Prairie Hill Farm Studio

2012-01-21T10:46:00.000-06:00

"Barry Creek Cache"

color pencil drawing - 6X11" - © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

The word "cache" is defined as a place of storage, or concealment...to hide away. When I think of "cache" I think of a trapper's cache in Canada or Alaska...you know, those neat log cabins built up on stilts so the bears can't get into their provisions! I painted one of those about 40 odd years ago and it really wasn't a terribly bad attempt :) That was in my "Northwoods Wilderness" days and all I could think of or do related to a life of the voyageur! Oh, things do change...I guess I 'm as fickle at times as the next person, but the prairie is my final destination by choice and preference...its truly home to me!

Some synonyms for cache are store, deposit, hoard, reserve...the "store" and "deposit" likely best describe what is going on in my latest color pencil study above. There are places that can be found on many farmsteads of the past and even the present, where you'll see things heaped away from the homes or buildings. Things like old rolls of barbed wire, cans, tin, scraped cars or trucks, and so on. These "caches" as I like to call them, are usually long forgotten and no longer used depositories of worn out and no longer useful things. Most people would simply call them "dumps", albeit small.

These caches are places usually long out-of-use, and grown up with mulberry, ashes, elms and cottonwood trees...hidden from view during the spring, summer and early fall...come winter - its a look back in time when all is again revealed; although more obscured than in plain view. And most caches are no longer used (added to) as nowadays trash removal and recycling/salvage are common place...a hundred to 75 years ago that wasn't the case.

They may be "dumps" to some but I see them as a storage of past lives and ambitions...broken or failed dreams, or even the excess of success, if-you-will. These are the archeological sites of centuries far into the future...sites for that short burst of civilization just tipping the balance after the industrial revolution moved to the new world.

"Barry Creek Cache" is from the "neighborhood here in SE O'Brien County...a short tick down the road from the studio. Its a lovely late summer afternoon with lengthening shadows; the cattle have begun grazing again after a hot mid day respite. The creek is in no hurry now, there hasn't been rain in weeks...the grasses are no longer flourishing but green still stubbornly persists.

"Barry Creek Cache" is a story; each piece I draw, paint or photograph is a story...I can sit and tell you stories here on this blog, or you can see and hear them here in the studio, "until the cows come home"! Please don't be in a hurry though, I'd love to hear your stories too!

2012-01-14T13:41:00.000-06:00

"Riffles - First Light"

6X12" oil painting - © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

Its trying to look and feel like winter here for a change...just a skiff of snow this morning but the temps are more winter-like. I'll admit I have "some" misgivings about the weather being so mild and unwinter-like lately - but not many!!!

Being just "brown" outside hasn't charmed a "current" landscape out of me yet, so I've been working on ideas from my image bank of last summer...if it can't be a gorgeous winter outside, I'll enjoy summer inside on the easel instead! (Or maybe make believe its winter on the easel sometime this winter yet?)

I just finished a small study along the Waterman in the valley here. This scene is actually only about a mile and a half downstream from the studio here. If you were to float the creek during decent water levels, you'd probably reach this spot in an easy 10 minutes. If you were to walk to it, it'd take about 45 minutes or more. But as the crow flies, this is just next door! What a beautiful little stream and valley here - don't pinch me please, I do not want to wake up!!!

I've been doing so many small studies the past 2-3 years; I wonder if I'll ever do some larger works from them?! Guess that's a fair question I'll ponder some more.

Hope your winter's been nice - enjoy the nice ones if you get 'em!

Snowy...

2012-01-08T19:35:00.000-06:00

Immature Snowy Owl

Photograph © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

OK, the blog heading today is misleading...sort of. It hasn't snowed here in some time and there's none left around to see because of our unusually warm and dry winter so far. But - the "Snowys" have come!

This has been a banner year for a Snowy Owl invasion from the tundra north land! We've been keeping a watchful eye out and it seems they're every where but in our neighborhood...well that's an exaggeration but it sure seems that way! We did have one south east a few miles of us get picked up with an injury and taken to a wildlife rehab in the area, but haven't seen any in the valley here.

Well today Georgie and I decided we needed a small break from things here and we headed up to where we'd been hearing of sightings about 40 miles north east of us and we found the first one of the season for us near Spirit Lake in Dickinson County!

The bird is an immature Snowy, you can tell by the very heavy banding...the adult males are evidently the whitest and the females have more banding than adult males...but the first year birds are the most heavily banded.

It was a "little" breezy when we found our first Snowy and the only view I could get close with had the poor bird looking into direct sun, so squinting shots are the best I could come up with unfortunately. It seemed to be relishing the warm sun though!

I'll post a video here of some different angles and distances...very short video, but thought you'd like to see!

Keep a watch for Snowys this winter!!!

Make Believe?

2012-01-06T13:04:00.000-06:00

"Summer Evening Formations"

(9X6" color pencil drawing - © Bruce A. Morrison)

(click on the image above for a larger view)

Its January...we all know that, but I think January doesn't (know it)! Yesterday afternoon Georgie and I went for our first prairie walk in our native pasture this year. We sat down on of the north pasture hillside benches and pondered all this. We closed our eyes and tried to describe what month it was; George said it was April and I thought it felt like October! This winter and past 6 months are breaking records here for lack of precipitation and unusually warm temperatures. And its 2012 on top of it...that's a bit freaky too!

I figured if the winter and the weather can make believe its some other time in space so can I!

The small color pencil study posted above is of the valley out in front of the house and studio. Its one of those subjects I find hard to resist (cloud formations), yet holds subject matter I'm not usually inclined to draw (Corn)! I do like the late day shadows as they're cast across the fields out front; couple that with the dramatic eastern sky on a humid summer evening and I can't stay away from it!

I'm diving back in to the work here now that the Holidays and all that work is behind us. A new solo exhibit coming up this spring...I think I must be crazy!!? More on that (the show - not my sanity) later.

Who says you have to go south for nice winter weather? You can just stay in Iowa this year and simply make believe! Enjoy it!

Wishes!

2011-12-21T15:49:00.000-06:00

"Along Red Mountain Pass" - oil on canvas

(Sold)

I have been buried, literally, in work this month - as I'm sure many of you are experiencing as well! But being extremely busy can be a positive thing - at least that's the way I'm going to take it!

Today is the winter solstice! And here we are...brown, only a smidge of snow left here and there in the shadows! I had a client come over the other evening to pick up a framed piece; they said, "Brown Christmas - White Easter." I can live with that. However it does seem out of character for a brown Christmas here...I only remember one brown Christmas in NW Iowa in 61 years...its just not normal!

I had used the painting above in a blog last winter sometime...Its was used this Christmas on my cards sent out to family, friends and clients, so I'll use it here as a "wish" for you.

I would like to wish you the very best this Christmas - and the best possible new year in 2012. God Bless and thank you for your support over the years for my work...I hope to keep it up!

See you next year!

December!?

2011-12-02T15:13:00.001-06:00

Wow, when did December sneak in??!! Did it catch you by surprise too? I knew in the back of my mind it was coming, but I'm somehow behind in my work here and was hoping I could beat its arrival with some jobs I'm working on.

One thing that has snuck up on me is the December 3rd Open House for Peterson area artists...I guess they consider me one of the group!

I'll be at McGee's Gallery on main street in Peterson Iowa tomorrow, December 3rd, from 9a.m through 6p.m. We'll have lots of treats and things to see and discuss!

Be sure and stop by if you get a chance to enjoy our "almost winter" festivities!

And if you're part of the Noon Kiwanis in Spencer, Iowa, I hope to see you Monday for your monthly program...I'll be introducing the good folks there to the studio and the work I'm involved in throughout the year!

Also I just want to give another plug for your Christmas shopping - I do have a lot of very nice new paintings, drawings, prints and photographs for your hard to buy for significant "other", parent, grand parent, spouse or sibling! Give us a call and stop by anytime! Buy "made in the USA" this year!

All our best!

Valley Fare

2011-11-20T09:43:00.001-06:00

"Morning Light on Waterman"

12X16" oil on mounted canvas

Its not winter here yet...which is unusual for this time of year. Well, it was 5 degrees above zero (Fahrenheit) when I started this morning, and the trees had a neat little coating of ice glistening in the morning sun - but still no snow. This is somewhat unusual for here...yesterday I was reading a report about how our area is experiencing its second driest season on record. Yesterday's ice was the result of about .01" of wind driven mist...that's about as good as the moisture "machine" can do around here right now.

