Gary and Josephine Amerigian

Painters Gary and Josephine Amerigian, owners of A House in the Country, started their family business more than 20 years ago selling prints of their paintings. Before that, Gary made and sold cast stone lighting, giant trumeau mirrors and more. He also had a restaurant that specialized in California cuisine. Josephine was born in Scotland and raised in the United Kingdom before her family emigrated when she was 12. She studied art at Washington University in St. Louis, and about 30 years ago met Gary in Carmel, Calif., where they shared their love of art.

"We were both artists," Gary said. "You can't go to work and work for a company and then come home and paint, it's very difficult. So we made a conscious decision to do this."

A House in the Country pioneered the unframed art look, and almost all of their prints still sell as unframed works. Though the couple does use some European masters' prints in their line, either Josephine or Gary does 80% of all the prints they bring to market.

"What makes our work unique is that it's created from our inspiration, the way we live our life. We live in a beautiful, remote area in northern California," Gary said. "And our art has nothing to do with the marketplace, what color is popular or what's going on in the world."

Gary said life is his inspiration and his favorite series is always the one he's bringing to market. Typically A House in the Country debuts 200 prints each January and July in Atlanta, the only market in which they now exhibit.

About a month after market the couple gets back to work in the studio, painting and working on ideas. Their original works are then printed on archival canvas. Few of these originals end up in their home, rather they're stored and archived, and Gary said eventually they would release them for sale. Other originals — ones that haven't been printed for sale at market — hang in their home and in galleries.

"Our success is sticking to what we do well and trying to make it better and more accessible to people," Gary said. "We don't follow trends."

Typically Gary works with both oils and acrylics and Josephine works with acrylics.

Josephine's inspiration comes from history, and the European way of experiencing family and togetherness through food and celebration.

"I still am entrenched in the European lifestyle and that genre painting of kitchens and still life and food," she said. "I like doing things that are food- and family-oriented."

In fact, Josephine's ongoing, secret project is A House in the Country Cookbook, an endeavor that brings together their plethora of still life and food-related prints, the collection of recipes she's amassed from friends and family and the couple's love of cooking.

Several years ago, Gary noticed a trend in the markets and the buyers attending them, and decided to change the way he did business.

"I was seeing the same buyer in New York, San Francisco, Dallas, everywhere," he said. "I started noticing this trend, especially after Sept. 11, when time became more cherished, that 80% of our customer base, over a three-year period, was generated from the Atlanta show."

Gary then decided to show only in Atlanta twice a year.

"Some of us are getting older (he's 62 and Josephine is 63) and we only have so much more time on the planet," Gary said. "So we use our time wisely. There are new ways of marketing, and I've made a decision to try it. I don't want to be in business the old way any more."

And that's just what they're doing. The couple relishes their time at home. They cook together, right now they're working their way through Williams-Sonoma's Savoring Tuscany cookbook; and, of course, they paint.