Mildred Nungester Wolfe, a Jackson artist for more than a half-century whose evocative landscapes in oil and watercolor captured Mississippi’s regional beauty, has died following a long illness. She was 96.

Mrs. Wolfe’s family said she had been in failing health since October 2004 when she was hospitalized with congestive heart disease. Until that time, she had continued to paint at her home and studio.

The family said she was at home at the time of her death. Plans for services are incomplete.

One of Mrs. Wolfe’s best known paintings was her portrait of Eudora Welty, the Jackson writer who was a close friend, which she painted for the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. It was one of three portraits she painted of Miss Welty.