BC+ART

Paintslingers, Slinging the Arts North Baldwin's Way, by Leigh T. Moore / Photography by Aimee Reynolds Photography

Above from left: Karen Hamilton, Stephanie Sandefu, kelly Denton and Anna Porter see their new business Paint Slingers as a community art center for North Baldwin.

Establishing a community arts center in Spanish Fort has been the goal of Kelly Denton and fellow artists Stephanie Sandefur, Karen Hamilton and Anne Porter for many years.

With the opening of their business Paint Slingers in the Eastern Shore Plaza next to Jenny Craig, that dream has come true.

“I met Kelly when we were students at Valdosta (State University) in Georgia,” said Sandefur. “She was a young mom taking art classes, and I was a freshman art student.”

The two became friends at the small college before eventually parting ways and moving to south Alabama at separate times.

“It was a crazy thing that we both ended up living here,” Sandefur said. “I ran into Kelly after we moved here, and we got reacquainted.”

Sandefur was teaching art at Spanish Fort Elementary and Denton was (and remains) an art teacher at Spanish Fort High School. Through Denton, Sandefur said she met Hamilton and her daughter Porter, who are also artists and interior decorators.

“Kelly has been doing painting parties and taking them on the road around Baldwin County for three years,” Sandefur said. “She was good friends with Karen and Anna, and we started planning (Paint Slingers) in January.”

They secured the 1,600 square-foot space next to Jenny Craig in the Spanish Fort mall and completely refurbished it with the help of Hamilton’s husband Lee, who owns Lee Hamilton Flooring and Interiors.

The four artists divided the space into a large gallery area and a smaller work area with an area for children. And they filled it with their paintings and pieces collected and donated by friends, Sandefur said.

Paint Slingers celebrated its Grand Opening on April 10, and the four partners hope to provide Spanish Fort and all of Baldwin County with a great place to gather and enjoy art.

“Our website (paintslingers.net) had all the information about our painting parties, summer camps, and pricing. We hope that site will be our best tool for communicating with everyone,” she said. “We plan to offer many different ways to enjoy art and learn about art.”

The studio will offer “paint by numbers” style classes where a lead artist guides a group through the painting of a single subject, but they will also teach individual art classes.

“We’ll have workshops where you pay a fee and come for two- or three-day classes,” Sandefur said. “There will be classes that teach technique, and we have home-school art classes. We’re offering six sessions of summer art camps for the kids.”

Their inaugural art camp is themed “Going Coastal,” and Sandefur said students will use an assortment of media to create different works of art.

“Every child will go home with a portfolio,” she said. “And all supplies for all our classes are included in the course fee.”

Complete information on their summer camps as well as bridesmaids’ parties, teas, birthday and graduation parties and many other activities is available on their website.

The goal of the four paint slinging partners is to provide a full-service arts center for the north Baldwin area similar to organizations such as the Eastern Shore Arts Center in Fairhope and Bay Rivers Art Guild in Daphne, and they believe the location is ready.

“We all felt Spanish Fort needed a community art center. Somewhere where everybody could come together,” Sandefur said. “We’ve been so blessed that everything’s coming together and everyone’s been very enthusiastic. We can’t wait to get started.”

For more information, visit www.paintslingers.net or call (251) 445-2288.

Leigh T. Moore is a Contributing Editor, Mom, and aspiring novelist. You can follow her blog at http://leightmoore.blogspot.com/

BC+ Business

Adrenaline Surf and Skate is on a roll in the heart of downtown Fairhope,

By Michelle Matthews / Photography by Aimee Reynolds Photography

When Laura Anne Shaw’s oldest son was in middle school, he and his friends would walk downtown on Fridays. “What do you do down there?” she asked him. “We follow girls around and get ice cream,” he replied.

She started thinking that downtown needed a store geared toward boys. She remembers reading an article about the need for a skate park. And at the same time, the mother of three was starting to think about going back to work.

So in March 2004, she opened her own business, calling it Adrenaline Surf and Skate. Her son Alex, now a freshman at Auburn, designed the shop’s distinctive logo.

Though the shop is geared toward youth, Shaw is the principal buyer and is somewhat conservative in what she stocks. You won’t find many skulls in her shop; instead, she carries apparel for everyone in the family, from size 2T to adult.

In addition to clothing, there are sandals and skate shoes, backpacks and sunglasses, as well as skateboards and skim boards and accessories.

Originally from West Virginia, Shaw met her husband, a Birmingham native, in college at Marshall University in Huntington, W.Va. They lived in Birmingham for a while before he took a job in Fairhope nine years ago.

Shaw had some experience working in retail in college and before her children were born, and her best friend, Lisa White, is the owner of CK Collection, which has become a downtown Fairhope landmark.

Shaw credits SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives), a program of the Eastern Shore Chamber of Commerce, with much of her business’s success.

“I’m still in touch with my SCORE counselors,” she said. “I definitely couldn’t have done it without their help.”

She’s also thrilled with the Fairhope Avenue location. Not only is it five minutes from home, it’s also a friendly place to do business, and she has freedom to set her own hours and “do what we want to do here.”

In fact, she’s somewhat spoiled by owning a business in downtown Fairhope. “That’s one reason we haven’t rushed to open another store anywhere else,” she said.

In addition to herself, Shaw has at least two part-time employees year-round, and as many as four or five part-timers in the summer months. She stresses the importance of customer service at Adrenaline.

 “It’s important that everyone is greeted and waited on when they come in,” she said. “That’s why you’re shopping in downtown Fairhope and not at the mall.”

Shaw trains each employee to be familiar with all of the merchandise. “They have to know how to put together a skateboard and fit a helmet,” she said.

Among the most popular items sold at Adrenaline are the TOMS shoes, which are unique because, for every pair sold, a pair of shoes is donated to a child in need; and the extraordinarily comfortable Sanuk Yoga Mat flip-flops, which she says conform to the feet like a Tempur-Pedic mattress.

In 2007, Shaw started a website, mostly as a vehicle for advertising. But she does get orders from unexpected places like the East Coast, California, and Texas — places where you’d expect people to have access to her brands.

The site is directly linked to her inventory, so it automatically checks to see if the item is in stock. “People don’t want to wait for something forever,” she said. When a customer places an order online, “It pops up, we pull it, pack it, and ship it.”

Still, most people enjoy the experience of coming in the store and browsing. “It’s a very family-oriented shop,” Shaw said. “We have a lot of moms who shop with us, and we sell to a lot of dads, too.”

Now in business for six years, she said that she sees boys who “couldn’t see over the counter when we opened, and now they’re almost men. We’re coming full-circle.”

Adrenaline Surf and Skate

328 Fairhope Ave., Fairhope

(251) 990-0699

Open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

www.adrenalinesurfandskate.com

BC+ Cuisine

Ginny Lane. the right address for fresh seafood, delicious drinks and live music, by Michelle Matthews / Photography by Aimee Reynolds

Ginny Lane Bar & Grill is a restaurant that’s at once comfortable and upscale, relaxing and sophisticated. Tucked away at The Wharf in Orange Beach, Ginny Lane has become a popular spot for locals to dine and a great discovery for visitors to the area who are looking for regionally inspired cuisine that’s out of this world.

Ginny and Lane Gilbert are the couple behind the restaurant’s success and its name.

They were living in Birmingham and working in the restaurant industry there —  Lane ran The Mill in Five Points South for more than a decade — when they decided to start a family. They wanted to be closer to Ginny’s parents, who lived on the Gulf coast, so they moved to Baldwin County and opened their own restaurant at The Wharf in August 2006.

Seating around 100 people, Ginny Lane is a casual, family-friendly restaurant decorated in cool shades of blue and green, giving it a soothing feeling. Jazz and blues music fill the air, and the bar is a popular gathering spot, offering microbrews, eight beers on tap and a great wine selection, as well as an array of specialty drinks.

Outside in the courtyard, there’s live music several nights a week.

But it’s the menu that keeps customers coming back. Lane’s personal favorite dish is the Blackened Bayou Grouper, which is topped with Bayou La Batre crabmeat and a Parmesan cheese sauce and accompanied by a wild mushroom risotto developed by Ginny.

“She made it 50 times before we opened,” Lane said, laughing. “Unfortunately, they were consecutive days.” Still, he loves the side dish, and he applauds his wife’s culinary skills. “She’s an awesome cook,” he said.

Lane is also fond of the gourmet salads on Ginny Lane’s menu, including a Spicy Pecan & Pear salad that’s perfect for hot weather: Mixed baby greens are topped with sliced pears, pecans and feta cheese, as well as dried cranberries, strawberries and blackberries, all drizzled with a raspberry vinaigrette.

The Gilberts are committed to serving as much local produce as they can, as well as local shrimp, fresh fish from the Gulf and Bon Secour oysters.

In addition to offering lunch and dinner, Ginny Lane is known for its weekend champagne brunch, where the restaurant serves up its signature brunch dish, Shrimp and Grits, as well as a brunch filet, Eggs Benedict, a vegetable quiche, omelets and fried French toast.

At lunch, Ginny Lane serves burgers, po’ boys and wraps, as well as daily specials such as Lemon Pepper Tuna and Pecan-Encrusted Tilapia.

A year and two days after opening Ginny Lane, the Gilberts opened Villaggio Grille, a white-tablecloth Mediterranean-Italian restaurant on Main Street at The Wharf, right around the corner from their first restaurant, and the adjacent Intracoastal Bread and Bottle Co., a specialty bakery that sells artisan breads, cheeses, deli meats and beers.

Just after the Gilberts signed the lease at Ginny Lane, they found out Ginny was expecting their first child. The couple now has two children, so while Ginny still plays an active role in their businesses, she stays busy with Ella and Eli.

The Gilberts love the location of their businesses at The Wharf, which brings national acts to perform and funnels them into their restaurants. “I wish they had concerts every night,” Lane said. “They bring a lot of energy to the property.”

During the summer, there’s a lot of energy at The Wharf, too. “Here, three months out of the year, every night is like a Friday or Saturday night,” Lane Gilbert said. “It’s crazy.”

Not that he’s complaining. “It’s seasonal, but it’s sustainable.”

Ginny Lane Bar & Grill

4780 Wharf Parkway, Orange Beach

(251) 224-6500

www.ginnylanebarandgrill.com

Hours: Open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily

Price range: Lunch, $8-$12; dinner, $16-$32; brunch, $12-$28

BC+ Garden

Perdido Vineyards, By Kerry Lynn Kirby / Photography by Aimee Reynolds Photography

Jim Eddins is a champion of the muscadine grape.

He touts its superior antioxidant properties and the scrappy nature that allows it not only to survive but to thrive in Alabama‘s less-than-optimal conditions.

Given a fair opportunity to compete, the Southeastern U.S. native grape could yield wines that stand up to the best in the world, believes Eddins, the scrappy yet affable owner of Perdido Vineyards in northeast Baldwin County.

He points to the international recognition his muscadine vinegars have garnered as evidence the grapes are winners.

The engineer turned vintner said he started growing grapes in 1971 for an old German winery that had been in Elberta before moving to Pensacola, Fla. After the winemaker died and the company stopped operating in 1978, Eddins said, he decided to carry on the long tradition of local winemaking by starting his own winery in Perdido, Ala.

There were steep legal obstacles to overcome, but the dogged ex-Marine wasn’t about to give up, and Alabama’ first farm winery was born in 1979.

When Eddins started what would become Perdido Vineyards, it was a “weed farm.” He said he planted grass to rebuild the soil before importing vines from North Carolina, a new muscadine variety called “Magnolia.”

Eddins said his winery, recently approved as a historical site, pays tribute to Baldwin County’s history and distinctive immigrant communities.

“I want Baldwin County and Alabama to be proud of what we do,” he said.

His latest creation, he said, is a Greek-style fortified dessert wine called “Daphne.”

In recognition of the county’s German winemaking heritage, Eddins said he makes Elberta May Wine, a traditional-style seasonal wine made with fresh strawberries and an herb called woodruff.

There’s Ecor Rouge, a good cabernet/merlot-style wine that’s a nod to the Eastern Shore.

And there’s Southern Cross, a sacramental wine he makes “for the bishop.” “I’ve got grape juice for the other churches,” Eddins said.

In all, he said, he’s making about 14 or 15 wines, red and white grape wines in a range of styles, as well as other fruit wines -- apple, blueberry and satsuma orange.

He has about six of the new higher-alcohol fortified or “formula” wines, which combine base wines with distilled spirits made from locally grown fruits. The Daphne, for example, combines muscadine grape wine with a distillation of black currants.

The wine vinegars, which he started making in 2002 in order to have a product he could export to neighboring states and beyond, require a two-step fermentation process, first to convert the grape sugar to alcohol and then to ferment that into acetic acid.

His blueberry vinegar, made from native blueberries that are very high in antioxidants, packs a healthful wallop thanks to the pound of blueberries that go into every bottle, he said.

Eddins said he has 50 acres of grapes and also grows some of the other fruit he uses on his farm, which is located not far from where he started out life. Rated as a 100,000-gallon-capacity winery, Perdido Vineyards generally produces between 50,000 and 100,000 gallons of wine annually. The farm produces about 30,000 gallons worth of the fruit that goes into that, he said.

Eddins sells his wines, grape juice and wine vinegars at his farm shop from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Visitors are invited to tour the winery and sample the products, he said.

 “It’s a tourist attraction,” Eddins said. “They can dash in and dash out, or they can linger and talk to us.”

 Perdido Vineyards is just off Interstate 65 exit 45, at 22100 County Road 47 in Perdido, Ala. Call (251) 937-9463.

BC + Health

Mosaic Medspa, Putting Your Best Face Forward                                              by Leigh T. Moore / Photography by Aimee Reynolds

Most adults are concerned with keeping their skin healthy and young-looking. For the aestheticians at Mosaic Medspa, it’s their primary focus.

Kim Beasley, a master aesthetician at Mosaic who has worked nine years in the field, said the trend these days is prevention, and there are many options available to help slow the process of aging.

“We see individuals coming in now at 30 who don’t want to have a facelift at 60,” Beasley said. “So preventive maintenance is the biggest thing we’re helping our clients with.”

Mosaic Medspa has locations in Gulf Shores and Daphne, and they take appointments five days a week to help clients assess their skincare needs and meet their goals.

“We do mostly anti-aging treatments here,” Beasley said. “A new client comes in, and we do a consultation and skin analysis. We discuss their goals and determine what steps we can take to correct problems and prevent them.”

One of the most important steps anyone can take to prevent premature aging is wearing sunscreen, Beasley said. In addition to preventing skin cancer, sunscreen applied to the face can address many anti-aging issues.

“The sun breaks down our skin cells, which causes them to lose elasticity,” she said. “In the winter, using an SPF (sun protection factor) of 15 is fine, but in the summer, when the sun is closer, you really need an SPF of 30.”

The Obagi line of products is preferred at Mosaic because they are pharmaceutical grade, lightweight and protect against UVA and UVB rays. And for the skin-care novice, Beasley advises using a retinoid cream on the face three to four times a week.

“Using a retinoid is the No. 1 thing for someone just starting out caring for their skin,” she said. “It enhances exfoliation and stimulates collagen production.”

Diet also plays a role.

“Everyone should eat more fruits and vegetables, and because they’re filled with antioxidants, they prevent the breakdown of cells,” Beasley said. “Also drink water, water, water. The more hydrated your skin is, the better it’s going to look.”

Having those basic tools in place lays the foundation for healthy-looking skin. From there, Beasley advises talking to one of their professionals to see what additional tools can improve one’s appearance.

“We can do microdermabrasion and chemical peels. We also have laser treatments for fine lines and IPL (Intense Pulsed Light) for brown spots and redness in the skin,” she said. “Dr. Yolanda Jones is our medical director, and she does Botox and filler treatments such as Radiesse and Juviderm.”

Botox injections relax the muscles that cause fine lines to appear, and filler treatments, a more popular option, can prevent the need for more invasive procedures, Beasley said.

“Botox lasts three to four months, but fillers can last a year,” she said. “As the technology improves, they’re getting better and lasting longer. They can prevent the need for a full facelift.”

It’s never too soon to start caring for your skin, and the methods can be simple and affordable, Beasley said.

“Some people have a budget, and we can work with that. We strive to give people the most for their money, and we don’t try to sell people services they don’t need,” she said. “We can do so many different treatments, and for most people, it’s the simple things that can change the way they look.”

For more information or to schedule an appointment, call 445-8661 in Daphne or 967-7640 in Gulf Shores. Latest updates and specials can also be found online at mosaicmedspa.com.