About a month ago, while reading Alex Johnson’s wonderful blog, Shedworking, I saw his post about an artist named Sarah Lynch. She has spent 2008 posting an original painting EVERY DAY on her blog.

Alex had discovered one of Sarah’s posts from July, featuring a charming garden shed entitled “Shed with Hollyhocks.” It was enchanting and I immediately went to her blog and subscribed to receive her daily artwork. Sarah is an English-Canadian woman living in Southern Ontario. You can find her work for sale via her blog (where there are links to some online galleries also selling her art).

I don’t know her at all, but Sarah has brought me a small dose of happiness every morning. Opening the link to see her next piece is one of the very first things I do after making my cup of tea and sitting down to read email at the start of the day.

I think Sarah may love sheds as much as I do, because today she offers a charming piece entitled: The Lonely Shed (7″X5″ WC pencil on paper):

The year is almost over and I’m worried that Sarah may stop posting her artwork. I like reading her brief, personal artist statements that accompany each drawing, illustration or painting. She has alluded to her readiness for a slower pace, perhaps creating three paintings a week instead of seven. Get in on the last few weeks of the year and subscribe to this little piece of joy that will arrive in your in-box each morning. I, for one, am hoping for MORE SHEDS!

IN OTHER NEWS. . .

On Sunday (12/7) we received a mention in Irene Virag’s column in Newsday. She included Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways in her “Gift List,” featured at the end of her longer piece on Ken Druse. 

Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways (Clarkson Potter, $30): Author Debra Prinzing and photographer William Wright showcase 28 sheds from Southampton to Seattle. From clematis-covered potting sheds to writers’ retreats, these structures enhance lifestyles and landscapes.

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A late September afternoon along Independence Creek, with the Sierras in the distance, at the Mary DeDecker Native Plant Garden, Eastern California Museum, Independence, California

I’m paraphrasing here, but that saying about how we understand the future if we learn from the past came to mind when I attended part of the California Garden and Landscape History Society’s annual meeting.

The conference was held in Lone Pine, California (about 250 miles north of my home on Ventura Co. – toward the high desert, the Eastern Sierras, and the west entrance to Death Valley). Its theme: “Spirit of Landscape: California’s Lower Owens River Valley.”

The event attracted me because dear friend and writing mentor Paula Panich was on the program to give a lecture about the writer and pioneer woman Mary Austin. She titled her talk: “Beauty and Madness and Death and God: Mary Austin’s Land of Little Rain.”

Why do we pursue such impetuous, insensible decisions as to drive 250 miles on a Saturday morning in order to get to a friend’s 1-hour lecture? It’s actually easy to explain, because the fabric of my life is woven with such spontaneous decisions. If I didn’t make these sudden journeys (to fly to Seattle for Braiden’s book-launch; to take the bus to the end of the line and visit Skip and Charles in Orient, NY; to drive to the mountains for Paula’s birthday celebration) what else would I be doing anyway? Shopping for groceries, paying bills, folding laundry?

A fellow conference participant, Liz Ames, pauses to observe the not-so-distant Sierra Nevada range

We often remember the glimmering highlights that punctuate the rough textures of everyday life; they are the peaks that even out the valleys, comforting us. Don’t get me wrong. Usually, I love my life and the choices I’ve made. I float through it observing all the blessings I have with my marriage, my children, my home, my safe existence. But sometimes . . . different seasonings need to be tasted. Gardens, friends, excursions…provide the unexpected flavors to our regular diet of normalcy.

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If you’re seeking creative inspiration, or need a gift idea for that crafty person in your life, look no further than Salvage Studio of Seattle.

My pals Beth Evans-Ramos, Lisa Hilderbrand and Amy Duncan share a “lust for rust” in their pursuit of sustainable design (to them, this means “reduce, reuse and recycle”) for the home, garden, and more. They teach classes at their studio in Edmonds, Washington, and frequently publish an idea-filled blog, also called Salvage Studio.

Just out, their new book, “The Salvage Studio: Sustainable Home Comforts to Organize, Entertain and Inspire” (Skipstone Books/Mountaineers, $21.95), is a compendium of the best salvage projects created and collected by these three gals over the past few years.

Imagine my delight when my review copy of The Salvage Studio arrived a few weeks ago. The attractive 8-1/4-inch x 9-1/4-inch book contains 200 gorgeous pages of great design ideas, tips for turning discarded items into decorative accents, step-by-step projects and more. I turned to the Acknowledgements page to find a thoroughly unexpected gift from the authors:

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Judy Lowe, of the Christian Science Monitor, posted a review of Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways yesterday entitled “A tiny garden house of your own.” You can read it here:

An excerpt:

“Debra Prinzing’s book, “Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways” (Clarkson Potter, $30), showcases 28 little retreats that anyone with space and money can construct in the backyard.

As William Wright’s photos show, these aren’t prefab repositories of old shovels and mildewed garden gloves, but stuff of dreams – stylish shelters and studios, even pavilions for garden entertaining.

Because it’s so well-written and beautifully photographed, this book has earned a permanent place on my bookshelves. I’ll be leafing through over and over, dreaming of the possibilities.

Debra’s blog, Shed Style, has become must reading for me, too, to keep up on this trend.

This is the second time this month I’ve had the pleasure of saying, Thank you, Judy!

Lots has been happening in the media this month as Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways appears in print (newspapers and magazines) and online. We’ll even be featured on TV later this month, when Central Texas Gardener (Austin PBS station KLRU) airs a half-hour segment and interview (click here for air-dates).

GARDEN RANT invited me to post today as “guest blogger” and I was thrilled to participate. Thank you to Amy Stewart, Susan Harris, and their partners-in-crime, Michele Owens and Elizabeth Licata, for the wonderful opportunity. Click on over to read my essay, “In Praise of Sheds,” and to see which reader-post wins the free copy of Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways. I’ll choose the winner who gives the best answer to my question:

“What’s your dream shed and how will you use it?”

SUNSET magazine: Thanks to my friends at Sunset for embracing the Shed-Lovers Lifestyle! Kathy Brenzel, garden editor, with support from editor-in-chief Katie Tamony and executive editor Irene Edwards, commissioned a version of the book’s “Newsroom” chapter for Sunset’s July issue. It’s titled: “Home Office With a View.”

The mini-profile about Pulitzer Prize-winning Associated Press reporter Martha Mendoza, featuring Bill Wright’s photographs of her closet-sized shed-office, allowed me to include details that didn’t make it into the book. The piece captures a-day-in-the-life of this talented, versatile writer and mom, as she moves effortlessly between the Santa Cruz bungalow she shares with husband Ray and their four children, and her 64-square-foot potting shed-turned-office.

Kathy Brenzel also produced a vibrant sidebar about Stylish Sheds, including photographs of three west coast sheds in Bellingham, Wash., Los Angeles, and San Diego County. We couldn’t be happier with the coverage!

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