I’ve been wanting to try something a little different with my painting videos, and this felt like the perfect one to start with.

After hearing the heartbreaking news about Dolly Parton, I knew I wanted to paint a tribute to her—and because I live in Bryson City, North Carolina, I wanted to bring the Smoky Mountains into the painting.

This is also my first real-time painting video! So many of you have asked me to slow down my usual timelapses and show more of the actual painting process. This time, there are no speed-ups. I’ve simply edited out the moments when I’m not actually painting.

I painted Dolly sitting on a tree stump with her guitar, surrounded by the Smoky Mountains, a black bear, a raccoon, and a little sparrow as a nod to her song Little Sparrow.

While I paint, I also share some of my favorite Dolly memories—including the time I saw her in concert from the fourth row in Charlotte during a massive ice storm!

Watch the full painting process on YouTube:

And if you’d like to see more of my artwork, prints, and other handmade pieces, you can visit my Etsy shop:

👉 lilblueboo.etsy.com

This one is for Dolly. ❤️

#DollyParton #PaintingProcess #RealTimePainting #SmokyMountains #AcrylicPainting

Ten years ago my husband looked up from his computer and said, “There’s an old train depot for sale for $500… but it has to be moved by next week.” Naturally, we bought it. What followed was one of the most unusual DIY projects we’ve ever taken on—moving a historic little railroad building 45 miles and transforming it into our backyard chicken coop. Today that old depot sits above town as home to our flock and has become one of the most unique chicken coops we could have imagined. In the video below I’m sharing the full story of how we moved the building, converted part of it into a coop, built the chicken run and garden, and created what might be the most unique chicken house our chickens could ask for.