Help it's Spring and I Can't Keep Up!

I'm sure anyone can relate to the sentiments of the title for today's blog! Ugh...so much to do, so little time!

Every year I say, next spring I've got to do this, get there, see these, take this photo, do this painting, and on and on. The problem is I'm not getting any younger and "next spring" opportunities should be taken less and less for granted.

I managed to get a small start on one item on the list this morning...I've been so distracted by the American Wild Plums about the place here and in the valley. The scent waifing through the air around here is almost intoxicating and the wonderfully flowered trees have been as well.

The venture out this morning was quite different than some photography work I do, I'm concentrating on "examples". I need to do a "Plum Painting", and if there's one thing that never lasts long enough in the spring, it's the plum blossoms - they fade and are history before you know it (it seems).

At the moment I'm taking a short break from some website work I'm behind on - to write this blog. As I look out the window I see Georgie working hard in the gardens, she just finished tilling them all! I do believe I'd better keep the plums in the back of my mind for the time being and get back to work!

Hmmm, that smell...

Dusk Chorus

My last post was the Dawn Chorus - I'm heading to the opposite time of the day here!




If you remember my post from a few days back "Little Friends", this is my little friends in the valley here singing it up and lulling us to sleep at night. The American Toads start singing when the water starts warming into the 60's and that has just begun this week here.

I've recorded nature audio since the mid 1980's and often run the tracks while I'm working in the studio. I do it mostly in the winter when I need a pick-me-up from the short days and cold nights. I also listen to them because they are a wonderful music from our creator!

If you haven't got a connection any faster than dial up, I'm afraid you'll likely want to skip this, but it is a short piece I just added to the NW Iowa Watchable Wildlife site on the videos afield page if you can visit later with a better connection.

Enjoy creation, its a gift!

Dawn Chorus

One thing I look forward to so much in the spring is the dawn chorus. And it is also the first thing I feel a bit sad to hear come to an end.

I once did a piece to celebrate the dawn chorus, it was an American Robin singing from an old neighbor's tree. I did the image first as a pencil rendering, then transfered it to several (25 actually) screens and printed a small edition of 60 prints as a serigraph.

We have been so happy that the evenings have finally warmed enough to sleep with the bedroom windows open. Last night we went to sleep serenaded by Chorus Frogs and American Toads, We haven't slept so well in months! The morning's "dawn chorus" was equally as wonderful of a tonic! Some people complain about all the birds singing so early but we find it soothing, a wonderful comfort, and just great music that lulls one deeper into a restful slumber.

The first birds we usually notice singing are American Robins. They usually start around an hour before sunrise. They are my favorite dawn chorus bird but Mourning Doves can be equally pleasant to listen to.

I've stated more than once in the past that I like using what I've experienced in my work and this piece is no exception. It is something I look forward to throughout a long hard winter and is something we'll cherish here at Prairie Hill Farm until late July/early August when the chorus subsides again to not return till next spring.


Pencils were the study piece for my serigraphs in the past but the pencils could stand on their own merit and sometimes I felt like I shouldn't need to go further. All these pieces are in private collections now, and this particular serigraph edition is nearly sold out now (with only 4 prints left). If anyone was interested in this hand pulled print, it can be purchased online at - http://www.morrisons-studio.com/Springsong.htm or from the new Studio/Gallery here.

The deck is completely finished now and we're working on the really fun and important things for a change!

Crack the window tonight and listen to the music!

Completion Closer?

Georgie and I brought the deck very close to completion on Saturday. It's surprising that the rails would take so much time for a small deck like this but all the leveling and support work were very time consuming.


We still have the rail for the stairs, the door threshold for wheel chair accessibility and some grading, landscaping and planting work to do, but all in all it's ready!

In keeping with the building theme (ag-related) we've enclosed the deck with hog wire. Ya, sounds weird but it works great; I'm not a hog loving person but it definitely fits the theme of agriculture. We've also placed an old watering unit in the corner past the steps...we'll be working on plantings around the deck that will be drought tolerant.

