Hello to The Paint Escape!

A big old happy, "Welcome to the Beans blog!" to:

The Paint Escape -- on wonderful Whidbey Island -- is one of Bean Up The Nose Art's very-happiest-places. We don't sell our art there. We visit our friends and make all kinds of other art. Really, really, really fun stuff.

Just like the sign says, The Paint Escape is a paint-your-own-pottery and glass-fusing studio.

But it's way, way more than that.

Here are Tina (on the left) and Susan (on the right), who own and run this magical place in Freeland, Washington. (On Whidbey Island. I really can't say that enough. Because it is one of my favorite places on Earth. As we know.)

Tina bought the business a few years ago, from my awesome friends Steph and Ruth. Who became my awesome friends because when I first visited Whidbey in 2005, I spent hours and hours painting pottery at The Paint Escape (which then was in the shop space right next door to where all the goodness lives now . . . .)

From where it started with Steph and Ruth to where it's grown with Tina and Susan, The Paint Escape has been a warm happy vortex in which creativity collects. And grows. Exponentially.

It was through the process of painting and painting and painting pottery that I began to think that the way I wanted to spend my days was more on art than on being a lawyer.

It was through the process of working for Steph and Ruth that Tina grew into its owner.

It was through the place's spirit of art, creativity and growth that Tina expanded the square footage and cultivated new customers and products, and business partner Susan.

The place is happily packed with ceramics and paint and tables and tools for you to go wild. Tina and Susan are terrific artists themselves who will help you learn techniques and create just about anything you want.

As an example . . . a sampling of the dinnerware that I made. (Eight place settings . . . that took a while.)

And a fruit bowl.

The ever-creative minds in control there had the cool idea a couple of years ago to add glass fusing to the mix. So, in addition to painting any kind of pottery you can imagine, you can let yourself go even more wild and play with all the ways to fuse glass.

You play with all those strips and chunks and bits at these tables . . . .

to create gems like these:

Tina and Susan offer Ladies' Nights and Family Nights and camps and classes galore. They are constantly learning new ways to work with the glass and ceramic, to come up with new techniques and looks. For instance, when I visited earlier this month, I went wild for the look on this mug.

Want to know how it was done?!?!? Awesomely cool resist techniques. The snowflake in the photo below was left white (the base ceramic itself) when a contact-paper snowflake was stuck to the mug and painted on-top of. First, with the light blue paint . . . onto which was stuck "hairy" yarn -- with lots of fiber coming off of it . . . . and then painted over again with a layer of the darker blue -- out of which the yarn was pulled while still damp, leaving the light-blue, covered-up layer below.

See? Told you they were some smart and creative cookies :)

Hoping that when you are on Whidbey Island you'll check out this gem of a place, where you can spend hour after hour in comfort and fun and community, painting and "glassing" and designing and having all manner of fun. Many, many props to Steph and Ruth for getting the ball started and rolling, and to Tina and Susan for stewarding its growth. This is a true community resource for art, encouragement, creativity and kindness. We salute you, because YOU ROCK!!