March On!

March is here, and so is our new trade card calendar featuring our young French chef (we call him Gaston) and his culinary capers.

With March comes the first of our spring classes, beginning with three days of calligraphy with Bill Kemp. Bill's classes mark an auspicious start to this season in the Studio for the Imagination, as he will return in April to help Michael Sull teach the week-long Advanced Spencerian Saga.

There are only a few weeks left to see our current gallery show, "Prints, Charming," so do come by if you haven't been yet. We'll be taking the show down March 18 in preparation for our next exhibit -- stay tuned for details!

And finally, we're all breathing a sigh of relief because Easter is not until the first weekend in April this year. That means we have all of March for crafting and painting eggs.

Sea of Dreams

Earlier this week a magical boat, maybe the very one used by those famous navigators the Owl and the Pussycat, came sailing into Castle in the Air. It's the final piece to be prepared for "Prints, Charming," and it's a special vessel, as the hull of the boat used to be a whiskey barrel from St. George Spirits! Who knows how many reveries that cask has inspired in its day?

Everything is coming together to make Thursday night's reception and book signing a truly fantastic time. If you can't make it out then, you can come see the dressed prints and other art any time before the exhibit's final day of March 19.

"Prints, Charming" is here!

Once upon a time...well, late last night, to be honest...we put the finishing touches on Prints, Charming, the new exhibit at the Castle in the Air gallery. Because this is our second show, we had the luxury of being used to the gallery space and how to put up the art. We do have some rather unique pieces this time, however, including a ten-foot long framed print, several portraits only a few inches wide, and books (glorious books!) from the Dromedary Press line.

I've been living with some of the original images from the show for many years, some for just a number of months. Now that they are all dressed and gathered together, they all seem fresh and new and as though they are all part of the same family, which of course they are--princesses, magical animals, and my hero, Commonplace Mouse, who has been immortalized in time for the show not only in print through Dromedary but also in doll form by Caron Dunn!

Welcome to February!

Today kicks off a momentous month at Castle in the Air, as this morning we unveiled our new gallery show and this afternoon we took our spring class mailer to press. Both the gallery exhibit and the upcoming classes are spectacular (if we do say so ourselves!), but don't take our word for it. Come on by the shop and see for yourself. You can pick up one of our whimsical new monthly calendar trade cards, too, the first in a series featuring a junior French chef who will be getting into all sorts of trouble over the coming months.

Dromedary Dreams

One of my greatest joys of the past year has been to devote more time than ever to my book projects. For years, Dromedary Press has been a dream that I've been able to bring more and more into the waking world to share with everyone else. The gallery show is shaping up to be a grand celebration of my books and illustrations.

I hope many of you will be able to come to the book signing at Castle in the Air on February 11. But even if you can't join us, you can be a part of the adventure by getting your own copy of Commonplace Mouse through our Online Shoppe!

Prints, Charming

We've been a bit quieter than usual on the blog for the past few weeks, as we're giving all our spare moments to the preparation of the next Castle in the Air Gallery show, an exhibit of three dozen prints of my watercolor illustrations and portraits.

For this show, I've taken several of my favorite illustrations and embellished them in the "dressed prints" style popular in India. Countless hours in my home studio have been spent adding silk, feathers, jewels, lace, sand, and other elements to turn the flat prints into sculptural wonders. You'll have to come to the exhibit (or the reception and book signing on February 11) to take in the full effect.

Prints, Charming
Portraits from the Studio for the Imagination
February 1 through March 19, 2010

Gallery open 12 - 6 Monday through Saturday, closed Sunday

Reception and book signing with light refreshments Thursday, February 11, 6 - 8 p.m.

Castle in the Air
1805 Fourth Street
Berkeley, Calif. 94710
(510) 204-9801

Read the full invitation and press release.

Mist, Snow, Feather & Thorn

Thank you to everyone who came out to last night's reception for Picturing Childhood. Amid all the people enjoying the photographs and chatting, it truly felt as though Castle in the Air had changed into something greater than before. If you haven't seen the show and are in the area, please try to make it out before it closes November 18.

Speaking of gallery receptions, our friend Bella Bigsby has one coming up this Friday. Bella's wistful landscapes and nature studies, like Thistle, shown here, are perfect for fall.

mist, snow, feather & thorn
paintings by Bella Bigsby

at

H Julien Designs
1798 Shattuck Avenue @ Delaware
Berkeley, Calif. 94709
(510) 548-7400

Studio hours: Tues.-Sat. 10am-6pm
Artist Reception:
Friday, Oct. 23
6-9pm

Exhibit continues through Nov. 28

Beyond the Clouded Mirror

Today John McRae and I are swimming in picture frames in the gallery at Castle in the Air, trying to find just the right place for each of the photographs that are part of the gallery's first show. I'll post more on that once we're through, but in the meantime, you can take a peek at another fantastic frame.

John brought this in this morning -- it's the sample for his "Haunted Mirror" class, coming up this Saturday. The frame is constructed from an assortment of Dresden Trim, the mirror is a specially coated two-way wonder, and what's behind the glass... Well, let's just hope it stays there!

For more about John's "Haunted Mirror" class, visit the Castle in the Air Online Shoppe.

Looking and Looking Back

We spent time this week preparing some postcards for our upcoming exhibit of children's portraits from the 19th and early 20th century. We're also finalizing our plans for the dates of the show and a reception, so check back soon for that.

What's most striking about looking at these prints, aside from the fact that they were produced by early photography's best-known artists, is the character in the faces of the children pictured. Here's the Portrait of Paul Nadar, Enfant, an 1865 collotype from Felix Nadar.

Some pictures have a bit of legend handed down through the decades. This 1910 gelatin silver print is by Jessie Tarbox Beals and is called Physically Defective Children, an amusing title once you realize that the youngsters' "defect" was that they had tonsilitis!

Other legends are more serious. I love this Julia Margaret Cameron albumin print of The Clogstoun Sisters, from around 1868. But I can't stop thinking about how one of the sisters died a few years after the photograph was taken.

Another Cameron albumin print, from 1872, has got to be my favorite. Portrait of Florence Fisher just returns my gaze every time, and reminds me of the portraits I take of my own girls.

Happy Michaelmas!

Today is Michaelmas, the autumn counterpart to St. George's Day in April and a celebration of the Archangel Michael and his power over Lucifer. In everyday terms, that means winter is coming, so everyone had best gird up and get ready for foul weather and all the highs and lows of the holiday season.

Today at Castle in the Air we're slaying dragons just like George did, even as we hang up devilish decorations in the store. The upstairs gallery space was painted yesterday, and in the coming days we'll be hanging our first gallery show -- an exhibit of photographs of children from some of the best photographers of the early decades of the art form.

Our show will feature prints from Julia Margaret Cameron, Edward Curtis, Gertrude Kasebier, Carl Moon, Edweard Muybridge, and Alfred Stieglitz, just to name a few. We're also delighted to have a number of prints from Lewis Carroll. In the picture above (sadly, not one that will be in the show), Carroll photographed the Kitchin family children playing out the St. George story. My eye is of course drawn to the brave knight and the beautiful maiden, but Mr. Marsh wonders who got roped into playing the part of the fallen soldier. (And what a great use for the family leopard-skin rug!)