But I've been working on warmer themes in the studio anyway, no matter what it decides to do in the valley outside. This was a piece I've been working on for some time and depicts the Waterman Creek below us as it flows just south of here. The morning I was there experiencing this actual scene, it was still and pleasant with the morning sun burning through the trees, trying to awaken the sleeping stream still tucked away in dawn's shadow.

Portraying an image like this is very subjective...how can one be "objective" about an emotional/personal experience such as this?! There is some symbolism here and it is personal for me...I do that sometimes but do not usually talk about it; I want the art work to stand on its own and for others to have their own experience within it. I have said it before - I do like an image I can drift through; I think I have given the opportunity here.

Thanksgiving is coming up very soon! I'm supporting Small Business Saturday this year, instead of Black Friday! As a small business, I provide things that cannot be found on typical Black Friday fare. But I want to put a call out there for all artists - studios and galleries...we do what we can to provide beauty and substance to the world out there. Support your local artists and galleries!

Happy Thanksgiving out there next week!!!

Got the Blues...

2011-11-12T14:56:00.001-06:00

Great Lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica)

color pencil drawing - © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

My mother's favorite color was blue. I remember all the things she decorated with; many things throughout the house favored blue. I think of her during the year when the few blue flowers of the prairie bloom. In the spring it's Blue-eyed Grass, in the late summer its some of the asters, (like Sky Blue Aster)...in the early fall, for me its Great Lobelia!

I came across a large group of Great Lobelia this past September on a hillside seepage. I took several photographs of the plants but none seemed to do them justice, like I feel they need...so I decided to make it a fall project to do a small color pencil of them instead. I should probably title this piece something like "Great Lobelia Blues".

I've not had success getting this wildflower to grow in our pasture because we're fairly gravely here, and this flower really favors a wet location. Now I have a small bouquet of them "growing" in a frame in my studio...a nice way to remember my mother, and a late September morning on the prairie.

Tough Job but...

2011-10-30T17:01:00.003-05:00

"Autumn Along Jordan Creek"

8.5X12" - color pencil drawing - art work © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

Autumn was different here this year. We had early, but not complete leaf drop. Poor color, mostly brown due to the warm and dry weather. Then by the last week of October, what was left around here did turn color. Never been colors to this extent, this late...not that I can remember any way. Now the leaves are passing and dropping.

I'm not sure I'm ready for this! The bare landscape I mean...well, also the cold weather. It does keep me inside and working though, maybe that's a good thing.

I just finished another color pencil piece, this one a little larger than usual for me. I was discussing work time with someone on color pencil pieces like this yesterday and they asked me how long this piece was taking. I'm not on the clock so much except in my head and I just guessed 7-9 weeks. Well, I was off some, it took 6 instead. It just seemed so long!

"Autumn Along Jordan Creek" is from the "neighborhood" again. This scene is actually about 4 miles southwest of the studio. Jordan creek is very small in stature and eventually runs into the Waterman about 4-5 miles from this spot. Its the kind of creek you could jump across in spots when you were a kid, and maybe just get your shoes muddy in trying to do so. Its also the kind of creek you could still enjoy exploring, wading and catching frogs. Its a cool little creek.

They weren't doing so the day I stopped by, but the small stunted Ash trees are assuredly the preferred shade for the local grazing herd of cattle during the hot oppressive days of summer. In fact I took shelter in shade much like this and waded little creeks like this for hot summer afternoon relief many, many years ago and that's the kind of artwork I like to spend long hours on. Hey, its a tough job but somebody has gotta do it!

Come by the studio some time this winter when you long for some cooling shade and a wade down the creek!

Indian Summer

2011-10-24T14:16:00.001-05:00

"Mid October Along Waterman"

photograph © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

I've visited Indian Summer in past blogs, its such a bitter sweet time of the year (as memories of Indian Summers past are as well). I can't get over the transformation the landscape undergoes at this time either. Here, its been very dry, not like drought stricken areas in the south and southwest but dry for "here"; nearly no rain of consequence since July...none measurable here at Prairie Hill Farm since August or early September.

I looked forward to walking the Waterman when fall took hold in the valley here, but it was so dry and windy for an extended period that the leaves simply dried up, turned brown and dropped! That is when the landscape takes on a new character and visually becomes more elusive for "me".

I like this time of the year. I enjoy time in the warm sun with a cool/crisp air about, making things very pleasant. A good hike doesn't seem as taxing in the fall...the usual tormenting entourage of insects have "mostly" abated. Birds are moving through; the music is different but contemplative.

On the day this image was taken, the banks and sand bars were hopping with small Eastern Chorus Frogs out sunning themselves, basking in the warmth of an Indian Summer day. I haven't seen that in many years...what good fortune for me!

Eastern Bluebirds lined the fence lines when I come up upon a field; their sweet understated conversations were relayed down the line from post to post, wire to wire. What pleasantry!

A Beaver dam came into view and I walked around and above it...there laid the cache, or beginnings of one for their winter storage. It wasn't a high dam but the pool behind was substantial...I'd watched two Beaver downstream from here about 3 weeks earlier, I'm sure this is their lair.

I followed all kinds of tracks along the creek all the way back to the road, a section of ground away; its been a long walk...I hope its not too long before the next one!

Happy Indian Summer, may there be many more days to enjoy before the snow flies!

The Real Fun of It!

2011-10-14T16:32:00.000-05:00

"September Morning on the Waterman"

photograph © Bruce A. Morrison

I'm going to do something I haven't done before now - post the same blog 3 times! I do 2 blogs for the Artisans Road Trip and I think I want to say the same thing for my own studio blog as well.

Thank you to everyone who took in the 2011 Artisans Road Trip weekend on 9/30/11 through 10/2/11! It was a win-win for everyone out there! The "road trippers" had a very nice weekend of things to do and see, and the artists received some support for their efforts, got to meet new people and had fun showing off their wares and works!

And I'm no exception - I really enjoy showing off the studio here along the Waterman Creek valley south of B40. Its a beautiful scenic location and so many new visitors are very surprised its here and they never knew about it! That's the real fun of A.R.T.!

That's the case with all facets and artists of A.R.T. - there's a pleasant surprise around every corner! Unique studios and galleries, one of a kind works and memorable travels around our beautiful corner of the state!

Thank you for supporting the Arts in NW Iowa!

Bluebird Morning

2011-09-25T17:01:00.002-05:00

"Waterman Sunrise"

photograph © Bruce A. Morrison

Someone coined days like this morning as a "Bluebird Morning". I think the still clear air and a beautiful sunrise make the grade as a Bluebird Morning!

They didn't pose for me but as I was shooting this landscape, a couple Beavers were swimming in the pool of the creek, in front of the foreground tree. And a hundred or so Canada Geese flew over calling all along the way and into the distance...a Bluebird Morning must be a good thing!

The 2011 Artisans Road Trip is in just 5 days! See photographs like this from the "neighborhood" here and many other paintings and drawings here in the studio at Prairie Hill Farm.

A.R.T. is next Friday (September 30), from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday (October 1 and 2), from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Hope to see you then!!!

Way Back When

2011-09-19T14:02:00.001-05:00

"Cattle Crossing"

color pencil drawing © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

Way back when I was a kid, I used to spend a great deal of time walking the farm country west of our town where I grew up in NW Iowa. I had (still have) a good friend whose family had a large farming operation and a good herd of what I believe were Angus cattle back then. Well maybe they were Limosins or some other breed of predominately black cows, I don't know, but I got quite used to walking their paths and occasionally walking through the herds.

Lately I've been walking several places in the "neighborhood", and really the only kind of surroundings I care to traverse are pasture and woodland, but mostly the river and creek bottoms...great place for an interesting stroll with the cameras.

One thing about cows, they seem to know the best stream crossings, and I usually trust them. Some time back I was walking along with a scattered herd, along Waterman Creek near here; it was a wonderful little stretch of stream mostly uninterrupted by fence lines. While taking photographs along the creek bottom I noticed this great old Ash tree casting shade along a sandy bar in the bend of the creek. It was early morning and the cast shadow and early sunlight were making for a really nice image.

