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
Artist Demonstration with Paul Kratter
Paul Kratter in the last decade has established himself as one of California’s premier plein air painters, winning numerous painting awards at plein air events across the country, his professional art career reaches back over 35 years. On June 20th, 2015, Paul was... continue reading.
Artist Demonstration with Bill Cone
An accomplished landscape painter and Production Designer for Pixar Animation Studios, Bill Cone has made hundreds of pastel painting studies for films and taught classes on lighting and color at Pixar for the last 10+ years and lectured at numerous plein air convention... continue reading.
Painting Demonstration with Mark Farina
On April 16th, Holton Studio Gallery was pleased to host a live painting demonstration with plein air artist Mark Farina. The event provided the opportunity to watch the planning and development of an oil painting. Mark worked to recreate a smaller study painting that h... continue reading.
Paul Roehl lecture – Naturalism and Transcendence in Contemporary Painting
The first in our monthly artist’s salons at Holton Studio Gallery, Paul Roehl gave a lecture in March exploring the history and meaning of a tonalist approach to painting and its viability within a contemporary context. What is Tonalism, where did it come from and... continue reading.
How William Keith Framed Art and Nature
Just completed this wonderful small painting by one of our region’s very greatest landscape painters, William Keith. Finishing this little piece coincides nicely with a talk here tomorrow by a contemporary artist, Paul Roehl, who has been very much inspired by Ke... continue reading.
Framing Berkeley’s Campanile
Just framed this undated watercolor by Lorenzo Latimer (1857-1941) depicting Sather Tower, more commonly known as the Campanile, at UC Berkeley. Because I was born and raised in Berkeley, this picture and its subject are close to my heart. Designed by John Galen Howard... continue reading.
Green Oak Frames and Mirrors
We just made a Berkeley Mirror for a customer, and were pleased that she chose the Gustav Green stain. We don’t get a lot of requests for this stain, but it was once very popular. Fascinating how tastes change. In Gustav Stickley’s basic article on his comp... continue reading.
Framing Bonnie Marris
One the most talented American wildlife painters working today is Bonnie Marris. Not long ago we had an opportunity to frame this large (48″ x 36″) oil painting by her, showing a puma in winter. The frame is a carved compound mitered frame in stained quarter... continue reading.
Framing Lucia Mathews and the 1915 World’s Fair
We just framed this wonderful and historic little gouache by Lucia Kleinhans Mathews which depicts Bernard Maybeck’s Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. This year is the centennial of San Francisco’s Panama-Pacific Exposition—the World’s Fair annou... continue reading.