Patterns & Painting

Amazing how one word can mean so much! Like "traveler", "broken", "loyal" or "indispensable" the words on my dipped wax dress shadowboxes or, more moronically "sure" as in Robyn, my paint diva asking me "will you have time to prep the bathroom walls that I am painting?" My one word response "sure!". In hindsight what I think is: "garbage!" if Robyn had prepped the bath et al I'd be done painting the cursed hall way by now and would be done painting the walls! What the blue blazes WAS I thinking, not much appraently! And ugh, do I HATE the smell of primer in the morning. There is actually no satisfaction whatsoever in scraping and priming walls a dingy white. ugh.

Ok, now that I am done whining, I will say I DID enjoy unearthing a midcentury wall paper from unlikely spots in the shop. This used to a be a doctor's consulting rooms and family residence in its first incarnation (pre beauty school & antique mall) and I really love this wall paper. Green and aqua are two of my favorite colors. I wish I could have peeled this paper to use it in a collage but alas, it just chips, so I made do with a picture instead!

We are firing up our first Little Falls Flea and Art Market this Saturday morning so stop by to see the perenially favorite Mary Moll of Merry Stitches, the MEH MIddle school kids selling their treats to fundraise for their big trip to the Odyssey of the mind finals, and the big Stifel & Capra sale tent. Hope to see you soon!

Ladies Night!

This lovely line drawing will stand in for our latest residents artists. Angela Williams penned this beauty. You can meet Angela, Beth Hudgins, and Becky ___________ after June 1st. Cheryl, Donna & Justyne, the ladies of Studio F are present, accounted for and have moved in so next time you are in, do stop in and see the wide variety of art they have hanging. (I will write about everyone individually soon. Stay tuned!)

On May 1st, this studio was still opened so my art dolls shared the spot light with DJ Gaskins of Lioness Press. I just started carrying her lovely line of journals, hand stitched books and whimsical accordian fold books. DJ had teeny little thought diaries up to full fledged dream journals. Take a peek and see where recording your dreams will get you. I know where mine have taken me!

A good time was had by all!

Thank you to everyone who came out to play this weekend! Both Margie from Down to Earth Designs and Charlotte from Harp Voyages put on quite a show albeit VERY different ones.

After the raucous crowd on Friday listening to Charlotte's Harp music on Saturday was BLISS! She played her original compositions as well as some of her personal favorites.


The resident artists did a fantastic job setting up their studios and transforming them into galleries for the evening. Phil probably made the biggest splash with his champagne greetings!

On a just as artistic but unusual venue - paint diva Robyn McGarry debuted her sample board for our next project: Trying to transform the icky bathroom and anteroom plus hallway into a fun and funky transition area and dressing room for all the vintage clothing shenanegians. I am SO excited about the concept Robyn put together and can't wait to see her in action!

FIRSTFriday is May 1st!

Can you BELIEVE we have been in our new space a month? I can't believe it. I feel like an old lady who needs to soak her feet because I have been on them so much.... Then there is the pesky problem of keeping up with the paperwork, oh if only I could actually type this would probably be easier...

Maryann Ogle of Terra Landscaping has put together the prettiest urns with lovely flowering and green plants. She also has some lovely plant stands for sale. They are all one of a kind so get them before they are gone!


I spent the evening hanging new art (thanks Debby & Beth!) in anticipation of FIRSTFriday. Yes, tomorrow is May 1st so we at it again! The store is open from 10to 5 & then the merriment continues from 5 to 8pm. Margie will be there with her trunk show and please remember Charlotte will be playing her harp from 2 to 4 on Saturday.


The new art & items in the space are simply astounding! Next Monday I will begin featuring all of our new artists and treasure hunters one by one. It's quite a cast of characters!









GOOD NEWS ABOUT PARKING FOR FIRSTFRIDAY!!! The kind and generous doctor next door has allowed us to use his parking lot after 5, so hopefully that will help ease congestion a bit! Hope to see you this weekend!

Happy Birthday to me!

Yesterday was my birthday and WHAT a great day! Started out the morning with the news that we made the "ShopTalk" blog on the Washington Post! Here's the link! http://voices.washingtonpost.com/shoptoit/2009/04/off_the_beaten_path_falls_chur.html Feel free to leave comments about how you like the new space. Thanks to featured merchant, Chris Novak of New to You. Aren't familiar with New to You? You gotta go, elegant high end consignment shop with "you won't believe it prices" for their designer wares. The dress collection that they have in house at the moment just makes you happy it's spring! www.newtoyou.net
Other big news is that center studio upstairs is rented. I was contemplating making it a vintage shop but realized that upstairs needs to be "all artists, all the time". We have two of the smaller studios left, tell the world! I want to get a full house before June, if possible.

