Does anyone have a spare barn?

I've been coming across articles about illustration recently. You know how it is you always notice when someone is wearing a shirt like you, or driving the same wheels. Suddenly the world is full of confirmation.

The cat with no name has a knack for always picking the best of things - and she's opportunistic. Her favourite stolen moment is to nap on the sheepskin with some half sun on the side. Timing is everything. Not too hot, not too cold, soft and cuddly below, warm and cozy up top, tips of the ears nice 'n toasty.

I'm jealous.

I had been incubating this drawing in my head since I saw the cat napping like that, and it drew itself today after I read an article in the NY Times...

Here's an excerpt and a link...

The Inner Life of a Cat

A previously unknown manuscript explores the ultimately unknowable psyche of the Provensens’ favorite feline.

Alice and Martin Provensen were the American picture book’s Ginger and Fred: a supremely poised and stylish illustrator team who, in a collaboration that spanned nearly 40 years and more than 40 children’s books (19 of which they also wrote and edited), beguiled fans with their deadpan wit, far-flung curiosity and midcentury-modernist flair.

In 1951, they purchased the ramshackle Dutchess County property that became Maple Hill Farm, a storybook hideaway and the setting of several collaborations for which their barnyard served as central casting. When not roaming the world for research or pleasure, the Provensens logged long hours at back-to-back drawing tables in their converted barn, patiently developing the ideal approach for their project of the moment.

I read books from Maple Hill Farm with my son when he was little! Our Animal Friends at Maple Hill Farm was a classic. I recently watched The Biggest Little Farm and Kiss the Ground... and I get it - both were very motivating and very amazing.

... so does anyone have a spare barn?