A bank of six-foot tall windows on the north wall provides natural light for Clinton L. Meyer’s
subjects. They also frame the live oak canopy outside. Canvases and framed pieces are orga-nized
in a storage and work space on the west wall created by architect Linda Tuttle.
The two have known each other for years, and it’s clear that there’s a mutual admiration
for their respective talents. There is a sense of camaraderie between them, which shows in the
beauty of the building. It couldn’t have been completed without the combination of Tuttle’s
skills and Meyer’s expertise in painting and light.
The studio was designed to become an interior canopy and sky. The 12-foot-high ceiling is
painted a 10 percent formula of green to unite it with the walls.
In addition to operable windows, the bath and cleanup room have ceiling fans to remove
any toxins from the air.
“One of the criteria for the design was we could recirculate the air in here, quickly,” Meyer says.
This isn’t the first time the two have worked together. Twenty years ago, Tuttle designed
Meyer’s home, where he first taught himself to paint. From the balcony that artfully overlooks
the ancient live oak tree in the front yard, Meyer slowly experimented with color and form
until he eventually achieved the level of mastery he has today.
Now, his studio is filled with his portraits, many of them with a familiar green background.
When he’s not painting a live model, he works from the huge screen placed next to his easel.
Here he can reference the photos he taken from around the world, which led to such portraits
as the Flower Hmong girl from Vietnam or the Himba Woman from Namibia.
When he needs a break, he can grab a soda from his studio refrigerator — which is the
perfect shade of green, of course — or step next door to the attached drive-through boat shed
that shelters his flats boat for fishing and his bicycles.
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