The Writing Desk

It’s a beautiful desk. I agree with you that, “the gathering is more subjective.” One simply has to clean out someone else’s desk or room or car to understand that, what one sees as “junk” another sees as a “treasure.” Like the Yu-Gi-Oh cards which have gathered dust at the top of my son’s bookshelf for the past five years - some things become important only when we revisit them again …

I get the same reaction as you did to your desk when people surprise me with really nice canvases - unusual shapes and better quality than my budget would allow. I find it an acknowledgement that they understand how important painting is to me. Happy New Year, Albert.

it looks as though it has a thousand stories tucked away in it. Be seated, be gentle…tell all. Happy New Year.

ah, lovely! I really enjoy Brin’s books too, which one did you have in mind? Happy New Year!

Yes, Albert, desk as canvas I think is a delightful way to think of it! Rather than the dancing, writhing shadows on the wall of that cave being so unlike the actual world, so much more can be expressed from that surface caled Desk. As I sit at my family’s old dining table cum desk, I can clearly see a grocery list from the early sixties or late fifties because it has some baby products listed for my younger brother etched into the old yellow pine, an imprint from a “counter check” being written by mom, if one is young enough to remember such ephemera and other nicks and dents that come with the territory of 6 plus dog.

I am reminded of a time in the Dunes off Cape Cod sitting at nearly the same desk you picture here, taking in the view and picturing Mailler and O’Neil, who sat at the same desk and painted on that canvas some of their most memorable works. Desk as canvas, indeed! Paint on, dear Albert, paint on.

I commented on the photo of this, didn’t know you had written a blog. I might have been a bit more expressive had I known! Lovely blog.

I love this desk. I love its character, it’s imperfections, its sturdyness. The small cubbyholes to place secrets, not too hidden. A handsome ‘backrest’ to stop things falling off the cliff. Just like a good man.

As I said, the desk is too small for me, but I totally understand the importance of a desk, and it’s placement. In the UK sunday newspapers there is a pic of a writers room every week, and every time I avidly explore the image, curious as to how other writers work. I need endless clutter space, and a window with a view, and lots of light.

Love,
S.

They are actually from the Saturday Guardian.. I found a few links for you

The full listing
some individual ones…
Joanna Briscoe
Al Alvarez
JG Ballard
Sarah Waters
Michael Rosen
Martin Amis
and.. just found a slideshow and talk over by the photographer, Eamonn McCabe on some of them - it’s fun:
Eamonn McCabe - Writers’ Rooms

ah, the desk. the greatest piece of furniture in the house, besides the reading chair …

it makes me smile to hear how much you like that little desk.  it was gifted to me several years back by an old friend whose dad had made it for her.  i love that you live here, even for just a little bit.  it is fun to have you around.  now that
25 millbrook will be ours, all ours…….. I will begin the transformation outside that precious window.  i have always dreamed that the hill covered with flowers would look great.  what do you think?  or maybe just a butt ton of greenery.  next time you are home we can talk about it.