Not the Still Life I Set Out to Write About

This post was originally going to be called Still Life with Weeds and it was going to talk about the weeds in the jar. But after looking at some of the things on my desk I decided to change course. So we will talk about the jar of weeds in my next post.

First, the desk itself. So this desk is something that I have been waiting for, oh, probably 50 some years give or take. There is a standing joke about this desk. Over the past few months, I have become intrigued with fountain pens and all things related to stationary. So the joke was that I needed a desk to go underneath my fountain pens. Actually, though, I have always wanted a writing desk that was big enough to accommodate several projects at once. With the pandemic forcing my husband to work from home, I am somewhat confined to my studio all day so I figured I may as well make it the way I always wanted.

I spent the day organizing things, tidying (I am a big fan of Marie Kondo) and setting up my desk. When I went to do the post on the weeds, I noticed some of the things I chose to put on my desk. Above is a box my brother made for me. It was a wonderful surprise to get it. I have things inside that I use often when playing with plants such as magnifying loupe, tweezers, etc. as well as basic desk supplies. Very handy and very beautiful.

This is a mat for my cat Lulu. She likes to sit with me so this is her spot. But there is a story behind this mat. First, the wool for it came from a friend of mine, Phyllis, as a holiday gift one year. My sister took the roving (unspun wool) and brought it to someone she knows who spins. After it was spun, my sister crocheted the mat.

This ceramic cup holds my fountain pens. The cup was made by my daughter when she was about four. I used to occasionally take her to class with me. I went to a small Catholic college and you could do such things at the time. So she would come to the clay studio and Sister Jolanta would hand her a ball of clay. The handle broke off long ago but I think that adds to the charm.

This has nothing to do with the desk itself but when I looked up from my desk chair I saw a shadow of some of the items on my desk casted onto the door, included the aforementioned weeds. So I included it because it is kind of another still life of another sort and, mainly, because my friend Claudia likes shadows so this is for her.