Sunnyshore Studio participated in our fourth Camano Studio tour. Our first year was in 2016. Our space wasn’t finished. We hung art on the exposed studs. It was a joy to showcase our family of artists.
mom’s legacy of art telling the story
That joy continued for the opening weekend of the Studio tour in 2019. We Besides showcasing family of artists that spans five generations, we also had five guest artists and sold a lot of art!
As always the best part of the tour is seeing friends, and connecting to collectors and patrons. We are super thankful for their friendship and support and patronage over the years. It helps us do what we do. We made up this little video to thank them, and to give you a picture of our little studio tucked on the south end of Camano Island.
For example, high school friends Harry Baird and his wife Maria, and Todd Bonnifield and his son stopped by for an afternoon.
A man who had purchased Jason’s artwork back in the late 1980’s at the Stanwood Camano fair (helping put Jason through college!) stopped by to visit and talked to Jason about a commission to go above his mantle. How amazing is it to have built connections through art that last through the decades.

Another neat story happened to Jason. He was rummaging around at his desk when a woman stopped and was looking at his children’s books and original illustrations for them. They struck up a conversation and Jason told her that he had gone to Stanwood High School. She asked if he knew her nephew Tom Hamilton. Jason said that he and Tom had been classmates, played football together and were friends.
“Matter of fact” he said, “Tom is in this book that was just released.” He opened it up to the back pages and showed her a photo of Tom and himself dressed up in Camo and face paint and headed out to the woods on the fateful night of the story. It was an amazing moment, and a reminder of how very small our world can be at times!
She bought two books, one for Tom.

Jennifer Kelly, who was Jason’s English teacher at Stanwood High School visited the studio with another teacher, Brenda Taylor. Jennifer bought one of the original illustrations! Jason is very thankful for her nurture and support over the years. Brenda bought one of Jackie’s paintings (if memory is correct).

Speaking of Jackie Dorsey, she had a very successful opening of her studio. She painted for sweet watercolors, that her dad helped her frame. And they were sold by noon on Friday!
Dismas Smith of “This Coffee Life” roasted a special Sunnyshore Studio coffee at Dark, Medium and Light Roast and did pour overs for people to taste the coffee. It was so fun to have Dismas a part of this show.

We are honored once again to open our doors to so many people to share the beauty of Camano Island and to build community through art!
