In case you had not noticed,
Lou Quallenberg’s work is all based on curves. The natural curves found in the mesquite wood, the curves of the female body form that inspire him and the curves and angles found in the
1959 Cadillac Coupe De Ville that continues to influence his work.
Jim Brandvik an artist friend, AKA
“The Original Horseshoe Engraver” pointed out that Lou had used the
line of beauty on his
Mesquite Partners Desk. Upon further inspection we found the “Line of Beauty” in almost every single curve on that desk. It was hiding in plain sight in Lou’s signature bow tie, where he uses it in both the length and width of that design. If you take the time to look you will find it there hidden in most of his pieces. This line of beauty knowledge must have sunk into his unconscious mind because it took Jim’s artist eye to spot it and point it out before we even realized that Lou was using it. He may have learned it many years ago in an art class or from a book on art. The “Line of Beauty” is also known as
Hogarth’s curve or a “lazy S” design. The Hogarth curve is one of the more common designs taught in
floral design, which in case you did not know is a part of my educational background. The
Central Market/ (for HEB)
Floral Department being one of my favorite little creations.
I cannot let the February posting of this blog go without mention of my usual but unusual
Valentine’s Day gifts from Lou (yeah it’s an enigma - just like him.) It is ALWAYS some type of heart and with his plunge into
custom mesquite furniture making, my most recent hearts have been crafted from mesquite. Lou’s hearts are not the standard, symmetrical, valentine style heart’s that we all learned to draw in elementary school. His hearts have curves (of course.) It is always a surprise and I never know what to expect. I have received small palm sized smooth hearts, a standing heart with copper flames, and this year the heart was copper embedded inside of a large mesquite hinged card, complete with it’s own thin mesquite envelope/sleeve!
We have recently joined in partnership with a new Gallery that is set to open in
Llano, Texas the first few weeks in March. The gallery
“Circle on the square” is owned and operated by the very lovely and talented
Robin Chiesa. We wish her tons of success!! The Gallery Logo and
website (still under construction) were both conceptualized, developed and created by yours truly - Lou Quallenberg Studios! We still do logos, brochures and branding as well as commercial Photography. Lou’s Mesquite Furniture and Photography will be featured at the Gallery along with artwork by the following Hill Country artist’s:
Russell Baros,
Danielle Carmichael,
Robin Chiesa,
Jane Lynch, and
Sheri Zoch.
A big THANK YOU goes out to everyone that watched the
YouTube first video we created last month. As of this posting it has been watched 250 times (with 249 of those being me- just kidding!) Thank you for forwarding it to your friends, family and other folks you thought might have interest. Please do not hold it against us that Video #2 is not quite ready for viewing. What can I say? February is a short month and 2-3 days to a procrastinator is a huge amount of time. On top of that we are perfectionists and well hey it’s just not perfect yet!! We will post it when it is ready, even if it’s not perfect. I know you can't wait but please bear with us and stay tuned!!
