Almost all of the wonderful design and colorwork that has been done in our farmhouse was imagined by Maria, not me. I am in awe of her design creativity, in her work, in our house.

Once in a while, a project comes along that I’d like to handle, and that she thinks I ought to do by myself. This time it’s our fish tank, a creative project we share and enjoy.

She has left me alone to take some risks here, she does hover a bit to make sure I’m not crushing one of our snails.

Fish tanks are fragile environments at best, they need constant maintenance and attention or they can quickly turn into smelly, cloudy,  fetid tombs for the fish and snails.

I was a total fish geek as a kid, and it all came back to me when I got Maria a fish tank for her birthday.

I’ve enjoyed working on our tank, which has three fish and eight snails. I keep it clean and balanced, this week, it was time for a thorough cleaning and re-imagining.

I’m going for simplicity and some emotion. Essentially, I’m making a sculpture for the tank out of rocks from the pasture, scrubbed and boiled.

I’ve bought two innovations to this design – carefully chosen black (slate)  rocks and a small beautiful blue enamel cup. With the long, thin dark stones, I’ve created a sculpture, an arch big enough for the fish to swim through.

It’s different, but simple and almost elegant if you can apply that idea to a fish tank. I love every chance I get to be creative.

The bowl was a late idea, an impulse of mine, I surprised Maria with it, but we both love it, it brings color and a very different look to a fish tank.

We have no plastic plants or castles or artificial decorations.

I’ve ordered some tall, special plants online for the back of the tank,  they will form a backdrop. My design work won’t be done until they arrive and we see how they fit in.I’m having a lot of fun with this project, I’ve woken up with visions of how it ought to look.

Maria is serious about having a Snail Party, she has three guests lined up already. When they come, I hope they will see a graceful, simple, but striking tank.

I think we’re getting close, Maria thinks it’s wonderful, which is great praise, coming from her. I’m enjoying it.