Back to the Drawing Board

"Wild Rose" 

color pencil drawing - © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

I'm getting impatient for spring and the prairie to bloom again.  Its silly because we haven't had a terrible winter at all, but its April and the ditches are still drifted with snow and the days haven't been typical April days yet...and yes, I'm spoiled.  So I'll suck it up and pretend its actually warm and rosie out!

I haven't been working with the color pencils this winter...I've had some eye issues that haven't been helpful but Georgie got me a nice large magnifying light on a stand and it now sits next to my chair in the house, where I do all my drawing and "close" work.  A few weeks back I finally decided to start something...once I get into a place of inactivity, I tend to get stuck in a rut and just spin my wheels.  Well I finally got the metaphoric winch out and pulled myself back behind the drawing board again.

I'm not sure if I mentioned this on the blog before, but I don't generally "draw" in the studio - it just takes too long and I wouldn't be able to get anything done out here!  Instead I usually sit in the house in the evening and converse with Georgie while doing so during the evening hours.  The studio is for painting, framing, working on photo files, doing "business" and paying bills.  

There is an exhibit coming up fairly soon at Arts on Grand and the theme is "Iowa's Natural Heritage".  The exhibit is being sponsored by the Wild Rose Casino so I thought "What the heck", do a Wild Rose. Iowa's Natural Heritage runs from May 7th through June 1st, and will have artists and photographers celebrating what is "natural" to Iowa...its flora and fauna and landscape.  

I am having some difficulty identifying this particular rose since there is more than one type found in our state.  "Wild" Rose is simply a "common" name given to all of them. I am leaning toward this rose to be the Rosa arkansana, maybe because it is the most common one here in NW Iowa. I will have to study this plant more when it is in bloom this summer again...it grows along our gravel hillside driveway.''

Now, back to the drawing board!