Watercolor Artist Blog features the shed

Hi all--forgot to tell you that the Watercolor Artist blog mentioned the project, last week, in THIS POST.  (Of course it mostly just leads you here.:-) )

I was a contributing editor at Watercolor Artist for years, back when it was Watercolor Magic, with a regular column, and still do the occasional article.  (The current issue, October 2010, has a big one in it.)  (By the way, the term "contributing editor" really just means you contribute, not that you edit anything but your own stuff!)

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!)

Utility corner

Joseph made me a neat little old-fashioned broom holder from a leftover board and a couple of wooden spools...works great.  There was a similar one on the steps to the basement, here, and we borrowed the idea....

It holds the broom's bristles upright, so it will last a lot longer...

I'd been needing both a stepstool to reach the storage area under the eaves on this side of the shed above the French doors, and more hidden storage...and voila! 

Found this in an antiques booth that was going out of business...it was half price, beautiful condition and sturdy!

Now it holds the dust rag, the matches, mosquito coils, Windex, etc. all nicely out of sight but handy!

A possible solution for our screen door sitch...

Our small door opens out to save floor space, and the big French doors open in, because of the roof overhang.  (Usually only have the one you see open, but sometimes both.) Makes using screen doors problematical!  So far it's not a huge problem with mosquitoes and other bugs indoors, though Joseph got MOBBED on our front porch yesterday.

Considering this solution, though: hanging screen doors like these from ecobottoms.com.

Or these, from bugsoffscreen: bugsoffscreen.com

Or from Amazon:


 

(We can make screens for the windows, they just fit indoors, since we have awning-type openings, instead of out, if need be!)