Every Painting Tells A Story

I was clearing out my studio this week, trying to get reorganized - too much junk lying around. I was going through my watercolors and decided to upload this painting of a shed my husband built in our back garden when we lived on the east coast in McLean, Virginia. The living room was at the back of the house and had a wall of glass facing the garden. In winter we would sit by the fire and look out at the snow dusting the trees. This shed was in a far corner of the garden between two large oak trees. I thought it would make a nice watercolor with the snow settled on the roof.

My husband has always been a keen woodworker - a nice break from his profession as a political journalist. We had much use out of the shed and it enhanced the garden. We sold up and moved closer to our children and grandchildren in California ten years ago. The people who bought the house resold it a year later to developers who tore it down and built a "McMansion" on the lot. I felt the character of the neighborhood was changed forever. Since then three more "McMansions" have gone up.

I'm so glad I captured this scene for posterity. It brings us happy memories of the twelve years we lived there. I framed it this week and it hangs in my husband's office with the rest of our family pictures. We call it "Neil's Shed."