A Frame-Maker’s Journal
Updates and reflections 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
On the Corner: Carved Flute Samples
My last post showed how we framed a Robert Daughters painting in a frame design with carved flutes cut across the grain. Here are three corner samples I made a month or so ago, with that same idea. And on all of these the flutes round the corner, which I like. The outer... continue reading.
Framing Robert Daughters
We just framed this painting of San Francisco de Asis Mission Church in Taos, New Mexico by Robert Daughters (1929-2013). We set the 15″ x 15″ “Taos Church” (n.d.) in a 3″ compound mitered frame with carved flutes cut across the grain on th... continue reading.
Archive of Past Shows Posted
Remember our first “Beloved California” show? (We’re coming up on “Beloved California VII”!) How about that terrific “Outside Hours: Landscape Paintings by Four Northern California Animation Artists” way back in 2010? Now you ca... continue reading.
Memento Mori: Framing a Stephen Goldblatt Photograph
This is a haunting color photograph by award-winning cinematographer Stephen Goldblatt, depicting the decayed interior of a once-lavish aristocratic home in Mexico. It seemed to want a very different framing approach than most photographs. The thing to aim for in framin... continue reading.
Framing Alan Tuttle’s “Flower”
Mentioned in my last post how much I was enjoying working with linseed oil paints. Delaware artist Alan Tuttle gave me a good excuse to use them with this painting of his “red-headed friend,” the subject of “Flower.” The compound mitered frame Er... continue reading.
Flowers for the Queen: Framing Louis Turpin
This is a 22″ x 20″ oil painting, “Reds and Yellows,” by contemporary British artist Louis Turpin. The painter’s website says he’s exhibited at The Royal Academy, The National Portrait Gallery and The Royal Society of Portrait Painter... continue reading.
A Frame Is a Kind of Torii Gate: Framing Another Shin Hanga Nocturne
Like the Kawase Hasui print in my last post, this is beautiful nocturne out of the shin hanga tradition. “Rainy Miyajima” (1941, 15-3/8″ x 10″), is a woodblock by shin hanga master Tsuchiya Koitsu (1870 – 1949) depicting the torii gate at I... continue reading.
The Sheltering Sky of Kawase Hasui
The still beauty of a scene like “Spring Moon at Ninomiya Beach” by the great Shin Hanga printmaker, Kawase Hasui (1883-1957) warrants few words. I’ll only say something about the frame—another example of a sheltering design, an approach I’ve f... continue reading.
Another Sheltering Design: Framing a Harrison Clarke Etching
This is a 9″ x 6″ etching by Harrison Clarke titled “Garden Gate, Spain,” n.d. (1930’s). Most of the frame is 3/4″ wide, but it bumps out 1/8″ at the top portion, and that wider portion is also 1/16″ thicker than the lower... continue reading.