Betsy Grady-Carey
To purchase the 2019 Alexandria Homes Calendar with artwork from Betsy Grady-Carey, click here.
The calendar is also sold at the Alexandria Visitor's Center and The Twig.
Click here to order your 2019 Alexandria Homes Calendar with artwork from Betsy Grady-Carey.
For many people, it’s rare to find one passion in life, let alone two — yet that’s exactly what Mount Vernon resident Betsy Grady-Carey has done. The Realtor-turned part-time artist spends her afternoons showcasing the historic homes of Northern Virginia; by evening, she can be found in her studio, creating paintings for her friends, family, and clients.
For the past three years, Grady-Carey has been working as a Realtor with Long & Foster in Old Town where she specializes in properties in Alexandria and Arlington.
After graduating college, the Ohio native visited Old Town, Alexandria for the first time. “It was a natural fit,” she said. “I just knew I wanted to live there.” She’s lived in the area for 30 years.
Grady-Carey has been painting since childhood and pursuing the arts her whole life. Initially, she had hoped to major in Fine Arts in college, but went with a more “practical” path in sales.
>>> Click here to order your 2019 Alexandria Homes Calendar!
For multiple or bulk orders, email info@alexandrialivingmagazine.com.
She has dabbled in many classes over the years at the The Torpedo Factory, but she has only been perfecting her craft very seriously for the past five years.
The main focus of her current paintings, the charming townhouses and colorful doorways of the area, were inspired by her participation in The Twig, an organization of women who donate to Inova Alexandria.
The Twig, founded in 1933, has raised roughly $5 million dollars to the hospital for a variety of projects. The two largest money makers for the organization are the Twig Thrift Shop and the Historic Homes Tour, held every year in September. In 2018, the 77th Annual Historic Homes Tour featured six unique Old Town homes, including an 18th century English and Flemish home.
Alexandria is well known for its unique architecture, with styles spanning from 18th and early 19th-century Victorian, to Greek Revival, Georgian and Federal. In 2016, the Chairman of the Committee for The Twig commissioned Betsy to paint the six homes of that year’s tour to later give away as presents for the homeowners.
“I was intimidated because I’d never painted a house before; I had painted portraits, landscapes, still lives, and pets. I thought my work was going to go in that direction,” said Grady-Carey of her transition.
In 2017, with the inspiration and help of her colleagues, Grady-Carey created a calendar featuring twelve of her original paintings of historic Old Town homes. Last year, she sold roughly 2,000 calendars.
The calendars were sold at several local retailers. “It’s funny, because I love to paint, I’m an artist and have been in sales my whole career, but it’s different when you are selling your own work. I’m really grateful to the people who came up with the ideas to paint the houses and then to turn them into calendars,” she said.
As to the advice she would give to an aspiring artist, Grady-Carey says, “Keep doing what you’re doing. Share your work. If you had asked me five years ago if I’d be painting Old Town houses I’d have said ‘no’. Sometimes things just happen for a reason.”
You can see more of Betsy’s work on her website (click here) at or on her Facebook page at www.facebook.com/artisticimpressionsbybetsy.
Click here to order your 2019 Alexandria Homes Calendar with artwork from Betsy Grady-Carey.
For multiple orders or bulk orders, email info@alexandrialivingmagazine.com.
