I’m sitting at my desk. The same desk as last year this time, but not the same flat. The move here last autumn was a sonofabitch but it was much needed. Now the kiddo has her own room and I have this fancy office with double doors.
No, wait, before you get too excited, they’re not that kind of double doors. They’re these dinky plastic accordion doors with ugly blue privacy tape on the plexiglass “window” panes.
But I’ve made it work. My bookshelf, right behind me, is still a complete work in progress that I haven’t had the motivation to touch since the move. It’s an Ikea bookshelf and I’ve been meaning to get Ikea doors for it because I’m sick of dusting the shelves and the books and the glass jars.
Because I have a lot of those. Books and glass jars.
Books because who can survive reality without fantasy. And glass jars because I collect sea glass, sea pottery, sea shells, and assorted ocean-related beach-finds.
I’ve also got three glass sculptures sitting on my desk, which you could call a little collection of sorts.
One is a tiny blue handmade glass mammoth that I got as a memento from an Ice Age exhibition at the Museum of Natural History (one of my favourite museums).
Another is a dragon that kind of looks like the Loch Ness monster, but with orange feet that don’t look suitable for swimming.
And the last one is a recent arrival, a handmade glass sculpture of a jellyfish. A few weeks ago the hubs and I took a spur-of-the-moment turn into one of our favourite art galleries and, as per tradition, we meandered through the gift shop on our way out.
I happened past a shelf with several jellyfish glass sculptures and was instantly fascinated.
When the hubs ambled up behind me, I spoke over my shoulder without even taking my eyes off the sculptures, “Y’know, if you ever have this idea that you wanna buy me something for my birthday, I won’t say no to something like this”.
To which he said, “Yeah, I was just thinking that exact same thing.
And I’ve learned with this particular shop that if you want something, you’d better buy it when you find it, because if you come back for it, it’ll be gone.”
So, I ended up walking out of there with this gorgeous handmade sculpture that looks like a jellyfish frozen in a moment of time, air bubbles and all. I look at it every day and the layered blue structure never ceases to fascinate me.
This is one of those things I love about having a dedicated office. There was a time when my work-from-home desk was jammed into the living room corner of our one-bedroom flat.
I used to perch on a rickety bar stool and my big screen was hooked up to an HP laptop that had been new and fancy about 8 years prior, but was coughing and sputtering by that time.
Now I have, not only a desk and a desktop computer, but a drawing desk as well. I had to order it from Italy because that was the nearest I could find it, and it broke in this most recent move, but it’s still a lifesaver because I could not spend long hours drawing without back pain without it.
And to fuel my inspiration, I’ve filled my office walls with art – both my own and other artists work.
It used to be just one gallery wall, all white frames, but it’s slowly spreading to cover all available wall space.
Art on the walls is one of those things that has always been important to me. It’s a small thing in decorating, is an absolute bitch sometimes to accomplish, but it makes me feel like I’m taking ownership of the space. Which is one of the reasons why our loo also has wall art!
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