All my life I’ve been intrigued by paper. I’ve loved the sound of a sheet of Ivory Vellum being yanked through the platen of a typewriter. The smooth edges of a freshly cut reem. The pebbled surface and deckled edges of a stiff sheet of 300 weight cotton cold press. The rainbow of potential exposed[…]
Author: TomBirmingham
Observational Sketching
Through experimentation , you’ll find an approach that works for you. You might like to begin at the heart of your subject, placing the eyes and mouth in pleasing relation before moving on. Or you might find that a horizon line and intersecting vertical gives you a place to land your subject in space. I[…]
Mary Louise Birmingham – 1921 – 2011
I didn’t know her as a young woman, or a girl. I didn’t know the co-ed attending Barnard College. Nor did I know her in Paris with her closest friend Marie Birmingham. I never saw the cold water flat on Sullivan Street where she first lived with her husband, my father, William Birmingham, for $14[…]
William Francis Birmingham –
Bill Birmingham was a man. He was a husband, a friend, a father, a brother and uncle. He was a teacher, a leader, and he was a consummate storyteller. My dad sat up, when others might lie down. He sat in a chair in the corner of his living room.Early on a cigarette was cradled[…]
Weekend at Live Worms, San Francisco
I’d seen her sitting on a blanket outside of Café Trieste when we arrived in North Beach last Thursday. A small garage sale scattered around her. When she walked in to our show half a block down Grant Street the next day, I had to ask her. Do you paint sometimes? Are you sometimes kitty[…]
Photos from the Archives – Life of Albert Gallatin
Since the year we met, Erin has been pursuing the history of her Great Great Grandmother, Jane Gallatin Powers. This pursuit has brought us to Rome and Capri, Switzerland, Boston, Long Island, and even, Atherton, California. Several years ago we visited Erin’s cousin, Wyn Wacchorst. He shared with us images from his collection, including these.Now[…]