Open Neighborhood

There are nine registers at my Trader Joe's and each one will get an open/closed sign. Each side will be painted with something from the neighborhood including the big-city Tysons Corner area. This means 18 different paintings on these wooden plaques. As I explained in a recent post each of these plaques will be mounted on hinges so they flip up (thus blocking the register path) to show "Closed" and down to show "Open." Some of these will be day/night scenes, where the day scene is the "Open" and the night scene is the "Closed." Other "Closed" signs will have other images. The one you see above depicts a historic farm house which is on the grounds of "Cherry Hill Park" and the city hall of Falls Church. It is used for events and is not occupied as a home.

I have depicted the "Hole in the Wall" bookstore more than once, including a portrait of the place for its owners. This is one of my favorite stores in Falls Church. It has lasted almost 30 years. I go there often to buy comic books and other goodies from their collection. It has survived against the odds and deserves a place in the neighborhood collection I am depicting for Trader Joe's. Note that this piece is kind of in a "comic book" style and the "Open" is done in a word balloon like a comic book. Similarly I gave the old farmhouse "Open" a nineteenth-century type style.

Readers: The By-Product will be on hiatus for the next 10 days or so while I go on vacation. I might be able to post one or two entries if I get the chance. I will be traveling in Virginia and Tennessee, visiting wineries and towns and countryside, making drawings and sipping wine and making more drawings. So if things go well I will have plenty of Americana to post when I return.