I don't always think "photograph" when shooting scenes like this...I often get an idea or feeling for the scene and just go with it. Later when I'm back in the studio processing files on the computer, the image itself decides whether or not something "stays" as a photograph or gets used as material to do a painting or drawing from.

As you can see, I ended up doing a small color pencil drawing of the "Cattle Crossing" there along the creek...and yes, I did cross there :)

There isn't much time for anything but studio work here right now - the 2011 Artisans Road Trip is coming up fast!!! I do hope you'll set aside the weekend of September 30 (Friday from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.), and October 1st and 2nd (Saturday and Sunday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.)! It should be a beautiful weekend and we're really looking forward to it!

Hope to see you here at the studio!!!

Painting Summer

2011-09-12T10:55:00.000-05:00

"Summer Evening on Waterman"

oil on mounted canvas - 9X12"

(click on image for a larger view)
SOLD

Just finished a small oil painting here in the studio over the weekend. This painting is of our favorite creek and at a location we pass nearly every week, all year around. Its one of those scenes that has screamed to be painted and this late evening light, with the long shadows and bright passages of the last bright sun light was finally perfect last week. Its not a scene I'd care to try plein air...for two reasons - I don't believe I'd do it justice in these last fleeting moments, and this scene is only visible as you cross over a small rural bridge in our "neighborhood"...I don't like the idea of standing on a little bridge when a tractor or wagon has to come by and cross!

I hated having to work inside as it was glorious weather out there! But time is closing in on the 2011 Artisans Road Trip and I've been working on new works for the studio/gallery here for visitors to see when they stop in over that weekend.

The Artisans Road Trip is a great time for everyone to get out and travel the roads "less traveled" and visit artists in their studios, and get to know them a little better! The 2011 A.R.T. event is the very end of this month - and the first Saturday/Sunday in October! The exact times and dates are - Friday September 30th from 4 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday - October 1st and 2nd, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. If you'd like more information on the 2011 A.R.T., check out the web site and visit the artists listing there...check out individual artists by clicking their names and even check out the regional maps for their locations (the "Maps" link on the home page).

Hope to see you there in the first weeks of Autumn!

Working the Summer Landscape

2011-09-03T10:01:00.000-05:00

"Late Afternoon on Dog Creek"

photograph © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

The landscape is the staple of my winter work here at the studio, and the summer has not stood still while I spent the last several weeks putting the finishing touches on the "From the Tallgrass" exhibit - so I've been out hiking around the "neighborhood" trying to catch those last summer days before autumn throws too many hints around.

The past couple summers here have been a major bust with area streams...flooding creeks and rivers. But after about a 23 month trend, we've gone through a decent dry spell and I've tried to revisit the creeks in the familiar haunts nearby. Now, I'll admit I've been searching for ideas for future painting projects - not photographs...but things have not been going that way!

I've spoken of this quandary to a small degree in a recent issue of my studio newsletter...I like to gather information in the field for future artwork ideas. I compile this information (files of photographs) for later reference material to work from - usually during the winter months when I'm in the studio almost all the time.

But I've been coming up with photographs I like as "photographs"! Why bother redoing something that works as it "is"? I don't like the idea of reworking something that already works! The above image of Dog Creek, a few miles south of here, is a good example. I found the late afternoon back-lit subject shouting for attention; the small creek quietly meandering in its narrow channel, catching the light in an almost elegant manner...the open shadows inviting the eye into the scene, embraced by the canopy of branches. What a nice painting idea!

The quandary arises once I'm back at the studio "processing" image files from the day's explorations...dang it! It works so well on its own, and I like it! That's important too right?! OK, another nice photograph of a small prairie stream may soon find its way to the studio's gallery wall. The idea of a painting lost...well at least for now; no need to redo something that works quite nicely already...there'll be another painting down the road eventually!

Mid (to late?) Summer at Prairie Hill Farm

2011-08-25T09:38:00.001-05:00

Big Bluestem in flower at the Prairie Hill Farm Prairie

(still image taken from "Mid Summer at Prairie Hill Farm" video)

image © Bruce A. Morrison

Its really past what I'd consider "mid" summer here on the prairie now, but there is about a month of summer left to enjoy yet! We had one nasty storm just two days ago and were very fortunate that we only lost a couple trees and gained a mess in the landscape with shredded leaves and plants...didn't do the gardens any good either.

I don't think the small prairie here will look too great the rest of the summer but think that "close-up" you may not be too disappointed. I decided to put together an 8 minute video (long for me) of the prairie here before the storm (some footage the day before), much of which was compiled "mid" summer.

(If you get this blog via e-mail subscription, you may not see the embedded video and will have to follow the link to view.)

I'm hoping to make this video part of the "From the Tallgrass" exhibit at Arts on Grand - at the Artist's Reception tonight! One last plug! :) 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. - hope to see you there! The exhibit runs through September 25th so if you can't make the reception, you'll have nearly the "rest of the summer" to make it!

You can go online and view "Mid Summer at Prairie Hill Farm" here - (the HD version is much more fun to watch on you tube any way!)...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uZrZ8g1Wzg

Have a great "late" summer!

From the Tallgrass - the First Exhibition

2011-08-12T17:59:00.001-05:00

Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardii) at the Prairie Hill Farm Prairie

Photograph © Bruce A. Morrison

"From the Tallgrass", an exhibit of paintings, drawings and photography of the Tallgrass Prairie opens on Tuesday, August 16th next week! I'm both excited and nervous but I think that comes from spending all your time in the tallgrass and not enough around other homo sapiens! OK, thats a bit tongue-in-cheek, but it has been a long time since I went solo in an exhibit. Most of the last few weeks has been completely devoted to framing, re-framing, and all the other things that figure into something like this...there is so much more to it than meets the eye.

The prairie is the subject matter of course, and the prairie has been going great guns this summer - very hard to keep up!!! I think once we get the show hung in a few days, I need to step back onto the prairie and see what I've been missing these past weeks!!!

The Exhibit "From the Tallgrass" runs through September 25th. There will be an artist's reception on August 25th from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. The exhibit is at Arts on Grand in Spencer, Iowa. You can always give them a call, should you have any questions, at (712) 262-4307; they're open Tuesday through Saturday!

Hope to get to see and talk with you at the reception on the 25th (last Thursday in August)! If not, please try and get over to Arts on Grand to see the show!

A Prairie Cantabile

2011-08-05T10:56:00.001-05:00

"Prairie Cantabile" Painted Violin

(casein on applied canvas)

(click on image for a larger view)

Not many folks have seen the painted violin I did several years ago, for a fund raiser to benefit the NW Iowa Symphony Orchestra. I have a solo exhibit coming up at Arts on Grand in Spencer, Iowa, in a couple weeks and this piece will be there. The buyers have agreed to let me show the piece once again and I will honestly say I am still taken aback by it...I can't believe how nice is looks, I'm extremely proud of this piece! It was my first attempt with Casein as a painting medium...casein is extremely permanent...I believe it is one of the earliest painting medias in use today.

"Cantabile" is from the Italian meaning "worthy to be sung". I sing praises of the prairie in all my works; what more aptly fits than this title for this work?!! The back of the violin depicts the prairie as a landscape, the front of the piece celebrates the prairie "up front" and close-up.

From the Tallgrass" is the title of this solo exhibit. It opens August 16 and runs through September 25th. There will be an "Artist's Reception" on Thursday the 25th, from 5:30 - 7:00 p.m. Please come and enjoy this exhibit devoted to our region's natural and cultural heritage!

I'll be referring to "From the Tallgrass" a few more times this month...hope you can make it to Spencer during the show!

Odonata Summer

2011-07-23T16:41:00.000-05:00

Twelve Spotted Skimmer (Libellula pulchella) - male

on Prairie Blazing Star (Liatris pycnostachya)

(click on image for a larger view)

Its dragonfly and damselfly time on the prairie...they've been around for a few weeks but "now" they're coming on in real abundance and variety. And about time! These guys are good "mosquito hawks" and really help in that regard! Besides they are really cool to watch.

