Coronavirus and our escape to the country

One day you’re enjoying every minute of your career and the next you’re having to put it all on hold due to a global pandemic. Rather than accept defeat, we decided that an extraordinary problem required an extraordinary solution. 

So we packed our bags, said goodbye to our art studio in Freo and headed for the COVID-free countryside to get back to basics and be inspired by the rugged Australian bush. 

We shacked up at my family farm. A quaint, shabby farmhouse sitting on 260-acres of rolling hills in Quindanning. This farm has been in my family since I was two years old and has always been a special place for me. 

As a young child, our family used to spend every weekend working on the farm. We had 700 head of sheep, 4 horses, 2 dogs, and paddocks full of hay crops. Our weekends were full of sheep-work, building cubbies, riding horses, and exploring every inch of the farm on the motorbikes.

Needless to say, the farm had a profound impact on my personal development. It both kept me grounded as a person and showed me the sky was limitless when it came to my creative spirit. Also, the hard yakka gave me an appreciation for fitness - another lifelong passion. 

So many of my favourite memories from the farm are woven into the rich tapestry of my life. Now, my family is a little bigger and I can continue weaving memories with the love of my life Jake and the apple of our eyes - Sienna. 

We recently celebrated an important milestone in our lives and got married on the farm. It was the perfect place as Jake also grew up in the rugged outback. In a small mining town called Leonora which inspired him to nurture his creativity and start his long journey to being a professional artist. 

In 2019 we extended our little family and welcomed little Sienna into the world. We are thrilled we get to raise our daughter in the country and give her the same whimsical childhood we both enjoyed. 

Since moving to the farm we are wishing we’d done it sooner. Without the pressures of work deadlines, we have been able to enjoy the simple things, reconnect with nature, get re-inspired and as a result, our creativity has blossomed.

I have had the camera out every day documenting the life around us and Jake has nearly painted every available surface on the farm. We hope our passionate artistry is rubbing off on little Sienna who is there for every step of the way. 

COVID-19 has made this possible for us, it has forced us to take leave from our manic lives in the city and we are living a daydream we don't really want to snap out of!