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By Stacy Trevenon--Half Moon Bay Review

If you go to this weekend's Willow Glen Lifestyles Home Tour down in Willow Glen and stop by the house where Half Moon Bay artist Nancy Clarkin has worked her magic, you might find yourself reaching to adjust a book on a certain bookshelf at the end of a hall.

Or you might reach to touch a picture of a beloved family dog.

Surprise. They're not real. They're painted on. But they could be real.

Clarkin, an interior design professional who has had a business based in Half Moon Bay for 14 years, made her debut with this event this year. The Lifestyle Home Tour will take visitors through circa-early 1900s homes in a historic district of Willow Glen, which is adjacent to San Jose.

Her work is spread throughout five rooms in a home at 1204 Pine St. in Willow Glen. The home has had extensive remodeling to reflect its original Spanish architecture.

The homeowner had approached Clarkin to participate in the tour. Her resulting touches range from a faux bookcase she painted on a door at the end of a hallway, complete with books, an old clock, and a photograph of a pet dog that had recently died.

And in the kitchen, using the "trompe l'oeil" technique (a French term meaning "fool the eye,") she added some spots along the walls where the wallpaper appears to be peeling off to reveal a robust brick wall beneath.

"This is an old home," Clarkin said. "So I got into all the nooks and crannies."

All of her work here is done in acrylic, and most of it was done on location, except for the bookcase panel for the door. That was done on canvas at her Half Moon Bay home and taken to Willow Glen.

Clarkin added her own personality to the work, at one point querying the owners about the dog they had lost so she could put it into the artwork.

"It was fun because I got to include personal touches," she said.

For Clarkin, this sort of thing is all in a day's work, if a little unusual.

Originally from Canada, she attended the Applied School of Decorative Arts and Design in Toronto. She came to California 11 years ago with husband Tom, and two years ago, the couple settled on the coast. "We always loved Half Moon Bay," said Clarkin.

She went into other work besides art at first, primarily marketing. But she also involved herself with interior design, using her talents to spruce up the walls of her own home.

Inevitably, she began segueing into interior design work. But slowly at first.

"The image of the starving artist was always in my mind," she laughed.

Part-time at first, she built her business over the past 14 years. The last five of those years, she has been zeroing in more on doing this sort of work in houses - personalizing homes.

"People love the personal touch put into their homes, not having to go to the store and pick something off of a shelf," she said.

And it's personalizing her life with art that pays the bills.

"I feel lucky to have this profession. I have fun at what I do," she said. "I want to make homes as lovely and as comfortable as possible."

The Willow Glen Lifestyle Home Tour takes place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, May 1 and Sunday, May 2. Tickets, at $30 per person, can be bought on those days at the Willow Glen Elementary School parking lot, at 1425 Lincoln Ave. (at Minnesota) in San Jose.

For more information on the home tour, or directions, call Clarkin at 712-1770.

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