I like to follow the bloom here on the prairie pasture for good examples of flowers to use in my work...if I get out early enough there is less of a breeze and the chances of getting good photographs of things like the dragonflies improves. I can often find them covered with a coating of dew and they're more at the mercy of the camera because they can't fly.

The Twelve Spotted Skimmer, pictured above, is a fairly common one all over the region but is still a very showy insect, especially when hanging out on a tall liatris above its prairie surroundings!

The Twelve Spotted Skimmer was here out at our place, but I found the Widow Skimmer shown below at an area preserve that had been recently acquired through the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation. I may blog separartely on that in the Tallgrass Journal blog if I get a chance.

Widow Skimmer (Libellula luctuosa) - female

(click on image for a larger view)

The Widow Skimmer was still covered with dew when I found her in a new addition to Waterman Prairie south of us. One thing you'll find with odonates is the sexes are marked differently and often differing colors too...kinda like song birds often are. Go ahead and click on each of these photos for a closeup of real cool insects!

For some reason my blogs blinked out "photo-wise" for 2-3 days or so but I have them back online again...blog gremlins! :( Sorry for the inconvenience if you happened to log on then, but we're up and running again!

Hope you're having a great summer!

Monarch Summer

2011-07-17T15:05:00.001-05:00

Monarch with a caterpillar tattered Heliopsis helianthoides

(click on image for a larger view)

This is going to be a double post this time, both here and on the Tallgrass Journal blog as well...the prairie is an important theme in my work and my interests elsewhere.

Have you been seeing many Monarch butterflies out there this summer? We've had a good number here on the remnant prairie pasture here at the studio...but the question is also academic, I guess you could say. The Monarch Butterfly is probably one of our best know insects in North America, yet is one with many issues regarding its health and future in our world.

Journey North, an educational project through The Annenberg Foundation, is asking the question, and has been asking it for several years now. Journey North is "A global study of wildlife migration and seasonal change." It is also described as a "free citizen science project for students across North America". Although this was intentionally set up as a K-12 curriculum, it is open to anyone's participation, and frankly benefits from that. To learn more about the Monarch and Journey North go to their page at http://www.learner.org/jnorth/monarch/index.html

I like to send in reports as they transform here at the prairie, it contributes to a better understanding of the Monarch and keeps tabs on issues of their population health and the environment around them...they are quite like the proverbial "canary in the coal mine".

Monarch Watch is much the same...Monarch Watch is part of the Biological Survey through the University of Kansas. Monarch Watch is about the same business as Journey North - the health and status of this North American icon butterfly. Monarch Watch also takes on the promotion of "habitat for Monarchs". And because I like to watch and photograph (and draw and paint) Monarchs, habitat "is" important.

If you are ever interested in growing thing for Monarchs, the following might be helpful.

They're well know for their dependence on milkweeds. We have 4 species of Asclepiadaceae (milkweed family) here at Prairie Hill Farm - Common (A. syriaca), Butterfly Milkweed (A. tuberosa), Swamp Milkweed (A. incarnata) and Whorled Milkweed (A. verticillata)...the latter, Whorled, is the only one that seems to be more of a "pest" plant here...I've never encouraged it but it is definitely the "bully" milkweed! Which seems somewhat humorous because its also the smallest in stature...but I also see it as the milkweed of preference for the Monarchs here...oh, they love the Butterfly Milkweed, but mostly the seed pods! Which I try and save to use for future propagation. You'll often see me picking Monarch caterpillars off of the A. tuberosa and repositioning them onto the A. verticillata plants!

But Monarchs, in the butterfly stage, love to feed on just about any nectar, so any wildflower you can find out here on the prairie is a great food source for Monarchs! If I were to vote on what the butterflies like "here", I'd say mid summer favorites are the Heliopsis helianthoides like in the post photo above (sometimes called Ox-eye sunflower, but it isn't really a sunflower), Black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta), Gray-headed Coneflowers (Ratibida pinnata), Compass Plant (Silphium laciniatum) and of course, flowers of all the milkweeds. Later on in the summer the Liatris family and all the Goldenrods and all the Asters are butterfly magnets! "Here" the Stiff Goldenrods (Solidago rigida) are the Monarch champs...they are very aggressive forbs too so they aren't necessarily "my" favorites!

A side benefit here is our grove bordering the north and west side of our acreage. We tend to be a migration stop-over in September here...its great seeing the 1-2-3 hundred or more Monarchs gather together in the evening, and disperse again in the morning! What a great circle for the season to complete...I recommend keeping your proverbial door open for the Monarch each year...we need them and they need us!

Work'n the Summer

2011-07-10T12:13:00.003-05:00

Late July Mid Afternoon (reworked)

9X12" - oil painting on mounted canvas

(click on image for a larger view)
SOLD

July has been busy and like I remembered it as a kid - Hot! Well it may not seem hot to my friends in Arizona or California, but we have some fairly messy dewpoint levels here (humidity)! I can always take the heat but add a 75 degree dewpoint to it and I think climate change means we are the new Panama!! :)

I have my first solo exhibit in decades coming up next month and I am really hustling to get everything ready for it. The exhibit will be at Arts on Grand in Spencer, Iowa. The show opens on August 16th and runs through September 24th. There will be an opening evening event (I think they call it a "gallery talk") on August 25th, a Thursday evening...it begins around 5:30 p.m. This is a good time to talk with me about anything and have refreshments and hors d'oeuvres. And it would be a really great time getting to meet some of my blog friends if we haven't already done so!

When preparing for something like this, a great deal of time is spent matting and framing, varnishing, and even reworking paintings. Any artist will tell you that sometimes knowing when something is really finished isn't s easy as you'd think! The above painting was presented in this blog earlier (Here), but there was something about it that did not look "finished" to me...something was missing and I was fairly sure from the moment I had the thought, as to what it was needing! A visual threshold; you know, like when you enter a room or space and "step" into it. This painting was too flat for a visual "entrance"...had no weight to its foundation...I could think of several more metaphors but you may get the drift. I think it now has that foundation and a threshold to enter over and into the space.

Late July Mid Afternoon (unfinished version)

(You can compare with the previous version here and see what I mean.)

I am also still at the easel and working in the field each day I can manage. The early morning hikes with the camera equipment have been invigorating and I'm finding I'll be a long while editing through all the material I come up with! Is that what "winters" around here are for??

Valley Plum Thicket Study

6X8" - oil painting on mounted canvas

(click on image for a larger view)

Here is a small study I did just recently...the plums and spring are long past but we had some freakish weather here during the Wild Plum bloom...it got very hot and windy for a couple days straight and the bloom was on and over in just 2-3 days. Pretty disappointing because I look forward to it each year! I did this study from some photos of past blooms here in the valley, to make up for missing them this year.

Well, back to work here in the studio. I do hope I'll get to see you at my exhibit opening evening in August! I'll be posting about it some more in the coming weeks.

Stay cool and enjoy July!

Slow Down!

2011-07-01T21:04:00.000-05:00

July 1st Thunderhead in the valley

Photograph © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

July 1st...wow, what ever happened to June!?? Things really have to slow down here, I'm just way too far behind in my work!

I couldn't resist posting another thunderhead off over the valley here...this one is fresh off the camera, just 45 minutes ago! Things develop, change and move on all the time in nature...shouldn't expect anything different here!

I've been painting and framing and printing like a maniac in the studio the past few weeks...getting ready for a solo exhibit at Arts on Grand (Spencer, Iowa) in August. I'll fill in more details in the weeks ahead...but I'll say it right now and again with each post - I sure would love to see ya there in August; I haven't met some of my blog friends yet! Wouldn't that be great!

In the meantime - enjoy every bit of July you can...time is not waiting for us!

Summer Days

2011-06-29T11:31:00.002-05:00

"Dawn in the Valley"

(click on image for a larger view)

This is a repost from my "A Tallgrass Journal" blog this morning. Frequently my activities take me through the same avenues in my art work as well as in my interest of the tallgrass prairie ecosystem. I've been spending these days exploring prairie remnants, but still along the little creek that flows past our home in the valley. The tallgrass is entering summer now and there is no holding it back!

