Offering copper sculptures, pen and ink drawings and sculpted ceramic fish by Arlington artists Rodney Patzer, Rocky Barrick and Marguerite Goff, among many other artists from around Puget Sound, the 10th annual Camano Island Studio Tour has become a popular Mother’s Day tradition among the art community of north Snohomish County.

A total of 32 stops on the tour include galleries and artists studios that are opened just for the occasion.

Rodney Patzer, a resident of the Lake Ki area of Arlington, is joining the tour for the first time, at the Let’s Frame It Gallery in Stanwood.

“He has some wonderful copper pieces with mirrors, clocks and wall art at the gallery,” said the tour’s PR agent, Rosanne Cohn.

Patzer works in an old cabin at Lake Ki.

“I do all the pounding downstairs and all the sealing upstairs,” said the former carpenter who turned to art at mid life.

He said he mixes the copper with driftwood and other materials and also makes clocks and mirrors. He treats the surface with a two-part epoxy — even then he doesn’t recommend his work for outdoors.

“Being copper, it might not stay around,” he said, adding he has done some garden fountains as well.

A resident of the area since 1977 after growing up in north Seattle, Patzer has been working with copper for four years, but he just got his business license last year.

“I just started to sell my work at art shows last year,” Patzer said.

He got accepted in art shows at Anacortes, Edmonds, Mukilteo and the Stanwood Camano Art Guild’s Art by the Bay, last summer.

“I was freezing my toes off at the Mount Vernon Street Fair a couple of weeks ago, and even with the cold weather I did pretty good,” Patzer said. He sold one of his bigger pieces, a tree, at the Tulip Festival.

Patzer’s daughter helps him to sales and his wife provides moral support, he said.

“I’ve dabbled in the arts all my life,” he said. His brother was doing copper work and that inspired him to try it out. Before that he made bird houses and bird feeders using scrap wood from his day job.

“I think Rodney’s work is a major plus

the tour this year,” Cohn said.

“Let’s Frame It in downtown Stanwood is under new ownership and has expanded its focus quite a bit,” Cohn added. The new owner is David Bond and he continues to offer framing while adding more art by local artists.

A new gallery which recently moved out of the loft at Brindles Marketplace, the Seagrass Gallery, at 370 N. East Camano Drive on Camano Island is showing the works of Arlington wildlife artist Rocky Barrick as well as many well-known Camano artists including Candi Martin Baker, Jed Dorsey, John Losee and furniture builder Russ Riddle.

Barrick does acrylic paintings and pen and ink drawings of various subject matter including wildlife, trains and historical scenes.

Marguerite Goff, a.k.a. the fish lady who created the fish on the exterior wall of Arlington’s City Hall, lives in the Arlington zone of Seven Lakes as well as Patzer, but her studio is north of town on Kackman Road. She is showing her work with friends at Kathy Hastings Studio, 315 Moana Dr. on Camano Island.

“Having three new galleries on the tour this year really expands the options for visitors,” Cohn said.

Along with many artist studios all dressed up for the occasion, formal galleries on the tour include:

• Stanwood House Gallery & Art Center, 9915 270th St. NW, Stanwood.

• Gallery by the Bay, 8700 271st St., Stanwood.

• Let’s Frame It, 8716 271st St. NW, Stanwood.

• Seagrass Gallery, 370 N. East Camano Dr.

The tour is presented by the Camano Arts Association, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting the arts.

For information about the tour see the Web site at www.camanoarts.org or call to request a brochure at 425-231-7236.