The Other Side of L.W.ROTH

MY DESIGN STUDIO REVISITED

This study of color values in two dimensional shape was done for fun. It hangs next to
my desk in my design studio, which is a lot cleaner than the painting studio.

This construction study for a pedestal table hangs above the color value painting.
I was curious as to haw far you could push turning laminates. This design pushed them farther
than they could go. Metal would have to be used. I had acrylic dowels in mind for holding the arches together.
this never got off the drawing table.

This split cube made  with Corian in mind, a new material on the market at the time, never got off the drawing
table either. Corian has a strokable surface--sort of satin like. I liked the tactile play  had going on here and thought
it would make a great magazine rack/table next to a reading chair. The pieces were interlocking.

These stacked sandblasted windows did get off the table, made and installed in place.  Daylight was
needed in the kitchen, yet privacy for the neighbor's house was just forty feet away on other side of this outside wall.
Obscure glass with a clear line design based upon the decorative tile the homeowner chose was the answer.
The look was fantastic. Brightened the galley kitchen right up. Those ceramic tile were relief tiles.

I got up on a Sunday morning thinking of this shape and curious as to how it could be made. I wanted something sculptural like this to go between two chairs at a client's house.  I wanted to make it out of metal. I went into my kitchen and stripped a few paper toweling rolls down to the cardboard tube. Then using my electric knife, I spent some time cutting them up till I got the just the angle that would accommodate the armature that I had in mind to make it stand steady and support The American College Dictionary unabridged without falling over. This is the prototype in my office made out of laminate. It's light weight looking, but a bear to move.  Solid design.

This is where it happens--drafting,  reference books, product selection, pen cleaning. The photograph hanging over the drafting board is of our first job with a cathedral ceiling detail. That turned out to be baby's play as designs became more complicate.  I used to have the full set of markers there,  but with this room closed over the last months, I moved them down to the studio--though they are not as flexible as water soluble markers from the super market.  I stand when I draft, as I stand when I paint. You've just got to be on your feet when it come to making art.

This is the one place in the room that needs attention. This computer is 12 plus years old--or whenever XP came out? It is slow. I had it turned off till yesterday when I cranked it up to get some documents I never transfered. I love my seventeen inch, flatscreen monitor  on the countertop above--and my pull out keyboard for more relaxed neck muscles, I hate slow and all the spaghetti in the knee hole in an otherwise wireless household. It's time to upgrade IF I'm going to spend some more time here.  Don't you think Michael?

As design business picks up and threatens my painting plans, I took a look around my design facilities this morning. During the three years I was mostly off, I hadn't paid very much attention to the place. I looked it over with my morning coffee on my way down to the paint studio. It needs some reorganization.

By now you know I love design as much as I love painting. One discipline is so meticulous, the other is so open and free of restrictions. Perfect balance for me  in the arts, (not to oerlook my piano). And I'm going to have to make sure of that. My projects were very well received this last week. I have an appointment for next week. And Honey has quite a few more. Honey is a driving force in this room. I'm laid back; he's not. I hid the chains he  uses to secure me to that drafting table-- just kidding, I'm the one who got him into this business. Wasn't that a brilliant idea! That's why he's the other piece of art in the room. Hung across from my desk, I am able to curse my partner, the-gotta-have-it-yesterday-guy, when things aren't measuring out smoothly.  I should have painted him on cork board instead and bought some darts. But on many more design occasions,  I smile at him on vacation, for I am the one who took his photograph. From design work, vacations come as do painting supplies.

My business partner , my travel buddy, on Vacation