We sold six pieces of art yesterday! Three to a brand new customer too. HOW exciting!

Then I headed home to dinner with my and my sister's family. I am still whirling under the influence of my husband's chocolate ganache cake. Birthdays are one of the days I am glad Bob went to culinary school!

Happy Birthday to Sue, too!

Deborah Conn & "Red Herring" at First Stage!

Talk about a double feature! Bob & I took the family to see "Red Herring" at First Stage in Tyson's last night and had a blast! Didn't know that Northern Virginia had a theatre? You don't know what you are missing! No tortured ride downtown with 30 dollar parking,just a straight shot down route 7 to an amazing space that has been carved out of an industrial complex.

Red Herring was part love story, part murder mystery,part spy story and all well acted play set in the 1952 McCarthy era.

Tickets are only $25 and the show closes the 26th so see www.1ststagespringhill.org for all the details! While you are at the show you can see Deborah Conn's one woman show. It's astounding in its skill, variety & breadth. I am particularly taken with Debby's monotypes. Go to www.StifelandCapra.com to sign up for her last watercolor workshop of the spring!

Klara Sever has brought in 2 new sculptures for Father's Day. Scope them out the next time you are in!

A Traditional Easter Breakfast!

Happy Easter!

After an historically appropriate gloomy Friday & Saturday, Sunday dawned bright and sunny! We had our traditional Easter Breakfast(!) and then went to services at the tardy hour of 11 (www.viennapres.org), then headed back to the 'hood for the neighborhood Easter Egg hunt.

Our mischievous neighbor waited for the kids to find his annual sneaky standard ploy, the "crazy, how did that get up there?" Easter egg. This year's egg was hanging from fishing line twenty feet in the air. How he got in and out of there without being seen is beyond me!

It takes a lot to get me to buy anything but I couldn't resist Christine of Society Hill's Cross pearl ring for my Easter outfit. Isn't it awesome? Christine is in studio three or four days a week and I have the key to the case if you see anything you can't live without!

Blessings to you and yours-

Love those...PEEPS?!?!

You might think it was our freshly painted new venue,Linda Morgan's awesome art dolls, or the continuous tours of the new artist studios but to some of the younger fans of Stifel and Capra, it was the Peeps! It IS close to Easter after all.
The rest of the crowd, however, had fun checking out my funky new revolving tacky jewelry cases for my tremendous, tacky, terrific vintage jewelry. I just LOVE hearing the the chuga, chuga,chink, of the goofy bicycle chains that run the things. What a hoot!

Jane, Sandi, Concetta, Vicki, Lori, and Heidi debuted their working studio/gallery spaces this last FIRSTFriday. They had lots of well-wishers toasting their success! We had a FanTAStic crowd; I don't think there was much of a crumb or a libation left to tidy at the end of the night. Cathy from Joie de Beads revived me Saturday morning with a humongous plate of doughnuts and Bellinis to enable us to finish cleaning the next morning. Nothing like a little fat, sugar, and champagne to get you motivated (?).

Thank you to EVERYONE who came out to celebrate our big move. Your support really reinforces that committing to the big thing will be a good move, rhetorically as well as literally. A thousand thank yous.

April 3rd - FIRSTFriday in our new space!

Linda Morgan of Purple Cat Studios brought in her latest collection of art dolls. Linda's whimsical dolls will be featured at our First FIRSTFriday celebration in our new location, tomorrow Friday from 5 to 8pm. If you can't stop in on Friday night, remember we are now open from 10 to 5 on Saturdays as well!

You can park across the street at the post office after 5 o'clock on Friday night, so grab a friend and come see what's new!

Check out the other community "happenings" at www.firstfridayoffallschurch.com.

LLLLLoooooovvvveee that sign!

I feel SO legitimate. Marshal and Preston Signs www.prestonsigns.com did a fantastic job fabricating my sign. LOVE it! DId I mention I think it looks great?
I had fun making baskets for two Falls Church related auctions this week. They are both Art & Soul baskets (naturally!) and contain art & accessories from the shop. Thanks to Cathy Soltys of Joie de Beads for contributing bling above and beyond the call!

The first basket is for the Falls Church City Schools Fundraiser. www.auctionforourschools.com











And the second one is for the Falls Church Chamber of Commerce annual Gala.
www.fallschurchchamber.org

I also make baskets for birthday, wedding and shower gifts. I enjoy making them; do let me know if you'd like me to put together one for you!

Signs of Spring!

