Spring at the Shed!

GREEN!  And the redbuds are blooming...

Yep, goldfinches have almost attained summer yellow!

Seeds are started...a bit late...

And the pileated woodpecker made a fast appearance

LOVE this, by the way...

...from the Tiny House blog: http://tinyhouseblog.com/stick-built/cottage-on-the-hill/

Check out the link to see the rest of the photos...siiigh...

Time Flies When You're Working Hard! And shed-birds...

I couldn't believe it when I saw my last post here was January!  I've been getting ready to launch a new mini-class, so although I've been AT the shed every day, I haven't thought to stop in here and say hello!

We've seen some delightful new birds at the shed--just passing through, I believe.  Here are our two visitors:

 

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Fox Sparrow (an aggressive little fellow!)

And some of our "usual suspects":

We always see a lot more birds on cold, snowy days...how can I resent the chill when it brings so much pleasure?

The Shed as Art Gallery

Harmony and Simplicity from my friend Elizabeth Metz

Nel Jansen's sunset, plus two of mine on the right

Ann Thompson Nemcosky's leaves in colored pencil

"Faith," from dear friend Vicky Williamson, sunflower postcard from my mentor, Ann Zwinger, and black-eyed susans from old friend Roberta Hammer

The previous, in situ with one of my accordion sketchbooks of cat sketches

Art corner, with Ann's sunset, a print by Toni Ponce Kelly by the boom box, Elizabeth Metz's Harmony and Simplicity under the window, and my two paintings--acrylics, one from YEARS ago (my cat Ginsberg) and the fantasy painting from a few years back of me and my friend Susan Theroff, who is a wonderful model!

Another of my Susan!

Puck, on his own, sort of...

Toni Ponce Kelly's wonderful serenity prayer...before it found its permanent place

The two redware cups and the green one and small jar by Ann's painting are my pottery; Puck is on the wall at right.

Serenity Prayer from Toni Ponce Kelly above the window--it's gorgeous!
 

Megan Noel Smith did the wonderful brown bowl at left, and that's one of my faerie houses

Funny, I was going to keep the shed simple as a Zen meditation room...

And finally, baseboard heat...

After my poor Lasko (the tower heater behind Ron, here) couldn't raise the overnight heat above 32 degrees and water froze in the cats' bowl, I'd had it.  Baseboard heat it is.  Here's old friend Ron Davenport checking directions...

Putting the breaker box back...

And of COURSE I was sketching madly all the time he worked!

I don't leave the faux woodstove on overnight--too much traffic in our alley and it looks too real--I thought someone might call the fire department!  You can see how much more room there is and how unobtrusive the baseboard heater is. 

I added notes and called it done!

 And what's really nice is that the baseboard heat doesn't even come on in the daytime when I'm out there (I use the cute "woodstove" heater, what can I say?!).  It's set on very low at night and still brought the temp up to almost 60 last night--it was 9 degrees outside!

I believe we have finally solved the heat issue.