My Old House: The Back Room/Office

I'd like to now welcome you into my office, which is in the back room of the house, on its north side. It is one of three rooms, along with the kitchen and living room, that had a fireplace in it. I don't know its original purpose, but now I spend a lot of time here, working on my trusty aging iMac, sitting, as now, in the gray chair. The door on the left is from the kitchen, and the wall alongside is made up of hand planed beaded paneling, like the walls of the pantry.




Turning toward the right, you can see the tiny bathroom, around 4.5 x 6.5 feet, which was built into the room. This is the only concession to modernity that the previous owners added to the house. The glimpse of the guest bedroom..



continues in this shot, of the eastern side of the room. Facing us is an original cupboard, with top and bottom door. I use this as my linen closet. There's a glimpse into the living room, which like the kitchen is on the south side of the house. There are wide plank wood floors painted gray in this room, the bedroom and the living room. Then another beaded panel wall..




with a low bookcase and art hanging above it. We've come full circle with our view into the kitchen. The small white bowl holds my sourdough starter, which I feed every day and use to make bread about once a week.




Now for a little tour of the art hanging in the back room, with apologies for reflections. On the upper left, a collage by Chris Esten; below that a painting by André Laroche; two mixed media works by Peter Gallo, one on tennis racket, another with buttons sewn on canvas. On the desk is a drawing by Leonard Dufresne. The two painted wood rectangles are old shingles that I bought at a salvage store. I enjoy their color, shape and texture.




Above is a drawing by Roberto Ohrt; a cityscape print by Shoulberg; and a print by Joan Mitchell that had been a Christmas card from Tyler Editions, a prize possession.




Two photogravures by Karl Blossfeldt (you can see them better here in a blog post that I wrote about him); a small engraving by Asa Cheffetz and a small etching by Adam Sultan.




And on the last wall, a landscape, oil on paper, by David Vereano; a landscape oil by Helen Miranda Wilson; below that, framed, a gouache on board landscape by Nancy Grilikhes. There are also four of my earlier works on parchment: two done unstretched and two with a border around the image. Before I figured out exactly what I wanted to do with these works, I painted them as though they were images in an illuminated manuscript, with the page around them.

I feel very cozy working in this space, with art around me, and a view out the window behind the computer into my back garden, now covered with snow, receding from the past few warm days, an early January thaw.

*For earlier posts in this series, click on the following links:
The Mudroom
The Kitchen
The Pantry