Notes on the Cedar Shelf
Why I keep a single shelf of books that I have read more than three times — and what stays on it, season after season. Read →
Public notes for Ellis Vandermeer's reading notebook, published as a continuous log.
Why I keep a single shelf of books that I have read more than three times — and what stays on it, season after season. Read →
A short note on returning to slow tools, ink under the fingernails, and the unexpected joy of paper that pushes back. Read →
The canal path behind the studio is forty minutes of slow water and stubborn herons. It changes how I think about whatever I am drawing that week. Read →
I gave up on garden plans after the third year. The plot is happier for it, and so am I. Read →
On the small ritual of mixing ink, the way light falls in a north-facing room, and the difference between practice and rehearsal. Read →
For two years I have kept an index of every book I finished, written by hand. Here is what that taught me about memory and patience. Read →
Half the projects in the studio are unfinished. For a long time that bothered me. Lately I think the unfinished pile is the real archive. Read →
A short essay about working through three days of soft rain, stone dust, and what makes a room feel like a workshop instead of an office. Read →
I have kept every postcard sent to me since 2009. They live in a wooden box on the desk. Some are now impossible to identify. Read →
Notes on the half-hour between the first and the second cup of tea — the only window in the day when nothing is required of me. Read →
A practical note about orientation in a studio where the best ideas come from objects that do not disappear when the room is messy. Read →