Shed & Redbud

© Robin Edmundson 'Shed, Redbud & Chickens', watercolor, 10 x 14 inches.  $375, framed.

One of the great things about being an artist is that we get to - [we are encouraged to!] - change reality so we get a better painting.  I love doing the same scene in different ways.   

You saw the first version of this in the previous post.  I decided to put a redbud in behind the shed because redbuds are *everywhere* out here.  They mean spring is in full swing.

A little secret about my chickens.  I come from a family with a lot of girls.  6 chickens is me, my sisters and my mom.  5 chickens is me and my sisters.  3 chickens is me and my daughters.  Whenever you see chickens in my artwork, you know I've put my family in there.

Chickens & Sheds

© Robin Edmundson, 'Shed, Willow & Chickens', watercolor, 9 x 12 inches.  $375, framed.

Our willows are starting to green up and I've been looking at them a lot. They sprout up wherever it's damp, which is just about everywhere. There are a few of them on this farm a couple of miles aways.  They have a lot of chickens, guineas and peacocks that roam in and out of their shed.  I love the gold chickens on spring green grass. 

I'm not done with this scene yet.  The next  version will have a blooming redbud instead of the willow.  And maybe a plowed field next to it.   And then I might do one with the shed door mostly closed....maybe....we'll see.

Blue & Orange

© Robin Edmundson, 'Split Roof - blue & orange', watercolor, 10 x 14 inches.   $375, framed to 18 x 22 inches.

A couple of weeks ago I posted some other studies of this barn.   I should probably paint it from a different angle, but I really like this one. 

One of the things I study about painting is how to paint the same thing in different light, seasons and space.  I practice a lot. 

Another of the things I study about painting is color.  I love color!  Luckily, I have a good instinct for this, and all my years dyeing yarn have paid off.   Blue and orange is one of my favorite combinations [but you probably knew that already.]

Shed in Field

I don't know what it is about these old falling down sheds that catches my eye.

Maybe it's the blue-ish wood agains the orange-ish grass.

This old shed keeps leaning backward.   It won't be long until it's all the way down.   It looks like it needs a nap.

Nails

We joke around here about the building practices of the folks who built our places.    Sometimes they used 1 nail where they should have used 3.   Sometimes they used 7 where they should have used 1.   You never know until you get inside. 

I noticed this row of nails where they had pulled the wood off the side of the old shed I've been telling you about.   One nail per board across the tops and another across the bottoms.   It was frugal and it held for decades.  

Sheet Metal

All of the old out buildings [and some of the old houses] had this roofing. They had taken half the roof off and stacked it up neatly to cart away or for re-use.  I love the textures. 

Corner Shelf

A corner of the shed I've been telling you about.   It's very common to see these clever shelves.   You never know what you're going to find on them. 

Notice the fishing pole tucked back there.

Tires

From the old shed I told you about yesterday.   They were in a pile.  I didn't count them, but there were more than enough for a couple of vehicles.

Old Shed

Things change. 

Things age and start to fall down.   There's an old machine shed down the way from us that has been aging - rather ungracefully lately - for a long time.   The neighbor built it from wood he salvaged from the old farmhouse that was on the property when he moved there.  He lived in a mobile home on the place and tore down the old house and built a machine shed.  Over the years it filled up with stuff.

They're tearing it down now and over the next few days, I'll show you some of the treasures that collected there over the years.   I have mixed feelings about these old places.   The piles of stuff alternately result in raised eyebrows, rolled eyes and grins of appreciation.

Autumn Shed

In the fall, stuff shows up against the backdrop of trees that you normally can't see - or don't notice.  Once the trees turn, my attention turns, too.  

I noticed this abandoned shed in a field along a road I travel often enough.   Maybe it was the light, or the fact that the shed matched the color of the sky that day, but it finally caught my eye.    Only after I got home and checked the pics did I notice all the windows and that it is more cabin-like than shed-like.   I wonder what the story is.

Old Shed

The textures of late winter are interesting against the old buildings around here.   This is a shed down the way that is slowly falling apart.    It's pretty.

The Secret Life of an Old Shed

Almost every old property out here has an old shed or barn on it.   They are filled with the detritus of decades of rural frugality. 

We live by these words:  Use it up; wear it out; make it do or do without. 

So many of the folks out here knew poverty.   They saved everything.   Just in case.

You can find just about everything in old barns and sheds.

An old cloth water cooler hanging on the wall where it has probably been hanging for a good 40 years.  'Cools by Evaporation' it says. 

A crate full of old clay pigeons.    Several sections of old ceramic drainage tile.   Old broken sleds.   Old broken furniture.   Old broken wood burning stoves.

Stacks and stacks of lumber.   Old tools.  Ladders.

Old car parts.   Old cars.  Old tractor parts.   Old tractors.   Old trailers.  Old tires.   Old license plates. 

Old bottles.   Old marbles.   

Old cats.   New cats.   [There are at least three in these pics.  Can you find them?]

Ginormous racoons.   Even bigger possums. 

These structures are monuments to the hard work and foresight of my grandfather's generation.    The shed in these pics was built decades ago from the wood salvaged from an old house that had been on the property when the owner moved there.   

This is recycling at its finest.