Ryan lely/Sonoma Valley Sun
Lolly Jones-McCormick and husband Zac McCormick standing amongst the multitude of frames offered at Fine Line Art Supply & Custom Framing.
Just as everyone in L.A. has a screenplay inside of them, almost everyone in Sonoma seems to harbor an inner artist. Many are accomplished, well-known professionals; some create works that are destined for one or more of the art shows that pop up on the plaza each year; others take their creativity into the crafts realm. Then there are the kids. All kids can draw – just as they can sing and dance – it’s only when they grow up that they sometimes forget they can do these things.
A trip to Fine Line Art Supply & Custom Framing, located a few doors up from the Sonoma Market at Fifth Street West and West Napa Street, can revive that feeling of inspiration and the creative urge. Neatly stacked tubes of paint, colorful markers, reams of blank paper, just begging for the touch of a brush, draw you in with an almost hypnotic effect.
Zac McCormick, owner of Fine Line, understands this feeling; he has a degree in printmaking and painting. But equally important to McCormick is the joy he gets from helping people. Working at Riley Street Art Supply in Santa Rosa, he gradually realized that being able to give people the tools and resources to create art was highly satisfying. He was so good at it that he ended up managing Riley Street, and then moved to the Sonoma store when the company opened a branch here.
McCormick and his wife, Lolly Jones-McCormick, bought the store and changed its name to Fine Line in January 2006. An artist herself, Jones-McCormick has “paint in her veins,” too, and spent five years at Leapfrog as an art director, working on technology-based learning products for children and teens. She became disillusioned with the high-tech sector and made a decision to return to her roots in Sonoma where she grew up, rejoining her father’s company, D.E. Jones & Daughters as an electrician. Jones-McCormick handles the bookkeeping (and any electrical problems) at Fine Line in her off hours.
Since acquiring the store, McCormick has expanded its inventory, listening to the requests of his customers, even adding a well-stocked book and magazine section. Depending on the time of day – or the time of year – you’ll encounter kids looking for ways to decorate their school project, instructors gathering art supplies for classes at the Sonoma Community Center, grandparents bringing in a precious photo to have it specially framed or an artist in need of a canvas. McCormick knows every item in the store and can readily suggest the best tool or technique to suit both the project and the pocketbook.
The shop employs two full-time framers to keep up with client demand. Rows of molding line the walls and there is also a selection of pre-made frames in standard sizes. Artists can buy natural canvas by the piece or pre-stretched canvas in myriad sizes and choose from several lines of oil or acrylic paints, and a bushel-full of brushes.
Some of Fine Line’s most popular items are the colored art markers, which get used for just about everything, foam-core, poster board and clay of all varieties. Beyond the basics, there are intriguing products such as a bandage-like cloth used to make face masks, pregnancy casts, mountains and volcanoes for science projects, or a rubber material that can be carved to make your own stamps. There’s a coating substance for decoupage, fabric paints, and the ever-popular pipe cleaners.
For the impulse buy, Jones-McCormick hand-picks what she terms the “fun section,” a grouping of games, gifts and goofy stuff. Where else could you pick up paper clips shaped like dog bones or a pair of dice that are actually erasers, or get a kit to make your very first animation – the flipbook?
Fine Line Art Supply
and Custom Framing
500 West Napa St. #538
707.935.3199
www.finelineartsupply.com
Open 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
Monday-Saturday and
11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday
