Paintings evoke emotions of all kinds and often transport viewers to places and times, providing opportunities for nostalgic memories to arise. Such was the case for Jeff Boselly, son of Carol Edwards, Woodinville Weekly owner, when he and his friend, Angela Berg, attended Evergreen Hospital’s Endless Summer Event. Held at DeLille Cellars, the event benefited the Evergreen Breast Center and featured fine wines and artwork from area artists. While strolling through the Cellars’ grounds, Boselly spotted an oil painting of a building he was quite familiar with – the original Woodinville Weekly office. The old house, which served as the newspaper’s office for several years, used to sit along 175th Street in downtown Woodinville before it was removed to make way for the updated vision of the city.

“The grass and trees around it and the building’s overhang caught my eye,” explains Boselly. “It took me back in time and reminded me of the fun times I had playing in the house. It was like my daycare because I used to go there after school when I was young. I remember all the old word processors that made so much noise and all the junk that was in the backyard, like an old washer and dryer, sitting in the weeds.”

Boselly, who works for Kenneth Behm Galleries of Bellevue, knows the value of an original oil painting on canvas and as he had a personal interest in the piece, he purchased the artwork to add to his collection.

“I knew I wanted it because it’s a one-of-a-kind piece and it made me feel very nostalgic.”

The artist, Pier Giorgio Fiorentini, of Mukilteo, was pleased to hear that his painting was bought by Boselly, as he feels that it will have a good home.

He says, “It has always been one of my favorite pieces and I am glad that it will be appreciated and loved.”

Fiorentini has been painting for over 30 years, inspired first to take up a brush to capture the beauty of his native country, Italy. There he studied art and taught himself to paint the landscapes that surrounded his childhood home. He came to the U.S. in the early 80s on assignment from IBM and lived in California, where he met his wife, a Seattle-area native.

In 1989, the couple moved to Woodinville because his wife wanted to be closer to her family.

“We lived near Cottage Lake,” says Fiorentini, “so I was in town quite often. I eventually noticed this abandoned house and I started to feel a strange attachment to it. It had an aura of mystery to it. When I happened to be in town for any reason, I often managed to drive by the building just to take a look and say ‘hi’ before looping back around by the post office to go home.”

Fiorentini noted that the light in the afternoon was at its best for a good shot of the building. One summer afternoon, the light was perfect and he was inspired by the scene.

He quickly went home to get his camera and returned to the house to snap five or six good pictures before the light changed.

He adds, “The building that day looked almost surreal in an aura of light with its brown dilapidated roof full of tree droppings, and despite the boarded windows, the feeling was of happiness. There were these yellow flowers and the green and the dry grass all around. The sunlight was coming through the branches of the trees in chunks of yellow gold. You could have said you were in the middle of a forest. It was magic.”

Time passed and the photos stayed in Fiorentini’s shoebox, until one day he spread them out on a table and decided to paint the one that made him most feel like he had felt that special day. And the painting, “The Old Woodinville Weekly” was born.

For seven years, the artwork remained in his home, unseen by public eye. “Then, my mother-in-law, who is with the Evergreen Foundation, asked me to participate in a fund-raiser,” says Fiorentini. “I was asked to show a dozen or so of my paintings and I decided to include ‘The Old Woodinville Weekly’ in the display. My wife said she didn’t think the piece went with all the Italian landscapes I was going to show, but I told her that it was time to bring the painting out of the closet.”

After hearing that the work was sold, Fiorentini’s first reaction was sadness because he was sorry to see the painting go, but this is his normal response to any sale.

He explains: “I feel a bit sorry when my paintings go, but I’m always delighted, too, that they go to people that want them. This is most important.”

After buying the artwork, Boselly called his sister, Julie Unruh, who currently manages The Woodinville Weekly, to tell her that he was sending her a picture of something that would remind her of happy times.

“It really does,” comments Unruh. “This is where my family basically grew up. We spent hours running around the backyard of the house and causing chaos while people were trying to work. I have such good memories of the place.” The painting is currently on display in Unruh’s office at the Weekly, where she can look at it each day with fond thoughts of her childhood.