A watercolor at my studio desk

I am fortunate to have a studio that looks into the forest in back of the house.  Originally there was a hot tub deck in this space, with a covered short balcony extension above on the main floor.

The same architectural designer that designed our house (for himself) did the design for the studio/deck expansion for us, so it was a perfect solution to having a space that was "mine"  -- not the the larger independent garden studio that I also had thought about, but probably wouldn't have liked being down there in the forest and certainly wouldn't have used in the evening.  (The price estimate for its construction, with plumbing, etc., was eye-opening, too.)  So this studio was a much better permutation than the previous free-standing design, with a much large covered deck as part of the expansion, too.)

In late afternoon, when the light streams in, it's particularly welcoming.  The sun brightens what's already a bright and welcoming space -- one that includes many of my favorite things from my former "study" in our Piedmont house and my office space from where I worked.

watercolor, pencils, and subject

Reconfigured with additional furniture, when we consolidated here three years ago, it's been just right.  The computer is on my old secretary, where I write and do computer work, as I didn't want to block the view of the forest by putting it on the wooden desk (which was our breakfast table back in Clemson).  Most all of my favorite gardening books and files are here right at hand, sitting on the bookshelves that were from my Granddad and Grandmother's house in Northern California.

I haven't yet sat too much at the table to date; it was enough just to know it was there, waiting for journaling, creative art projects, etc.  My wooden baskets and boxes of art papers, watercolors, watercolor pencils, landscape design grids, markers, etc. along with the tin boxes holding colored pencils, markers, and charcoals are here, too.

So it was fun to finally sit down, pull out the sketching and watercolor pencils, and decide on a subject.  There's something magical and not intimidating about watercolor pencils that I like.  Wetting the drawing, going back and defining the edges, and dotting around with the brush -- well, it strikes me as fun, and not scary.  It's practice, after all, and I certainly enjoyed sitting at my studio desk and producing a sketch of a favorite antique-finished metal watering can.

"antique" watering can

Woody came to join the blog posting part of this as we were both downstairs...