said. “Rappahannock just kind of captures you.” She refers

said. “Rappahannock just kind of captures you.”

She refers to the county as “the last frontier, because it’s so untouched.”

Welch and her husband, Roger, who was bom and raised in Rappahannock, moved to the county permanently from Mount Airy, Md., in 1987.

The couple and their two children settled in a historic stone house where Roger’s father was bom and his grandfather lived as a tenant farmer.

Welch says she always wanted to live in an old stone house on a farm; it was icing on the cake when the house they found turned out to have significance in family history.

Welch opened her studio and gallery nearly three years ago on Main Street in the town of Washington. Prior to opening her own shop, she spent a lot of time traveling to art shows as far away as New York and Florida.

“After years of traveling around, it’s nice to be 15 minutes from home,” she said. “I feel like Fm spending more time making art.”

R.H. Ballard Art, Rug and Home located in a delightful pa)<* yellow building with fancy copper awnings houses two floors of distinctive regional fine art, rugs and European home d6cor including elegant French Jacquard tablecloths and linens, European soaps and lotions and a new collection of dazzling jewelry.

A quick flight downstairs will take you to the Ballard’s gallery where the works of Thomas Mullany will be hanging for the tour. What is just as important is that they will also be exhibiting watercolors by Sperryville artist Sara Schneidman who will be having a book signing of her new book of paintings and poetry. This is her first poetry book and it will just have been published. In addition, owner and artist Robert Ballard will have an exhibit of some of his paintings, but mainly new photographs from the South of France. The shop will also be showing the sculpture of Jeff MacNelly along with signed