We’ve greatly enjoyed framing Alan Tuttle’s paintings over the years. I think the first one was “The Falls,” at right; we also had fun framing “Flower.” Here are two more frames we made for Alan recently. The artist, who lives in Delaware, didn’t ship the paintings to us. For these pictures, we just Photoshopped his paintings into the frames.

Both paintings are in 4-1/2″ wide carved walnut compound mitered frames finished with linseed oil. “The Lauren H.” is 20″ x 32-1/2″, and has an 18 kt pale gold liner. Trevor made the frame.

Learn more about Alan Tuttle here…

“Ripples” is 30″ x 40″. This frame, which is also 4-1/2″ wide and walnut, has a white gold slip. A modified version of the frame on “The Falls” at the top of this post, the carving pattern connects to the enchanting and wonderfully rendered web of cypress branches. The result is a familiar Gothic pattern, reminding us of the organic inspiration of the Gothic architectural tradition.

We had a lovely opening for landscape painter Simon Addyman last Saturday. Simon and his wife Carol came down for the event from their home in Auburn. In addition to eleven paintings we had framed and hung, we also display another dozen paintings that Simon brought to the reception. As luck would have it, we were able to instantly frame eight of them in ready-mades that worked perfectly—growing the exhibit that day by about 75%! A few are shown below, but all the work is now on the exhibit’s page, here.

Simon joined the Gallery for our annual all-gallery show Beloved California this past winter. It’s an honor to be representing this exceptional talent.

Simon Addyman’s work will be featured in the Gallery through April 12. Please come enjoy the exhibit!

Simon Addyman
“Foothill Trees”
Oil on linen panel, 11″ x 14″.
Carved quarter sawn white oak frame, fumed, with pale gold slip.
$2,300 framed.
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Simon Addyman
“Peaceful Winter”
Oil on linen panel, 11″ x 14″.
Carved quarter sawn white oak frame (Dark Medieval Oak stain), with white gold slip.
$2,550 framed.
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Simon Addyman
“Monterey Rocks and Surf”
Oil on linen panel, 8″ x 16″.
Walnut cove frame with white gold slip.
$2,500 framed.
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View the entire exhibit…

More about Simon Addyman…

We just finished framing this spectacular painting, “Alta California,” that a customer commissioned from Erik Tiemens, a long time member of the Holton Studio Gallery roster. Erik brings us closer to the dramatic crashing surf and rugged coastline of the state—but as the timeless background to our history. The 16″ x 20″ painting depicts the rugged California coast as the 16th Century Spanish explorers might have encountered it. We made it a 3-1/2″ wide Compound Mitered frame,  No. 318 + Cap 811 in quartersawn white oak (Saturated Medieval Oak stain), with a gilt slip. I chose a cove profile for its effect in enhancing the forms depicted (the rocks and cliff, the breaking waves, and the swirling clouds) as well as the dramatic perspective, which plants us firmly on the rocky beach but also carries our eye to the precarious fate of the ship anchored in the distance. The fine bead near the sight edge acknowledges and underscores the artist’s fine brushwork and rendering. The dark stain is the perfect shadowy foil to surround Erik’s masterful handling of light, while the gilt slip seems to reflect the bright sunlight and provide emphasis on this remarkably powerful scene.

These two below in our inventory are on a similar theme to “Alta California.” See more work by Erik Tiemens on his page, here.

Erik Tiemens
“Cliffs Before the Farallons”
Water-Soluble Wax Paint/wood panel, 16″ x 20″.
$3,600 framed.
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Erik Tiemens
“Bonnington’s Beach”
watercolor and pen and ink on French linen paper, 6 1/4″ x 9 3/4″. $2,000 framed.
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We just put a beautiful batch of framed prints and ready-made frames on sale. This is a short one for the special, long weekend! Ends Tuesday, February 18.

Happy Valentine’s Day and Presidents Day!

Go to sale page…

A No. 322—2 3/8″ with deep scooped back. Walnut with clear finish. 18kt gilt slip. Was $800. Just $475! Click image for more and to purchase.

Yoshiko Yamamoto, “Magnolia”
Linoleum block print, 10 1/2″ x 10 1/2″. Ed: 252/300. $675. Sale price: $495
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I often say that what we’re offering is the simple home for pictures. The simple home ideal was practiced and advocated by Bernard Maybeck and Charles Keeler here in Berkeley, and shaped much of the city’s early architecture. I take it to express the principles of vernacular, or folk, domestic architecture, and thus to point to a vast and rich well of design inspiration for frame making.

