journey to the religion was a matter of timing.

In November 1992, Mendes was painting a tropical-themed mural for a Los Angeles restaurant when she was approached by a man who asked her to paint another mural — in a synagogue.

"It was like my own people reached out to me," she recalled.