This blog will document how my wife, Rosa Patton,\u00a0and I developed and live on a wooded parcel of land with the goal of minimizing our footprint on that land while also making\u00a0paintings (me) and restoring carousels and band organ facades (her).<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.ronrozzelle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Ron-with-melons2.jpg\" "\\"Ron")
<\/a>Ron with melons.<\/p><\/div>\n
Something will have gone out of us as a people if we ever let the remaining \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 wilderness be destroyed , if we permit the last virgin forests to be turned \u00a0into comic books and plastic cigarette cases , if we drive the few remaining members of the wild species into zoos or to extinction, if we pollute the last clear air and dirty the last clean streams and push our paved roads through the last of the silence, so that never again will Americans be free in their own country from the noise, the exhausts, the stinks of human and automotive waste. \u00a0And so that never again can we have the chance to see ourselves single, separate, vertical and individual in the world, part of the environment of trees and rocks and soil, brother to the other animals, part of the natural world and competent to belong in it. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Wallace Stegner<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Studio and Home. \u00a0<\/strong>In\u00a092 my wife and I bought a 3-1\/2 acre wooded parcel on the Haw River in North Carolina. \u00a0We engaged an architect, Frank Harmon, who advised us on the site and immediately began designing a studio and home for us. \u00a0Our studio needs were very specific and our home needs were minimal. \u00a0Mr. Harmon came up with a simple utilitarian building and because it was designed specifically \u00a0for us, it did not fit the 3 bedroom-2 bath formula that banks and insurance companies prefer. \u00a0 Financing proved to be difficult, but luckily not impossible. \u00a0Our rationale for this decision was simply that we were designing this building for our use and our pleasure and not for some formulaic stranger in a possible future real estate transaction.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Despite this idealistic idea our financial resources were limited, but I knew that if I built the building myself we could save substantially. \u00a0I also loved the notion of following David Thoreau’s example, although our 2,400 square feet of heated space is far from the simple cabin by Walden Pond. \u00a0Nonetheless I, like Thoreau, carved out a footprint within our hardwood forest just large enough for our foundation and a driveway, and proceeded to get all the needed permits from the county to begin construction in the fall of 1992. \u00a0Some areas of construction required needed help, but I usually managed to assist various subcontractors in some capacity, enabling me to facilitate quality control as well as directly overseeing every step of construction. \u00a0In other areas I, and usually one assistant, managed the remaining construction. \u00a0By the winter of 1994\/95 I obtained a certificate of occupancy and my wife and I moved in at the end of 1994, although finish work continued for another 6 months, making the project last a full 3 years.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Frank Harmon’s design used a grid based on the dimension of a sheet of plywood and a very limited palate of materials, yet he created simple but unique spaces that met all of our needs. \u00a0Our building won a 1997 North Carolina A.I.A. design award as well as a 1998 “Record House” award from Architectural Record<\/em> magazine. \u00a0The “Record House” award is one of only 6 to 8 given annually to houses from all over the world.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n My and my wife’s initial plan was to use our upstairs apartment in our building temporarily and later build a small 1,000 to 1,200 square foot house just north of the studio. \u00a0The apartment at that point would have been used by guests. \u00a0However we choose instead to purchase several adjoining tracts of land that became available and to continue living in the modest 560 square foot apartment. \u00a0The land purchases (now totaling 18.8 acres) not only protected the land from future development, it also gave us much desired quiet and privacy, and continues to provide habitat for wildlife which we actively attract through feeders, plantings, and nest boxes.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Introduction:\u00a0 My recent paintings address environmental questions that ultimately will determine\u00a0mankind’s survival.\u00a0 These paintings are about “Big Issues”. \u00a0 As individuals we can take responsibility for our actions that positively effect the environment with the idea that every little … Continue reading <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n