The ramp is on the traffic side of the building and we made it as long as the property's access requirements would allow. We have access and egress requirements for farm machinery to pass by and into the field behind us so had to keep the required clearance between this building and the barn.

We sat out on the deck around 8pm last night to enjoy the late view. It'll be real nice this summer when people stop by for a chat or whatever... hint, hint :)

Check it out...take a side trip

A project I've worked on since last summer has finally come to completion...well not entirely, but at least it is now ready for public use. The project isn't about art per say, but has a lot of photography relating to my favorite subject (natural heritage). I was very fortunate to be asked to create this web site for watchable wildlife in NW Iowa, it got Georgie and I out into the field quite a bit during late summer and early fall and also got me back into video work, which I enjoy doing very much.

The site is http://www.watchablewildlifenwia.org

The site has 3 themes...it takes each category and discusses it enough to help get your feet wet, then gives you a trail loop to follow to each of the "sites" along that category's loop. The 3 categories are: a "Glacial Trail" loop, a "Prairie Pothole Birding" loop and a "Prairie History" loop.

If you like, you can download a county map of each loop, or you can continue on to the pages giving all the specific sites in each loop and using an embedded Google Map to show you where each site is. Keywords are embedded on the pages that give you photos of certain flora or fauna when you select them. Videos are also embedded on the pages so you can actually visit a particular site for a short stay, or you can download these videos to your mobile device on the trip itself.

Want to take a short trip to Steele Prairie in Cherokee County for example? Here's a glimpse at what you will see and hear -



There are 34 sites included in 9 NW Iowa counties so far, and the web site is designed to show you all the great places to go and things to experience - get you and the family out for an adventure this summer "or" this weekend!

There is a photo gallery page with the intent to include site participant's images in the future. There is a page with helpful wildlife viewing tips, and a link page leading to more videos as well as great sources of information and a little humor if you like.

No it's not about "art" per say, but it did give this artist some material and ideas to work with for some time to come.

Take a trip with Watchable Wildlife in NW Iowa, and enjoy the surprises along the way!

Back to the Workout

I'm spoiled...Georgie's spoiled too because I've been in the studio working and out of her hair the past several weeks. But the frost is out of the ground and the "workout" has to begin once more.

We're putting a deck entry in front of the building. The ground slopes away pretty fast and it's not an easy walk up into the studio without a better entry.

Right now we're just forming the main platform, then we'll put in the steps, and then work on the ramp.

We just got the ledger, Girder and rafters up and are just beginning the deck boards.


It was a little cold starting this morning, had a slight skiff of snow on the ground and the temps were below freezing...but was out of the wind and pleasant enough in the sun.

Need a new body though. Too creaky and stiff after only a day of carpentry work again!

We promise to at least have the place accessible this week, so feel free to drop by!

Little Friends

It finally warmed and dried enough for Georgie to get into the garden yesterday. She always plants the cool season crops early but was behind schedule this year because we still had frost in the ground a week or so earlier.

Georgie likes to get spinach and lettuce planted first and while preparing the ground, came up with a couple toads. This wasn't surprising - it happens every year. In fact she said to me as she headed for the garden, "I'll tell you when the toads show up".


I have a long tie to toads, raised many from tadpoles when I was a kid. My mother let me raise them in the basement and tolerated my little friends hopping all around the basement floor. I always told Mom they'd "eat the bugs"...and I think she latched on to that promise in order to not discourage me. My first "remembered" wild critter when I was around 2-3 years old was a big fat toad staring back at me from it's hole in the grass in the backyard.


I like to draw and photograph the things that mean something to me; that are close to my heart...that covers an awful lot of "things" but these things aren't always embraced by the art loving public. But no-matter...I do it because I enjoy it!

Watch your step outside this spring and summer - you might make new friends if you do!