In the Japan, the traditional house, called a Minka, is an exemplary simple home. Minkas are a favorite subject of artist Hiroto Norikane (b. 1949), who made this etching. The frame we designed for it is just a No. 1, our plainest mitered frame, but with proud splines shaped with the gentle curve characteristic of the roof lines of these wonderful folk structures. I think I’ll call this frame “The Minka.” (At right: two Minka corner samples, one walnut and one cherry, ready to finish.)

This isn’t the first print we’ve made this design for. Here’s a Kawase Hasui woodblock of a row of cozy minkas lining a village street on a rainy night (more on this one in the Portfolio)…

…and a little nineteenth century street scene by Inoue Yasuji:

A Gallery of Hiroto Norikane’s Minkas—

Here’s a sampling of printmaker Hiroto Norikane’s depictions of minkas. These are all from the artist’s page at Panteek Antique Prints.

More on the Minka frame—

The Minka frame can be made in any width and in any wood and stain. Here’s a 3/4″ wide corner sample in walnut stained black (with India ink). The two in the background are 1″ and 3/4″ wide in walnut with Black Wash.

Jessie just re-hung the gallery to highlight our inventory of paintings by Robert Flanary. There are 26 paintings in all. Most are framed—those are shown on Robert’s page, here—but there’s also a large number of unframed (or ready-to-frame!) pieces.

Robert Flanary
“Wildflower Meadow”
Oil on linen panel, 12″ x 10″. $1,700 framed.
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A long time customer, a painter, came through last week as we were preparing to hang the exhibit, and commented that she didn’t know of a more sensitive painter than Robert. She was particularly struck by the subtle touch of his brushwork on one painting’s linen support. But the observation extended to every aspect of Robert’s work.

Robert Flanary
“A Winter Day”
2022. Oil on canvas, 11″ x 14″. $1,800 framed.
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Much of that has to do with Robert’s masterful ability to paint atmosphere. Where other artists set out to paint features on the land—trees, rocks, creeks, hills—Robert seems to focus on what ties them together: he paints the air.

Robert Flanary
“Early Spring”
2021. Oil on canvas, 16″ x 20″. $3,400 framed.
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But that’s not all. As I wrote on the occasion of a one-man show we had for him a couple of years ago, Robert Flanary: Seeing All Together, the artist’s flawlessly rendered perspective draws us in to that intoxicating atmosphere, and we get lost in it.

Robert Flanary
“Scatter Creek Meadow”
Oil on linen panel, 8″ x 10″. $1,300 framed.
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The gallery’s highlight of Robert Flanary’s landscape paintings is on display through February 22. We hope you’ll come enjoy them with us!

It’s Christmas Eve and many of you are out and about bearing gifts. So in the spirit of the day, I thought I’d post this lovely woodblock print, “Three Wise Men,” by Hall Thorpe (Australian, 1874-1947). At just about 5-1/4″ square, it’s framed in a delicate 1/2″ black-stained walnut  frame with rounded corners echoing the print’s border and rounded cloud forms. Proud splines articulate the corners and form.

Happy holidays to all—and may the season’s gifts include peace and goodwill!

This frame as presented in our online catalog.

Just makin up poems in my head as I climb toward Mount Tamalpais.
See up there, as beautiful a mountain as you’ll see anywhere in the world,
a beautiful shape to it, I really love Tamalpais. —The character Japhy in The Dharma Bums (1958), by Jack Kerouac

Jack Kerouac and his hiking pal and fellow beat poet Gary Snyder, on whom the character Japhy was based, weren’t alone. Of all the land features that frame San Francisco Bay, none is more loved than Mt. Tamalpais. By the second world war, the mountain was already covered with trails well-used by weekending Bay Area residents. To the Miwok people, it was sacred.

So it’s appropriate that a nice big, 18″ x 36″ view of the sleeping lady (see below) is a centerpiece of Beloved California IX, our current show (running through the 28th). In “Majestic Mt. Tam” by Richard Lindenberg, the mountain, lit by the setting sun, reflects off a glassy creek in the foreground. We set the oil on canvas in a carved walnut mortise and tenon frame with a coppery bronze slip. Trevor Davis made it.

Richard Lindenberg
“Majestic Mt. Tam”
Oil on canvas, 18″ x 36″. $5,000 framed.
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Here are a few recent and particularly seasonal carved and painted corner samples I made. The middle one’s soft maple and the other two are walnut. All have simple carving and are painted with linseed oil paint.

By the way, there’s still time for us to fill most orders for holiday gifts. But don’t put it off much longer!

And don’t forget about Beloved California, which runs through the end of the year. It’s full of exquisite works that would make wonderful gifts!

Wait—there’s a few more!