One pleasant personal observation this year has been the larger than remembered vocal presence of Dickcissels. They are even calling from the fences bordering our own yard! Now this is likely a good opportunity to get more photos of this grassland favorite...but Murphy's Law steps in with cases like this. If you go out and dig thistle or mow, or pull brome - they sing praises to you! If you even carry something "looking like" a camera - they leave for the neighbor's pasture! Little buggers! But it's nice to hear and see so many here this summer; would be nice if they were actually rebounding a little.

I'm embedding a very short video here of a male Dickcissel singing from a pasture fence post...many people don't realize what a pretty little bird this is (or don't even recognize what kind of bird it is!)...although the video isn't a "close-up" of the bird, it will give you an idea of how it looks. For a better look at a Dickcissel, you can view a closer shot in a past post in this blog - Here. If you subscribe to this blog via e-mail the link for the video feed is - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwuepAhj36E. (That link would also allow full screen viewing.)

Enjoy the birds on the prairie this summer!

Summer Solstice

2011-06-21T15:15:00.000-05:00

"Sunrise on McCormack"

photograph © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

Today, as I write this entry, is the Summer Solstice. There is something about those words, "summer solstice" that I find almost mystical...mysterious...much like a bank of intangible emotions. The evenings now have an air of insects and amphibians, carried aloft across the valley and into the yard windows. It lulls you to sleep and brings pleasant dreams, but not really of this world.

Does summer take on a more specific meaning or feeling to a person after many decades on this earth? I have to believe so. The seasons have long been compared to our lives; maybe the summer solstice reminds me of younger days...I don't know. But it does make me feel motivated somehow. My motivation is "out there" certainly...out there, outside that yard window, that music in the valley that Georgie and I embrace each morning, afternoon and evening.

If I were to sit upon a twig and float down the creek outside our door, I would eventually pass this place I've photographed here. It reminds me of the summer solstice...there is that same feeling of fleeting intangibles I'm so desperately trying to put into words. And now that this moment has passed, the days will very slowly shorten once again, but I am grasping every encounter and savoring and caching them for the rest of the summer and into the final seasons.

Our "Mountains"

2011-06-18T09:35:00.000-05:00

Anviled Thunderhead in the Valley

Photograph © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

I get to feeling like a broken record around here in the spring, summer and fall. The view here is very nice, but add the drama of the morning or evening skies and it can be quite amazing!

I've been working on some landscape photography and painting ideas the past couple weeks in the "neighborhood", and was processing several of the image files I'd taken yesterday afternoon and evening. Georgie had alerted me to the cloud formations forming out across the road, so I took periodic trips out to the pasture and took some photographs...about every time I'd head back into the studio for more work, I'd look out the window and everything had changed and needed shooting again! Its hard getting anything done here in the summer, especially in the late afternoon!

This thunderstorm (which I guess was actually in northern Kossuth County and into Minnesota) eventually "anviled" out and was very dramatic across the valley, with a blue sky backdrop and the evening sun lighting its facade!

I do say it a lot, but I'm gong to say it again...the clouds are our mountains out here on the prairie, and they are beautiful and awesome!

100...From the Cellar to the Fire!

2011-06-07T12:58:00.000-05:00

Cope's Gray Tree Frog on Solomon Seal here in the

garden at Prairie Hill Farm

(Click image to view larger size)

Its a windy blustery day here at the studio and acreage...the kind of wind you'd get from a fan placed inside the oven and blowing into your face! Good grief its only early June and we already hit 100 degrees fahrenheit yesterday! The yard thermometer said 104 but the official Spencer temp was 100.

This morning I was watering some things in the vegetable garden and some newer flower beds and planters. With the wind so high I pulled the "sprinkler" spigot off the watering can and refilled from the rain barrels. Imagine the humorous surprise when I was watering the peppers and a Tree Frog popped out of the spigot with the water onto the plants! It looked quite surprised! At least it was hydrated. :)

The frog is a Copes' Gray Tree Frog and very common here and its a favorite of ours! (I say that so much for everything but it is what it is.) Both Georgie and I love the frogs and toads here.

This is the real beginning of the tree frog season here in the valley. We'll hear them in chorus with the Cricket Frogs for the next 3-4 weeks, then they'll be quiet (for the most part) for the rest of the summer. But we'll keep finding them here in the yard and around the buildings all summer long. Gotta love these little guys!

Watch your step and enjoy our small gifts!

Summer Green...Thinking Ahead!

2011-05-22T18:33:00.001-05:00

Late July Mid Afternoon

9X12" - oil painting on mounted canvas

(click on image for a larger view)
SOLD

I just finished a small painting in the studio this afternoon; it was of a summer day Georgie and I went exploring along the Little Sioux River down in Cherokee County, south of us. I remember it being a fairly hot and humid day...a typical "dog days of summer" kind of day. Those were the days I remember most as a kid out of school for the summer. Loved those times!

The area depicted was down near the Silver Sioux Recreation Area...a pretty neat place. This exact location was nearby in the Stiles Woodland ...I believe it is a private preserve overseen by a nonprofit group...could be mistaken about that but it is open to casual visitors at times...there is signage there at its entrance giving information about it.

What I remember about the preserve is the high sun of the day creating stark contrast and shadow...the distant hillside looked hazy in the mid day humidity. These impressions give me fodder later on when working from the memory of the place and photos I took. I have heard the saying from many sources that the greens of spring and summer are the most difficult to paint. Since these are the times of year I really enjoy, I have to tackle these issues head on. Keeping interest and movement or flow through a painting can be challenging with so much green! There was a small barn along a small creek there that I painted red (it was no longer showing paint) to add a complimentary color, giving relief and a focal point. I knew the barn would help visually when I spotted it there that afternoon.

Studio work is getting difficult! It is finally trying to be spring out there and all that comes with it make for more time outside. Hope you're enjoying some outside time as well!

New Post - Update

2011-05-19T12:01:00.000-05:00

American Goldfinch - male

photograph © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

I think you could say this is an update on an older blog. In the "New Post" blog from March 30 I talked about the Goldfinches molting here at the acreage. Well, they've completed the molt cycle a couple weeks or more back and I thought I'd throw one up for you to see a male American Goldfinch in all its finery :) I'm showing the back of the bird because it's the showiest profile...the beautiful stark black and white patterns with the bird's bright yellow back and nape and the forehead black again (as well as the accent of the bill coloration). What a pretty little bird!

Now that the first flush of dandelions has gone to seed, these birds are all over the ground feeding on the seed heads. It's pretty amazing (and amusing) when you look out on all the beautiful dandelions and suddenly they take flight! The birds are like flying dandelions! And they sing too! What more could you ask?!

Gotta get some work done! Hope you're not too distracted like I seem to be!

Invasion!

2011-05-15T13:39:00.000-05:00

Male Baltimore Oriole outside the studio window

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

It's an invasion! Not of body snatchers or any thing bad, but an invasion of "time snatchers" :)

We've had waves of Orioles, Warblers, Indigo Buntings, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, and many other types of birds here and they're eating us out of house and home as well as "snatching" all our time - who can resist watching them all day long??!!

There are also reports across Iowa of Summer Tanagers in high numbers, since the week of high winds from the south and southeast...maybe they blew in?! We haven't had a Summer Tanager here yet, but Spencer (Iowa) has and they're just 15-16 miles from us "as the crow flies".

Its been an invasion of many things here at the studio acreage...the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are back for the summer and the Monarch Butterflies just showed up last week as well! Great things to be "invaded" by!

Put you grape jelly out for the orioles, the sunflower seed out for the Grosbeaks, and the thistle seed out for the Siskins and finches, and the sugar water out for the hummingbirds - and be distracted! It's fun!

These Are A "Few" Of My Favorite Things!

2011-05-09T17:38:00.000-05:00

"Some" of my spring yard favorites!

photo © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

I am seriously behind on everything this spring! Not unlike everything else around here...whether you're farming or migrating or blooming - you are behind schedule! I guess that goes for studio work as well...

I wanted to share some yard favorites with you before some leave for cooler climates up north...not all of them, but some.

