In the Studio

[From the studio of Teddy Kristiansen]

My name is Teddy Kristiansen and I am a readaholic.

I read a lot . . . a lot a lot.

Almost any genre, and always with a hungry appetite for more. Biographies, fiction, short stories, essays and so on and so on. . . .

I love reading about the process of creating (writing, drawing, painting, playing etc.)

And about where this process takes place.

Most people will talk about their studio place or the office they go to every morning, to isolate themselves from all and everything.

This makes me think of my own space.

I prefer to have all the stuff I call home around me (books . . . and books and food) and feel most comfortable in these surroundings.

I have done work sitting in other places (studios) and done just fine, but I do feel more contend and complete in these surroundings . . . home.

My “studio” consists of this:

The tiniest work table, where most of the tabletop is taken up by my computer (imac 24).

This leaves me a cramped space to do my painting and my drawing . . . papers and books in stacks, fighting me every day, trying to take over what’s left of the tabletop.

But I fight back and win back my small space, inch by inch, so I can continue with the work I am doing.

I used to do all my transfers of my rough sketches to the paper I paint on, using a light table, but many years ago, I began to use the window instead.

My old work desk was big but I found out that I actually used most of the table to store book stacks, while actually using a workspace the same size I have today on my small desk.

So my workspace is getting smaller every year, and, I take it, I will end up with a workspace the size of a matchbox.

These days the fight is taken up with GENIUS, a book I am doing with my old pal, Mr. Steve Seagle, which should see the light in 2009.

Now on with the fight!

Which makes me wonder . . . what does YOUR work desk look like?

(more from Teddy Kristiansen at http://teddykristiansenblog.blogspot.com)

[UP NEXT WEEK: MIKE CAVALLERO]