Tamsen Armstrong
Telling colorful stories in oil paint
Saturday, September 16, 2023
Thursday, September 14, 2023
Craft Fair at Sun City
Sunday, March 13, 2022
Does Framing Make the Painting?
Framing is such a personal choice, I hate to be all judgmental about the topic. I’ve always preferred simple floater frames for most of my work on panels, since I am all about painting to the very edges and hate to see anything covered up. I also like the simplicity (and economy!) of gallery wrapped canvas or cradled hardboard and will paint the sides with a coordinating color or even continue the painting around the sides. I recently learned that many of the Impressionist painters mounted their works in plain white frames, the idea being that the colors of the paintings wouldn’t be upstaged by gaudy gilt frames favored during the Renaissance. Isn’t it ironic that most all Impressionist and Post Impressionist works are now being displayed in Renaissance style gilt frames?
Which brings me to the topic of todays post, sorry it’s been so long in coming. I’ve just come from Berkeley where I’ve visited Tim Holton’s framing studio and gallery on Fifth and Addison. You can visit his website at https://www.holtonframes.com/ . Tim makes handcrafted frames from exquisite hardwoods that really take your breath away. The gallery also displays a host of renowned contemporary California landscape painters framed by the studio. My favorites are Terry Miura and Paul Kratter. I am lucky enough to own one of each with the Kratter framed in quartersawn white oak that was weather stained and edged with gold made by Tim. I have also framed two of my paintings from his studio and I have to say, the frame really does make the painting. If I could, I’d have all my work framed like this. Here is a recent Longhorn in his frame. I hope you agree that this beautiful frame enhances the work. Maybe a little gold is a good thing, haha!
Here is another painting of mine, titled Carmel Monastery, framed in a Tim Holton.
Friday, January 3, 2020
On My Easel, continued
I never get tired telling the story of these longhorn cows that I’ve been painting over and over. A few years ago, Jeff and I took a few days off and drove up to visit the wild Sonoma coast. Our usual inn was booked up, so we decided to stay at a funky little place called Sonoma Coast Villa in the town of Bodega (where the Hitchcock movie The Birds was filmed).
Tuesday, December 31, 2019
On my easel today, another cow.
Here you see my underpainting that is a mixture of Transparent Oxide Red and Liquin. I slosh it on, then wipe it around until it looks like something. After it dries, I will start laying in the color.
I might title this one, “Get Serious in 2020”
He is quite stern compared to my last cow.
Stay tuned for phase two
Sunday, December 29, 2019
Looking Back on the Year, continued
One of my favorite workshops this year was with Terry Miura in Arcata, CA. Yeah, we did cityscapes in July, in the middle of a gorgeous redwood forest.
The road up to the workshop/studio. Wish we had a four wheel drive for this one! |
What a fabulous studio/workshop to have for any kind of art. Thank you, Claudia Lima! |
Terry demonstrating the value of doing a value sketch before starting a painting. Valuable information! |
We all agreed that the one on the right was more pleasing even though the ground plane is a little darker than the reference photo. Don't be a slave to your photo, Terry sez. |
Second day of workshop, Terry did another value demo, this time using secret brown, yellow ochre and white The finished painting was scooped up by one of the artists at the workshop--lucky duck! |
Fun times, good memories, learned a lot! |
Sunday, December 15, 2019
Learning about Still Life painting with Philippe Gandiol
If you get the chance, go see his show at the John Natsoulas gallery in Davis. His cityscapes are breathtaking.
Philippe Gandiol painting a skull still life demo at his recent workshop, held at the fabulous Terry Miura Studio. |
Here is the set up on the second day of the workshop. It was very challenging to decide on a focal point and eliminate any distracting elements. Simplify! |
My finished painting, titled Sunflower Morning. I am proud that I was able to render the clear vase, not easy to do, I found. Notice how the persimmon has morphed into an apricot! |