Oops! I was supposed to get back and show you progress on Heartwood. But I got busy with several other projects - a commission, cleaning the studio and repainting the its door, and working on our garage conversion so I don't have a picture to show you yet.

However, I can share pictures of the garage. It is going to be our new living room/dining room. Our current living room is small and we need room for family/friend get togethers! 

​It has been a lot of work - we had to remove the garage door, close in the opening, add siding and a new door, paint the door, add insulation and drywall, scrape the popcorn off the ceiling, repair the ceiling joints, tape and float, then finally paint the ceiling and walls. Whew! Are you tired yet?

Then it was time for lights. We hung a ceiling fan in the center of the room but needed a light for above the dining table. We went to the store to look at their available lights and none of them were what we wanted. Bruce told me he could build one using the light pendants so we grabbed three of those along with the Edison bulbs and headed back to the farm. Once there, I headed to the barn to see what I could find for a base. 

​I found the perfect chunky, weathered board! It was even the perfect length!

We figured out the spacing on the lights then Bruce and his brother got busy (he and their mom were visiting). I'm glad he was here to help Bruce - I'm not sure I could have held the board up while he bolted it to the ceiling. Fortunately, I didn't have to find out, LOL.

I absolutely love how it turned out - farmhouse rustic with an industrial vibe! Flooring and trim are next then we can get the furniture in place and I can decorate. 

Then finally I'll be able to get back to Heartwood and bring it to life through my art. 

When we bought our farm 8 years ago, I wanted it to have a special name. However, all we could come up with was "The B Farm". It was ok; after all, it was our farm and our last name starts with a "B" - it just wasn't very imaginative.

Then one day, Bruce was cutting down a dead tree along the driveway and he found the trunk was in the shape of a heart. "We should name the farm ​'Heartwood'", he exclaimed.
​I agreed, but by then "The B Farm" had stuck.
"It's too good of a name to waste though", I thought. 

Fast forward to now and I wanted something to help tell the stories of my fantasy paintings. And then I had a lightbulb moment! Why not use "Heartwood" as my fantasyland where my unicorns, dragons and fairies exist? It is a perfect fit - Heartwood has a delightful sound and feel to it and seems like the perfect place for my creations to live. 

Inspiration abounds in the woods and pastures of the farm. Below are pictures of things that caught my imagination. What will they become?

Check back next week as I start the transformation of the landscape timber into the beginning of "Heartwood"!

Day upteem-tired of quarantine...You too? I don't know about you, but I'm missing hanging out with friends, going out to eat, being able to find essentials...just to name a few.
A friend commented to me the other day how fortunate we were to have moved to the country last year as we were already in "quarantine" and used to not being able to get out right now. I had to disagree with her. We were not quarantined just because we moved to the country. We may not be in town where it's easy to run to the store, but we were still able to go shopping and to church, out to eat, and meet with friends. That's not quarantine. That was life as we knew it; a little slower perhaps than city life but still free to go and do.

​Now we are stuck at home except for running to get groceries (only one of us allowed in - we can't even shop together) or to pick up the occasional meal. No social interactions. It's a good thing we have acreage to walk and work on. I am so glad I'm able to work in my flowerbeds and to have a new garden started. Both help me to feel like I'm accomplishing something good in this uncertain time. 

​Besides gardening, I cleaned and rearranged the part of the studio that was driving me buggy - the back of the studio where I store things. Too much clutter in sight. I don't work well in clutter - it distracts and irritates me.

​To hide the storage area, I pulled out my show backdrop (can't use it for that right now) and set it up as a gallery wall in the studio - which also made me rearrange the mess into less of a mess. HA. But seriously, it does look better and I'm happy with the results. Time will tell if the layout works.

Lastly, I started a new flowerbed. My unicorn needed his own garden. I had several plants I'd brought from the city house and now that's it's spring, I needed to get them in the ground. I planted several daylilies, a rock rose, and a hibiscus. I still need to mulch but I'm happy with the progress I made on it. 

So maybe quarantine isn't so bad after all. It's all about finding some silver linings in your situation. Now, if we can just go out to eat!