A Frame-Maker’s Journal
Updates and ruminations on our work and mission to revive the art and craft of framing pictures. Here I'll show you new jobs we're especially proud of and keep you up on what's going on at the Gallery, as well as discuss topics germane to our work, including handcraft and work generally, the place of art, and ideals of the Arts and Crafts Movement (especially its greatest leaders, John Ruskin and William Morris).
I hope you’ll subscribe (see the form in the left column) or at least check back often. And I welcome your comments!
—Tim Holton
Painted Chamfers: Framing a Calligraphed Poem
This lovely poem by Dawn Gross was expertly calligraphed by Ben Yates. We used a 1-5/8″ wide walnut frame on the 15″ x 11″ paper. By chamfering the outside edge I gave the corners an abstract leaf form. I painted the chamfer with green milk paint, which I’ve been enjoying playing with over the past […]
Continue Reading »
Framing the Great Wall of China
Just framed this Chinese painting of the Great Wall of China. The painting is 17″ x 20″. The 1-1/2″ wide frame is walnut with dilute black stain. We used a silk covered mat with grey paper filets inside the sight edge. You probably recognize the spiral... continue reading.
Framing Marion Kavanagh Wachtel
Here’s a beauty from one of the state’s greats. In early California’s popular eucalyptus painting genre, this 24″ x 18″ watercolor by Marion Kavanagh Wachtel (1876 – 1954) is hard to beat. “Sunset,” is not dated, but is believ... continue reading.
“With Four Sticks of Wood”: A Simple Home for Bernard Maybeck
A couple of months ago, we were asked to frame a portrait of the architect Bernard Maybeck (1862-1957) to hang in the larger frame of Maybeck’s 1902 Faculty Club at UC Berkeley. No portrait cries out for the architecture of a frame like a portrait of an architect. You... continue reading.
“Humanization”: Framing Ukrainian artist Aleksei Bordusov
I’ve been wanting to post about this job we framed many months ago. Finally pulling it out of the archives I remembered the enigmatic image as well as its intriguing title: “Humanization.” But I’d forgotten who the artist was. Looking it up today... continue reading.
Framing Thomas Jefferson Kitts
James Rieser at Rieser Fine Art in Carmel recently asked us to frame this beautiful landscape painting by contemporary Oregon artist Thomas Jefferson Kitts. “Tranquility” (2021, oil on canvas, 36″ x 48″) is available from Jim’s gallery. (Vi... continue reading.
A Second Carl Sammons Painting (for Twosday)
My last post featured a painting by Oakland landscape painter Carl Sammons (1883-1968), which was on display this past weekend in California Historical Design‘s booth at the National Arts and Crafts Conference at the Grove Park Inn. It was actually one of a pair o... continue reading.
Framing Carl Sammons—and Hanging at The Grove Park Inn
This weekend is the 35th Annual National Arts and Crafts Conference at The Grove Park Inn in Asheville, North Carolina, and our friend Gus Bostrom of California Historical Design in Alameda once again has a big, beautiful booth displaying antique furniture, pottery, met... continue reading.
Keep the Beast Happy: Framing Milivoj Ćeran’s “Jormungandr”
It’s hard to think of another realm today where human beings unleash our imaginations more than we do in science fiction. The Studio recently had the great privilege of framing a painting born of the extraordinary imagination of Croatian artist Milivoj Ćeran, 201... continue reading.