The daffodils are out! Along with the crocuses, hooray! The hyacinths are next. I don't have THAT many in my yard, but the ones I have do smell divine. It's a good thing I didn't have to plant these, otherwise it would look a little bare out there like it does at the new shop. I am still in painting mode, ugh. Maybe I SHOULD have hired it out. I am getting a teeny bit tired of cutting in I MUST say.

We had a super week last week. Lots of people poking their heads in commenting on the changes. Scoping out all of the new merchandise... Of course I had to change my spiel "All of the art on the walls is by local artists" to "all of the art on the FLOOR is by local artists". *sigh* I have everything up BUT the art. Eeek! But it will all get done. Eventually. I was happy to see some old friend faces come in this weekend is well. My biggest fear is that my existing clients won't make the big 2 block trek down to see me on Farmer's Market Day. But so far so good.

Another big sign of spring is the deafening roar of my neighbor's antique roto-tiller. Yup, Saturday was "till the garden" day. Full of promise, eh? And mighty fine organic veggies to come!

And the honor goes to...Sandi Parker!

While I am STILL unpacking, Sandi Parker is hard at work in her new studio at Stifel and Capra! She has been working on a series of sports related paintings to exhibit as a collection. Her latest is a kinetic skateboarder showing off a trick! I think it is quite the trick that Sandi has been working with the chaos around her! We have three studios left to rent so if you know an artist that needs studio space, tell them to call before it is too late!

I will say that the place is coming together; it looks GREAT! For now we are keeping our existing hours, Monday through Saturday from 10 to 2, or by appointment with special posted night events. Come September we will be expanding to at least 10 to 5.

Stop in and see!

It's not pretty, but we are in!

I felt like a queen for a day (thus the Queen mum hat!), moving went soooooooo smooth! We had lots of help packing and moving merchandise (THANK YOU to Beth, Bob, Laurie, Allison, Lenore, Mary, Sonja, Phil, Cathy, Cathy, Debby, Howard, Bob,Olivia, Nancy, Robin, Glenn, Melanie, Samantha and everyone else that helped).

Kevin and Ramon at Two Guys and a Truck http://www.twoguysandatruck.com/ did a great job of getting all of the furniture over. Frankly they were a LOT more careful than I would have been!

I have everything unpacked and it is in large drifting piles all over my new space. Give me one more day to organized goodies and then PLEASE do stop in!

Verizon in its infinite wisdom can't move the phone for another week so while I mutter and look for alternatives, please call the shop via my cel if you need to reach us! 703-407-0770.

Lisa Rodriguez has openings in her upcoming Thursday class (See Feb 20th post for great examples of her teaching prowess).
It's the Colored Pencil Portraits Class. Only $60 for a two hour workshop. Learn techniques to draw from photos in color, achieve correct shading, texture and skin tone. Surprising results and enjoyable technique.
Thursday's class WILL be in the new space so come check it out!

Joie de Beads Boutique Open for Business!

Cathy Soltys has been working HARD. Not only is her space looking lovely and ready to receive clients, she has brought a new lot of lovely new merchandise to the store as well. Here is a glimpse of what Cathy's new studio looks like. She is having a "Sneak Peek Opening this week, Wednesday & Friday, from 10 to 2. For more details check out her website at http://www.joiedebeads.com/ .

As for me I am still painting trim - but I will be working in our present location manning the "Supah Sale" Wednesday through Saturday from 10am to 2pm. Just call me if you need to make an after hours appointment!

Smooth as Glass!

If you can judge a man by his tools, Ric was the number one man in the 'hood over the weekend! Every time ANY one had an issue or needed a more clever way to handle something Ric would quietly say "Well, I might have something back at the house that would take care of that problem..." Got to tell you, you could have set up a cabinetmaker's shop by the time we was done, I think! Thanks Ric! And thank you to my stalwart family - Husband Bob, dad Bill, sister Robin, and brother-in-law Glenn, neighbors Bob & Phil and the a fore exalted Ric for getting the floor down. It looks great. Really elevated the character of the room. I have started painstakingly painting the trim. We will see how long THAT takes!

Ashleigh's instinctive design prowess was in full swing this weekend as well! My dyslectic self is intimidated by fitting tile but she jumped right int here with a short tutorial from her contractor Bob and help from her family of men.

Doesn't the floor look FUN? Just like her merchandise!

We had a busy weekend between the floors and the "supah sale". The sale is STILL ON, the more you buy the less we have to move, the more room we have for new merchandise! So come one, come all! Make an appointment if you can't stop by between 10 am & 2pm. We are happy to open up!