Our yard has been filled with song the past couple weeks or more, with music of (top image clock-wise from the top left corner) White-throated Sparrows, Chipping Sparrows, White-crowned Sparrows, Linclon's Sparrows, Harris Sparrows, and just recently, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks. And I can't keep up with them! In the last couple days we've also picked up Baltimore Orioles, Orchard Orioles, Red-headed Woodpeckers, Common Yellow-throats, House Wrens...and this morning Ruby-throated Hummingbirds! It just does not stop! Wonderful!

It's a great time of year! I just can't keep up!

Good luck trying!

See Ya Later Friend

2011-04-28T10:47:00.000-05:00

Dark-eyed Junco (male)

Photo © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

Easter Sunday our friends left us for Minnesota...eventually Canada. I miss them already; they have a sweet spring voice that is pleasant to listen to each year before spring really takes hold here. But they'll be back next fall! Sometimes they stay through the winter in large numbers...sometimes only a few...each year is different. This year they were scarce in the yard through winter, until early in March when they were back in hoards! Everyone recognizes Juncos right!?

Dark-eyed Juncos are the bird feeder staple...they usually spend their feeding time on the ground under the feeders though...this male was singing outside my studio window last week when I took a quick photo of him. He's a good example of male Junco plumage! Has that nice dark gray hood, and dark eye. The ladies are only duller but you can still discern the hood feature.

It's been a different spring here this year...not to most people's liking! But different with the yard birds too...the Juncos stayed long and now that they're gone, the usual "new" visitors have been slow and scarce in returning. We've had one or two White-throated Sparrows but then they're gone...not normal here as they stay and seranade for a few weeks too.

But goodbye Juncos, see ya later friend...have a nice summer up north!

Finally...

2011-04-25T10:46:00.002-05:00

"Summer Along Angler's Bay"

color pencil - 5X7" - art work © Bruce A. Morrison
(SOLD - in a private collection)

(click on image for larger view)

Studio time is getting shorter and harder to accommodate these days...the days are finally getting longer and finally getting warmer! I'm putting the emphasis on "finally" only out of frustration with the cold/dark April we've been experiencing this year. I do think I'm getting more patient with some things as the years pass by but "feeling and enjoying" spring is one part of life I cannot abide by getting skimped on!

When the weather outside isn't cooperating, I do get more studio time I guess...maybe that's the only saving grace here for the time being. I've been doing a good deal of framing and catching up on several things put on the back burner this past fall and winter.

One thing I finally worked through was another small color pencil study that will perhaps take on new life as a larger painting some day. This pencil is of an area north of us that still looks fairly much like it may have a couple hundred years ago...well, that's the way I drew it anyway. The distant shoreline is dotted with houses and docks; I removed them. They did not contribute to the emotional affect the location had on me - so as the Queen of Hearts so frequently stated in Alice In Wonderland "Off with their heads!" :)

I'd become stuck on this piece for some time. The sky was really creating problems in retaining a visual "feel" for the light and carefree clouds. The wax medium of the prismacolor pencil was fighting me on this. I came upon another type of pencil that I'd read about and gave them a try. They are Lyra brand pencils that are oil based rather than wax. It's the wax build up that often throws cogs in the wheels of progress when drawing difficult/stubborn passages in a piece. Working over the already lain down wax pencil gave me some pause but things worked out alright I think.

Angler's Bay is on Spirit Lake's northeast corner, adjacent to Hales Slough (an old favorite wetland of mine). This area was part of an intense conservation/preservation effort about 5-6 years ago...it was the final remaining rush bed left on Spirit and an important spawning and nesting area. The Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation led a hard sought campaign to secure the property for our grand children's heritage. This would not have been possible without the landowners seeing the need for this property's preservation!

Thankfully there will be no future marinas or private houses and docks dotting this fragile/final remaining wetland. We ALL get to enjoy this place for generations to come!

Let the Games Begin!

2011-04-04T14:02:00.002-05:00

Pasque Flowers (Pulsatilla patens) on Waterman Prairie

Photograph © Bruce A. Morrison

The Prairie has begun blooming! The first flower of spring on the prairie finally began blooming up here in the NW corner of the state this past weekend. This is always my "official" beginning of spring on the Tallgrass...look forward to it all winter long because it means the season has begun and better days..."great" days, are ahead!

Georgie and I went out on Sunday afternoon to check the prairies for pasques... a wind advisory with a real stiff blow out of the west/northwest was making photography almost untenable...a higher shutter speed was the only option!

Pasque Flowers (Pulsatilla patens) and dead Eastern Red Cedar - Waterman Prairie

Photograph © Bruce A. Morrison

Waterman Prairie, here in S.E. O'Brien County, is in the "neighborhood" and we checked out all the spots that we've found these forbs in past years. Many slopes that had once been over run with Eastern Red Cedar trees here, have had their trees treated or cut to bring back the original prairie habitat. This, coupled with controlled burns and/or grazing, has encouraged the tallgrass plants to return. It's not uncommon to find Pasque Flowers growing at the base of the cedar stumps and trunks. It's great to see the prairie recovering on the slopes of the hills in the valley!

Veering a little, I'd like to comment that our entire planet "is in the neighborhood". Let's try to take this more to heart. With sincerity, lets celebrate this place we all must live...and heed the needs that exist "in our neighborhood". Give thought and action to the needs of our planet's peoples and our planet's habitats. Please give to your organizations of choice for those in need!

Spring is on the Tallgrass - let the games begin!

New Post!

2011-03-30T13:28:00.002-05:00

Well...not exactly new! But I was getting weary of the black background on the blog, figured that 4 years of black is enough! Let's brighten things up a bit and help those of you that find reading white letters against black annoying!

Male American Goldfinch beginning its molt into breeding plumage

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

(Click on image for a larger view)

We've really been enjoying the Goldfinches in the yard this winter. We get around 40-50 birds every year, which makes us happy!

Now that spring has arrived, we're getting more and more types of birds from their winter homes, now headed north, but the Goldfinches still stick around all year long here.

One thing that is fun watching for is the Goldfinch molt. We get to watch all the males really change into their spring/summer/fall finery, and it's taking place right now! The image above is of the same male Goldfinch, just starting to put on the brilliant yellow feathers...little patches here and there. None of our neighborhood birds has made the complete transition yet...I suspect that will take another week or more (?), but there is one male I noticed that has really made some progress with it's molt (see image below).

This male American Goldfinch is coming along real fast with its molt...seen here working on a sunflower seed.

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

(Click on image for a larger view)

The ladies molt too, of course, but their plumage is much duller in color...kind of an olive hint when they've changed; nothing near the yellow gold of the males.

This female American Goldfinch is not going to be the brilliant "stand-out" that it's male counterpart will be.

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

(Click on image for a larger view)

But "brilliant" or not, the Goldfinches are great having around the prairie pasture and yard all year long!

Just a quick mention of the Studio Newsletter! Our 3rd issue went out this week and I just wanted to thank those subscribers that have sent great comments our way! Also I do want to mention that if you subscribed but have yet to receive any issues - it is possible you may need to subscribe again...we had a small number get kicked back because the e-mail addresses were incorrect. Please resubscribe and watch your addresses for any typo mistakes. You can do so at this link - NEWSLETTER!

Thank you!

Enjoy the birds this spring!!!

Work'n It!

2011-03-25T16:50:00.001-05:00

Song Sparrow's are once again singing here!

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

I was working in the studio this afternoon...it'd been snowing today but the temps rose enough to melt the lightly blanketed landscape. As I plugged along I heard this beautiful bird song just outside the front door...got up and peered out the window and there sat a Song Sparrow in blissful song! Wow what an optimist! And what a singer; he may not know a lot of songs but he sings this one beautifully!

"Sunrise on Negus's Bales"

12x20" - oil painting on mounted canvas

(click on image for a larger view)

I just finished my latest painting. It was based on a landscape in the neighborhood that I photographed last fall. I thought at the time I found the landscape in question, that it'd like to paint the scene. I finally was able to make it come to pass; I enjoy taking a moment that speaks to me, and turn it into a translation through paint and brushes. You can certainly see the influence of the original photograph on the painting, but f you look closer, you'll also see my translation picks and chooses what I like and leave out what I don't...that's really something all artists do when painting or drawing anything.

The "Sunrise on Negus's Bales" is a "neighborhood" painting - I truly love doing these works closer to home. Our home is where our hearts are and isn't it normal for someone to celebrate what touches them in an uplifting way?!!!

