It's working!

Yep, the little hot plate works fine--one of the few things we've bought new for the shed, and I love it.  Nice cuppa, yesterday morning.  (The old copper kettle is from my camping days, the lovely pottery teapot from the early days of my first marriage...I was 21, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth...)

And no, it's not this colorful, but I had a black page and colored pencils--of course I went nuts!

Our good friend Kevin stopped stopped by the show us a pottery shard he'd found near the Fishing River, and we ended up with coffee and cookies and music in the shed.  Glad we invested in that AC unit, because it was a lifesaver!

A lovely way to spend a Sunday...

Water supply

Still trying to find a different spigot for the water jug--this one is NOT good for arthritic hands.

I did really like the way it looked. and the "reservoir" was an old glass jar that cider came in--easy to carry a gallon of water, if not a whole crock!

The spigot was slow and awkward to use, though--had to push down on the top while pulling up on the hook thingie--and did I mention it was sloooow?

I could have replaced the spigot, of course...I found this one on Amazon, and since its the same kind we had at the cabin, I knew it would work.

But.  Trying NOT to spend unneccessarily, and remembered that years ago a friend built a copper cistern for me that has a nice spigot.

I wasn't sure about long term water storage. So of course, I Googled it!  Here's what I found--not only is it a good idea, but it's a REALLY good idea.  Copper kills or inhibits E. coli!

So!  We went out the cabin, brought it home, and J. brought it over full of water this morning.  The spigot works better than our faucets at home!

Handsome thing, isn't it!

And of COURSE I had fun sketching it at the shed this morning.  I'd taken my Pelikan Gouache paints over the other day, and since the page was on black paper, just had to try it out.  (They're not as rich or opaque as my professional gouache paints, but they're fun and portable!)

Yep, still sketching...

I haven't had as MUCH time for sketching and journaling lately, what with building, painting, and working on the new North Light book, but I have gotten in a few...my total mess when I paint was just too funny not to document!

And this morning while Joseph put the second coat of paint on the floor, I kept him company, sketching the summer woods off the end of the deck.

More about the squirrels on our group blog, Sketching in Nature.

Dreaming and planning

Just noodling a bit...room for the small drafting desk, 2 chairs, and a stand for coffee, plus shelves for storage. So far, after living with it for weeks, looks like this should work...




Meanwhile, a progressive page, the top two sketches done weeks ago before we found the back window, and the bottom one today, thinking about how interesting it would be to use that odd board that mark offered me as backing for the security/deck light. We have to put something there, between the two trim boards, why not something cool like this?