Friday, March 4, 2011

Drawing From The Neighborhood

"Waterman's Mouth - Summer"
5X7" - color pencil rendering
© Bruce A. Morrison
(click on image for a larger view)
I feel fortunate that there are so many things in the "neighborhood" that interest me.  The features of the landscape and the landscape's entirety as well.  Waterman Creek flows past our place in the valley here and is a prairie stream with so much natural and cultural heritage going for it.  It keeps our focus during the winter months with the wildlife traffic following this "trail" up and downstream during all times of the day. 
 "Waterman Bald Eagle"
 © Bruce A. Morrison
The past couple weeks have been filled with Bald Eagles flying upstream in the morning and back downstream during the evenings.  We've found them congregating upstream along the creek and couple miles from here.  
 "Red-tail in the North Grove"
 © Bruce A. Morrison
A couple days ago Georgie and I were watching a pair of Red-tailed Hawks flying low along the fenceline across Waterman Creek.  We have resident pairs in the valley here each year and really love watching them catching thermals during the summer or sitting along the road or even in the grove here at Prairie Hill Farm.  The pair I mentioned stopped together and copulated on an old wooden fence post as we watched...we were very excited to see this because it's pretty convincing we'll have a pair nesting here in the valley again this spring!  Now if we were to see a pair of eagles mate out here in our "neighborhood", we'd have huge cause for excitement!

The color pencil drawing posted at the head of this blog is of our favorite creek - the Waterman.  The drawing is a small study of the creek's mouth where it flows into the Little Sioux River just a few miles south of the studio here.  There is no extreme drama here, in fact I was mentally processing the scene when I first walked in to it and thought, "Huh, so this is how it ends."  I suppose that could be a metaphor for a lot of us!!

A life is complex, interspersed with drama...ups and downs; witness to events, experiences...out of control and sedate.  Think of what this small little creek has seen!  No, I think it's a pretty cool character myself.

The studio newsletter is off and running and it's certainly not too late to subscribe...gain some insight to the work!  You can subscribe at -


See you in the neighborhood!

2 comments:

Maki said...

Hello, I don't know yet. but I will go home and go to there to take pictures of them.

Prairie Painter said...

I hope you can resume your studies in the U.S. again Makiko. Our best wishes for Japan and the future.