Speaking of "uplifting", the Song Sparrow has been joined by the Junco and Harris Sparrow music throughout the acreage...and you can't ignore the more raucous "music" of the hundreds of Red-winged Blackbirds that have been filling the acreage's tree tops!

As I mentioned in the last blog - spring is here, and we're work'n it!!!

Love It!

2011-03-18T12:22:00.002-05:00

Canada Goose Pencil Study

Spring starts "officially" on Sunday, but it's presence is obvious and in your face this week. Love it!

There's been flock after flock of Canada Geese flying through and over the valley the past couple weeks. Each morning brings the sounds of "music" everywhere from the valley to the yard. This morning the dawn chorus was exceptional.

Great Blue Heron

(photograph © Bruce A. Morrison)

The Waterman Creek Great Blue Heron Rookery is filling up with returning pairs from past years. The first birds came in two days ago...there were five individuals. By last night we had 17 individual birds perching here and there in amongst the nests of past years...this morning there were over 30 birds and more showing up! It's really quite a sight but the rookery is about an eighth of a mile from the road so binoculars are helpful! This is the time of the year the heron "traffic" begins and its a blast to sit outside and watch the flight patterns flow - over the house and pasture and all around us during the morning, noon and evenings!

Spring is really here! I Love it!

Drawing From The Neighborhood

2011-03-04T12:00:00.001-06:00

"Waterman's Mouth - Summer"

5X7" - color pencil rendering

(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"

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"

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 -

http://www.morrisons-studio.com/Newsletter%20page.htm

See you in the neighborhood!

Winter Work at the Studio

2011-02-22T16:43:00.002-06:00

"Tallgrass Songster"

8X18" color pencil rendering

(click on image for a larger view)

I'm still here plugging away in the studio! I finally finished a piece that is about the third attempt to an idea I first got 6-7 years ago. The "star" of the show is a male Dickcissel belting out it's name, in song form, among the Tallgrass Prairie in bloom. The bird is taken from a study I did, which is now in the permanent "drawing collection" of the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, Wisconsin. I have been trying to find a "home" for my study and this is my first "finished" attempt to see if I have! The foreground is a mix of forbs in a prairie remnant near us that Georgie and I often explore. The Echinacea (purple coneflowers) are of our county's true native population - Echinacea angustifolia, or "Narrow-leaved Purple Coneflower". The male Dickcissel is proudly belting out it's name, the call from which the bird was named (virtually sounds like Dick, Dick, cissel). This is a larger piece for me with color pencil...I find the medium can be exasperating at times and generally stick with small studies instead...but I persevered and finished it this week.

"The Ritter Elevator"

11X19" oil painting

(click on image for a larger view)

Another work finished earlier, was an oil painting that was "kind of" different for me; it was a commissioned work done for a client commemorating (if-you-will) her trips to the grain elevator with her father, back when she was a child. The elevator is one I'm very familiar with, have driven past and around it for 30+ years. What I didn't know were some of the history and stories behind the "Ritter Elevator" - was fun to research and depict the elevator during the early 1950's! The red IH box truck was my client's father's truck. I took the rest of the vehicles from the area and other sources...the red tractor is my neighbor's father's Farmall "M" and their flarebox wagon (did repaint that a different color though). I do like doing work depicting the agricultural environment/landscape and felt this was actually a good fit. I've said it before and will likely again - the Tallgrass Prairie made this state what it is today and without that natural heritage, we would not have that "black gold" the prairie gave us - the soil. After handing the painting over to it's new owner, I asked her if I could have permission to share it with you here - she was very happy to!

My first "Morrison's Studio Newsletter" (Vol.1, No.1) went out today! If you'd like to sign up for it, there's a link to the form right along the sidebar to this blog...if you get this blog via e-mail you can go directly to the form by way of this link -

http://www.morrisons-studio.com/Newsletter%20page.htm

Hope your work has been going well this winter! Stay safe!

Nice Respite!

2011-02-18T11:52:00.002-06:00

(Detail from pencil study "Spring Song, American Robin")

What a great week of weather - a nice respite from the past couple months! Word's out that we're heading back to "normal" winter stuff, but that's OK - we've been doing alright!

We had our first Robins of spring in the yard here yesterday! That's kind of a nice shot in the arm for spring fever! American Robins are always welcome, but there have been population pockets just a few miles south of us, along the Little Sioux River valley all winter...in fact the past few winters. That didn't used to happen but about a decade or so ago the Waterman Prairie area and south, along the river, began holding flocks of Robins, Cedar Waxwings, and Eastern Bluebirds through the winter months. They apparently live off of the Eastern Red Cedar berries for one thing. But I still think of Robins as a harbinger of spring, if not only for old time's sake!

I don't know if I ever posted the image at the blog header before or not? (I'm pretty certain I have.) It's a detail from a large graphite piece I did years back. You can view the whole piece by clicking on the small image below of the entire rendering.

"Spring Song, American Robin"

pencil original © Bruce A. Morrison

(from a private collection)

Another wonderful development the past few weeks is a pair of Bald Eagles have built a nest south of here! We're holding our breath in hopes they'll stay and actually use it; a pair had built a nest just 1 mile south of us along Waterman Creek 3 years ago, but they abandoned it after a couple months. Hopefully this pair will follow through.

I guess we're not the only ones in the neighborhood with spring fever!

Just wanted to make mention - in the last blog I said I was going to begin a newsletter...a marketing effort on my part from the studio here. It will be an informative bimonthly newsletter, to keep my collectors, and folks interested in my work, abreast of the newest and latest work, projects, insight on works and subject matter, as well as exhibits and events I can be found at. You may sign up for the newsletter on my web site...you only need provide your e-mail address...the form to sign up is on this page - http://www.morrisons-studio.com/Newsletter%20page.htm or just click on "Newsletter" in the header of the web site. Thank you!

Take in some sunshine today and enjoy!

In the Middle

2011-02-10T11:24:00.001-06:00

Sun Dogs here at Prairie Hill Farm

(click on image for a larger view)

We're in the middle of many things here at the studio and Prairie Hill Farm - winter for one! A couple days ago our digital thermometer went offline...it stops at 19 below zero fahrenheit. It popped back on again at 19 below a little after 8 a.m. I'd been out in the yard filling feeders for the birds and squirrels...it can get a little oppressive for them, out in the open in this weather.

I stopped before going into the studio and took just a quick shot of the sun dogs across the valley...nothing elaborate, just using my small camera. I've often wished I could find the perfect landscape "nearby" to photograph sun dogs!

We've also been in the middle of a lot of snow removal lately...that happens at this time of year! I remember a neighbor speaking to me about the winter snow issues in the valley here a few years back. He eluded to the fact that since we moved here, we hadn't had a bad winter...I took all the credit with a grin! :) Well, that ended last year and we've since gotten pretty good at moving snow on our own.

Winter Goldfinch at the studio

(click on image for a larger view)

I'm hoping that this is the break in our winter weather for the duration ahead, a nice weekend appears to be a reality! Any day in the 20's or 30's (faherenheit) is great winter weather! (I know the birds would appreciate it too!)

I've been in the middle of painting and drawing projects as well. Some have been extremely taxing...I hate to move onto something else when a piece is unfinished but that is a reality at times. Sometimes a fresh "face" can help recover from painters block. Oh ya...it happens. :P

I've also been in the middle of marketing and business planning. This is not something I relish but a necessity for any artist that is working out there as a freelancer - a full-time studio. I am planning on beginning a newsletter in the near future...this is for my collectors and other clients that have purchased work here at the studio or other galleries I sell through. If you are someone that would be interested in being included as a studio newsletter subscriber, watch for future news about this.

"In the Middle" is a time of transition or just a place you find yourself often as you move through life. Here's hoping you're in the middle of something very good!

Night Noise

2011-01-31T11:00:00.003-06:00

"Hunting Moon"

limited edition 8 color serigraph (screen print)

The nights are getting shorter and the days are lengthening; it's still uphill to spring but there are many signs on the horizon! Now, I'm not really ready for spring yet in the studio...sounds a bit off, but I just have too much work ahead here and studio work is much more productive when spring chores don't get in the way. I need to make the best of winter yet I'm afraid!

