New work from Erik Tiemens

Erik Tiemens just brought in three lovely Marin County oil paintings, all done at Rodeo Beach.

This (above) is "Rodeo Beach—Marin Headlands," 12" x 16". $1200 unframed.

“Hillside at Rodeo Beach,” 8-3/4" x 11-3/4". $1100 unframed.

 “View of Rodeo Beach,” 6" x 12". $900 unframed.

Framing Historic California Watercolors

We've recently had the pleasure of framing several watercolors by notable California artists working in the early twentieth century.

Maynard Dixon (1875-1946):

Chris Jorgensen (1838-1876):

William S. Rice (1873-1963):

Marjorie Stevens (1902-1992; available through North Point Gallery):

Lorenzo Latimer (1857-1941; these available through North Point Gallery):

Davis Schwartz (1879-1969):

James McGrew

We're excited to be welcoming James McGrew to the Gallery.

 A passionate explorer and painter of Yosemite National Park, James has spent a lifetime (well, his life so far) capturing the Park's magnificent natural beauty. We're featuring his plein air work, all fairly small (i.e., nicely affordable). While we're still framing his paintings, you can see what we have pre-framed on his page on our site, here. (His own website is here.)

We're also framing a beautiful piece, below, for James to enter in the American Impressionist Society's Annual Show in October in Carmel.

Great to have you aboard, James!

"Kevin Courter: From Dusk to Dawn" is posted

The last of Kevin Courter's paintings for his upcoming show, "From Dusk to Dawn," is in, and it's a great example of a theme he's been having a lot of fun with for the last few months. This is called "Evening's Solitude," and it's 8 x 16. The frame, No. 1.4 CV, is one we use often, as it's so versatile, simple and effective.

Hope you'll put the show on your calendar. It opens Saturday, February 26, with a reception for the artist from 4 to 6 in the evening.

Framing J Bond Francisco

Recently framed this John Bond Francisco , designing the setting to echo playfully with the massive green frame at the center of the painting. This little oil, 12" x 8", depicts the artist's San Francisco studio around the turn of the century. The frame profile's a No. 16—a plain flat mitered frame with a chamfered (45 degree bevel) sight edge. Chose a flat profile to go with the relatively shallow depth of field and flat object—the painting—that's the focus of the piece. But the angles and design of the stove suggested the chamfer. A bit wider than I normally would've used on a piece this size, but in keeping with the proportions of the depicted frame on its painting. Going as green as the frame in the painting would have sacrificed the harmony of painting and frame, but rubbed green paint in to the grain of the oak to resonate with the frame in the picture.The liner is oak with gold leaf. All is simple as the room depicted—simple, but fun!

Framing Ludmilla Welch

 

We've had the privilege of framing more and more historical work, and this past month got to re-frame this sweet oil painting, "Foggy Morning," (10" x 17") by Ludmilla Welch, who with her husband Thaddeus Welch, worked in San Francisco at the turn of the century. It's in a very low slope Century Series 3" wide profile in stained quartersawn white oak.

Framing Paintings—I: Kevin Courter's "Colusa Sunset"

"All true art is praise," as John Ruskin said, getting right at the heart of picture-making (and blowing the top off a lot of pretentious blather about art, too). Last fall Kevin Courter brought in this work of praise, a 16" x 20" oil on linen, less than 2 weeks before our show, "A Heaven in the Eye" was to open. It's a stunner, as you can see, and to a frame-maker an inspiration. My enthusiasm and the extra focus imposed by the deadline spurred me to produce one of my favorite recent pieces.

Holton Studio Landscape Show--A Heaven in the Eye

The opening for the current landscape show at Holton Studio, A Heaven in the Eye, took place last Saturday, Nov. 14th. The show features 7 Northern California landscape painters: Kevin Courter, Christin Coy, Mark Farina, Paul Kratter, Terry Miura, Robin Moore, Brian Mark Taylor. Tim Holton has assembled a strong show of landscape paintings, all beautifully framed in his Craftsman style frames, each one custom built to suite the painting it surrounds. The gallery is open daily and is located in Emeryville. Please visit the website for more information. http:/www.holtonframes.com

Cold Weather Painting, by Paul Kratter

In late February I spent a couple of days at Silver Lake just south of Lake Tahoe. A recent storm left a fresh layer of snow and cooler temperatures. I had a chance to do some sketching (I'll write about that later) and did one painting.
Winter painting offers some unique challenges, mainly staying warm. The obvious extremite to keep warm is your hands, but most of the time I'm able to paint glove-free. My feet always get cold standing in one spot and the freezing temperatures seem to slowly crawl up from my snow boots. Temperatures started at 18 degrees in the morning, but quickly rose as the sun warmed up the area.
Snow offers a unique color range from soft pinks to blues and purples. I saw this beautiful grove of pines standing out against the cool mountains in the background. The light and shadow patterns of the snow offset the strong graphic nature of the pines. I'm happy to sacrifice some cold feet in exchange for a chance to paint such a beautiful scene.

Terry Miura

Made another big step in this year's plan to grow the theme of the picture gallery as contemporary paintings of the local and northern California landscape: Sacramento painter Terry Miura recently delivered his first batch of paintings. They are a real privilege to have here, and I look forward to framing them and displaying them. Terry, who's a friend of Paul Kratter, is also a graduate of the Art Center in Pasadena and has a professional commercial art background, having worked in New York as a freelance illustrator for magazines and newspapers. Originally from San Diego, while in the Big Apple his paintings naturally focused on cityscapes, but now he's delving into the rural landscapes of his native state. He's got a wonderful tonalist palette, reflecting his gentle vision of rustic California as well as a humbler approach to the role of painting as just one of the arts that create an architectural interior.
Terry will be included in the group show coming up next fall, "A Heaven In the Eye," in which he'll have new work capturing the Sacramento Delta. (Christin Coy, Paul Kratter, Kevin Courter and possibly another artist will join him.)

Jean Sanchirico website

Jean Sanchirico, who we started representing last fall, has launched her website, www.jeansanchirico.com. You can preview the ones we have, which we've framed, at Jean's page on my site.
6/15/10 update: Jean is no longer represented by us, but is still a great friend (and the best neighbor!), and I urge you to follow her on her site. Her work is shown in our Portfolio, here.

Painting trip to Mendocino

I recently took a trip with my friend Richard, also a painter, up to Mendocino and Fort Bragg. We traveled in Artie, our newly acquired RV. Our weather was amazing for January, sunny and warm during the day, cool at night with some fog. The coast line was glorious with one picturesque cove after another. We stopped and painted where we could find a place to pull over and enjoyed having Artie to take a lunch break in or just get warm in at the end of the day. In Fort Bragg we met up with a painting friend, Eleanor, and joined her plein air group to paint at Navarro State Beach on Thursday 1/29. We ended up parking the RV there for two nights, it was so beautiful. The beach was full of driftwood and there were great cliffs to paint in the afternoon light. This photo was taken of me painting at Navarro Beach on Jan. 29th. I love using my portable Easy L easel, small and compact.

Our next adventure in February will take us to the South West. I will take photos and send in some updates on where we are as well as painting spots that we like.