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
Open House—Last Day of Beloved California VII
Tomorrow, Friday, December 30, is not only our last day of business before the New Year, but also the last day of our big annual all-gallery show, Beloved California. We’re ringing out 2022 and this special show with an open house from 11 to 4. Hope you can come! ... continue reading.
Framing Charles W. Bartlett
This is a woodblock print, “Entrance to Golden Temple, Amritsar,” dated 1919, by the fascinating British artist Charles William Bartlett (1860-1940). I took advantage here of the natural affinity between the picture and the frame—an affinity with respect t... continue reading.
Framing Bill Cone for Beloved California VII
After a great opening last Saturday, our big annual all-gallery show Beloved California VII: Twenty Painters with a Passion for Place continues, running through the end of the year. Featuring The Holton Studio Gallery’s entire roster of artists, the show includes ... continue reading.
Summer Past, Summer to Come: Framing Tia Kratter for Beloved California VII
Here’s one of Tia Kratter‘s watercolors that will be in Beloved California VII: Twenty Painters with a Passion for Place opening a week from Saturday. We set “Pool Party,” which is 15″ x 8-1/2″, in a plain flat 2″ wide fumed qua... continue reading.
In the Range of Light: Framing James McGrew for Beloved California
We just framed this 11″ x 14″ oil painting by James McGrew for our upcoming all-gallery show, Beloved California VII: Twenty Painters with a Passion for Place. For “Bridalveil Sunset,” we made a pretty simple slope in stained quartersawn white oa... continue reading.
Fine Art Connoisseur Spotlitghts Kim Lordier
A quick post just to recommend to you Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine’s short but illuminating spotlight interview with our own Kim Lordier. Check out the piece here. Kim will, of course, be in our upcoming annual all-gallery show, Beloved California VII: Twenty Pai... continue reading.
Framing a Seventeenth Century Map by Joan Blaeu
This double polar projection, printed and colored in the 1670’s, is an extraordinary specimen of the Dutch Golden Age of mapmaking. It was printed from a copper engraving produced in the previous decade in the studio of Joan Blaeu (1596-1673), chief mapmaker for t... continue reading.
Framing Paul Kratter for Beloved California VII
Paul Kratter wants you to remember how much you love Northern California. We just framed this evocative, iconic, and quintessentially California painting of Paul’s for our upcoming annual show, Beloved California VII. “Lifting Fog” is 24″ x 12... continue reading.
Painted Slips and Liners
Many recent posts show frames that include a painted slip (a narrow flat or fillet) or liner (a narrow inner frame). While we’ve been using gilt and sometimes black slips for a long time, I’d come to realize that many pictures coming in really wanted a line ... continue reading.