Thank you for visiting.  I would like to share with you a little about myself and the story behind my artwork. 

My name is Dale Patton.  I live in Flagstaff, Arizona which is about 80 miles from the special place I am so lucky to call my home town- Grand Canyon National Park.  I graduated from Grand Canyon High School in 1986.  I then ventured east to the small town of Galesburg, Illinois where I attended Knox College and received a Bachelor of Fine Art.  My final stop in the Midwest was St. Louis, Missouri where I attended Washington University and, in 1993, received my Master’s of Architecture.

Architecture School taught me skills for a career in architecture; including the skills of manual drafting.  I also worked for several architecture firms in St. Louis while I was attending Washington University and observed some very seasoned manual draftsman.  These men had much pride in their drafting skills and in the beauty of their construction documents.  They also despised the new phenomena, Computer Aided Drafting (CAD), that was penetrating our entire industry.  Drafting was to them an art form…one which is being abandoned in favor of today’s technology.  Not only did the amazing talents of those men have a lasting impact on me, but it also planted a seed in my mind which slowly took root and began to grow.  I thought that if those highly-skilled draftsmen embraced their drawings as a piece of art, then why couldn’t it be?  It was at that moment in my life that I began to draw holiday cards for friends and family that had an architectural flare.  The image below is an Easter Card I created and sent to my Mother while I was in Architecture School.  She framed that card, though faded and old, it still hangs in her office today.

Following graduation from Washington University, I returned to the Southwest and worked for Linderoth Associates in Scottsdale, Arizona for three years as a CAD draftsman.  Following that I joined the team at Scheurer Architects of Newport Beach, California where I worked for seven years as a senior designer.  With Scheurer Architects I was privileged to be a design team member and lead designer on numerous award winning projects across the country.  In late 2003, I left Scheurer Architects, returned to Northern Arizona and started Stone Light Studio, a residential design firm.  We moved to Flagstaff in April, 2004 just in time for my wife, Amy, to give birth to our son, Nate, only a month later. 

Since I started Stone Light Studio, I have had the fortunate opportunity to design numerous homes in Arizona, Nevada, and Utah.  However, the downturn in the economy and the building industry, that began to take hold in 2007 eventually caught up with my business in early 2008.  As I scrambled to find new work to fill my calendar, I reflected back on a design principle I learned from a professor that has stuck with me throughout my professional career.  He said that, when faced with a design obstacle, it should not be perceived as a problem, rather an opportunity.  Up to this point in my life, architecture has been my career and art has been my hobby.  However, this slow period in my business offered me an opportunity, a rare pocket of time to pursue a life-long goal- to make art my career and architecture my hobby. 

Literally within hours of this realization, the concept for Studio 4 Foot 2 had materialized out of thin air.  My first two drawings were the ‘Steam Engine’ and the ‘Seahorse’ …

     

The Steam Engine and The Seahorse,  Copyright 2008, Studio 4 Foot 2, LLC.  All rights reserved.

… and, upon their completion, I felt a new passion and energy that I had not experienced for many years.  For the past two months, Amy and I have been creating Studio 4 Foot 2. 

My “pocket of time” has disappeared, and I am again busy designing homes.  But there are many more Studio 4 Foot 2 illustrations in progress.  I will be turning 40 in October and I am very excited and optimistic about the potential new direction of my life.  So I am asking the readers a big favor.  Help me spread the word about Studio 4 Foot 2 by telling your friends and family about our new business.  I would be grateful if you would consider my art work for any children’s birthdays, baby shower gifts, children’s holiday gifts, or as a simple gesture of love for a special child.

Sincerely,

Dale Patton