But there are signs of spring never-the-less; we have nesting here in the valley now. I haven't "witnessed" the nesting, but still know it's going on. Each night for weeks we've been hearing the valley pair of Great Horned Owls vocalizing in the "neighborhood". But in recent weeks it has accelerated to hours on end of "love talk" right here in the yard around the house.

I really do not know which bird has the deeper voice, but suspect it is the female, which is the larger bird by a good margin in the bird of prey world. The other night (and morning) both birds sat around the house here really talking it up...sounding even excited. Both bird's voices were overlapping one another, kind of like when two people are talking excitedly at the same time. Around 1:30 a.m. I got up to try and get some audio recording of this banter, only to find out my recorder's battery was dead and the adapter and other battery was out in the studio! Rats! Oh well, just listening was fun enough...drifting in and out of sleep for the next 5 hours with the deep, wild rooted serenade outside the windows was pleasant to Georgie and I.

Great Horned Owls nest in late January/early February here. It's still cold here, in fact I believe the last week of January and the first week of February are statistically our coldest time of winter. Night time temps below zero Fahrenheit don't seem to matter! These are tough birds!

I've written about these birds before on past blogs, in fact the blog image this time is from a cropped image I posted 3 years back. There is some mystic about owls for me and many other people...it's likely the secret lives they lead in the dark I suppose.

It's snowing out fairly good right now and we'll be contending with this storm system for the next day or so...we're definitely in the middle of the winter season now. But somewhere out there the Waterman Creek valley Great Horned Owls are nesting.

Making Use of Time

2011-01-22T15:37:00.000-06:00

"Ocheyedan Evening"

5X7" color pencil rendering

art work © Bruce A. Morrison

It's been cold and dreary in this neck of the prairie lately. If we haven't been shoveling out the lane and around the buildings, we've been working - a lot! But what can one do with this time; with temps well below zero fahrenheit and a constant biting wind?! Why, make good use of it of course!

While Georgie's been busy with projects in the house, I've been in the studio non-stop. I've finally finished up all commission work and have been busy starting new things and finishing old ones.

I have a solo exhibit coming up this August at Arts on Grand in Spencer, IA. The exhibit is to be recent work relating to the habitat and region I hold dear - the Tallgrass Prairie. So the thrust of my time and aim is the subject matter that fits this goal. But nothing has changed, that's been my focus for quite some years now anyway!

The piece at the blog's beginning is another small color pencil study; this one depicts a prairie stream in our area - the Ocheyedan River. It was done from some images I took late one day last summer when Georgie and I were on an evening drive through the country side. The Ocheyedan is a small river, a true prairie stream, and the evening light colors it almost as if it were still wild and unaffected by the region's agriculture.

I like doing work I can get pensive about; that's a state of mind I can get into when traversing through a work. What is around the next bend? What was it like when the Native Americans first inhabited this place, or when the first settlers arrived?

I consider this piece a "study" like most of my small works. It may take on a life of it's own some day as a larger painting, who knows at this point in time? I really kind of think it would make a nice reference for a painting...we'll see.

Keep busy!

Painting in Thin Air...Vicariously

2011-01-18T15:25:00.000-06:00

"Along Red Mountain Pass"

oil on canvas 3.5X5"

art work © Bruce A. Morrison

Some weeks back I received word I had been juried into the Western Spirit Art Show at the Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The show opens on March 5th and runs through April 17th.

When selected as an exhibiting artist, the museum asks artists to also do a "miniature" piece for the show as well. I decided to do a small oil painting to accompany the original piece selected for the show (a colored pencil piece "Arches Mulie"; blogged here back in October last fall).

I had gone through my film files of Georgie and my trips out west and decided to paint a small painting of the Red Mountain Pass along US Hwy 550. This is between Silverton and Ouray, Colorado, in the San Juan Mountain Range.

We had just had breakfast in Silverton and were driving north toward Ouray; the morning was cold and mostly overcast, but occasionally a bit of sunlight and blue sky would expose a mountain or pass. One such break came south of Ouray along the Red Mountain Pass; we stopped and photographed east toward the Red Mountain peaks (there are 3 peaks here of "Red Mountain").

It was a very memorable and surreal landscape for us "flat landers"! Most of the time the peaks were all hidden in clouds, then suddenly they'd be revealed for seconds or a few minutes, then gone again.

The air is a bit thicker here, but I'm feeling about as cold, at the moment, as when we traveled through the Red Mountain Pass years ago!

Keep warm out there!!!

Winter Friends

2011-01-13T12:15:00.000-06:00

Harris Sparrow (male)

Just about mid January! We are certainly into winter big time here, and just about every where else we hear about! It's been a bit windy and with below zero temps, I've just been sticking to the studio easel. This is the perfect time of year to try and get ahead of the work - I am just too easily distracted the rest of the year...hopelessly pulled outside and into the prairie pasture here!

I also have outside winter distractions, in fact there's a bird feeder right outside the window by the studio office desk (where I'm typing this entry). I'm amazed how well the wildlife copes with this weather, but still like to lend a hand where I can...being entertained by them is one side benefit. Often I'm able to get photographs of good poses from our feeder visitors and use them for my drawings and paintings.

We have many birds here during the winter that do not stay year around. Tree Sparrows and Harris Sparrows are a couple that come to mind...as well as Juncos too. The Harris Sparrow is one of the largest North American Sparrows, and we actually don't usually keep them all winter, but this year has been an exception so far. They breed up in the stunted boreal forests of Central Canada and always pass through here for extended visits. When it stops by during the spring, it injects a wonderful note into the yard and grove, quite like and similar to the White-throated Sparrow's song...the same pitch but not the same "tune".

This particular male, in the photo at the top of the post, was photographed out the library window in our house.

Georgie and I have a shared love for birds, and the winter feeders are a welcomed distraction!

Now...back to work; these paintings aren't finishing themselves, and neither are the framing jobs!

Back to Flora

2011-01-05T17:43:00.001-06:00

"Yellow Coneflower"

(Ratibida pinnata)

Color Pencil - 5X7" © Bruce A. Morrison

I've been delving in the prairie vicariously through my drawing lately. If you can't go to the prairie "physically", then why not mentally or on the tactile surface of the paper in front of you?!

My subject matter is likely one of the most common forbs (flowers) from the prairie, and can be found anywhere that allows it a seed bed. But I love this plant, no matter how common place it may be. And I look forward to gathering it's seed every fall...man what an amazing smell from a handful of seed! I'll not try and describe it - just try it for yourself some fall.

I called this plant "prairie coneflower" for years, until I was corrected one day, being told it was a "Gray-headed Coneflower" I had the scientific name correct - Ratibida pinnata, but was never keen on gray-headed...just doesn't sound appealing does it? Well several months ago I got my new edition of "Wildflowers of the Tallgrass Prairie" by Runkel and Roosa and the name given it there is "Yellow Coneflower"...I can live with that! :) So I'm titling the drawing at the beginning of this blog Entry "Yellow Coneflowers" and I'll throw in the Ratibida pinnata to boot, making it official and correct.

I may do a drawing of "Prairie Coneflowers" one of these days...that's Ratibida columnifera to you sticklers out there! :) They grow in our pasture as well, occurring naturally in this SE corner of O'Brien County.

Been working on this piece and others off and on since Thanksgiving...may plant a few more forbs on paper...or a landscape to wander through. In the meantime I'm still finishing commissioned painting work...but a walk through the prairie in my mind is still a refreshing respite!

Hope you agree!

Happy New Year!

2010-12-31T10:17:00.000-06:00

2010 is on it's last legs here. As I write this entry we're in a unusual weather event...instead of a blizzard, it's pouring rain and sleet; soon to be just snow. Weird stuff for the last day of the year to be sure!

I've been holed up in front of the easel for the past few weeks on commissioned work, and hoping to be back into work for the gallery here in the next 2-3 weeks. There are some small color pencil pieces and studies evolving on the sidelines too, but "work for hire" is still the name of the game...and that ain't all bad! :)

The video at the top of this blog is a scene taken out one of the studio windows...kind of a "snow globe" gift to you. If you are an email subscriber to this blog, the video won't show up...you can either go directly to the blog (http://prairiepainter.blogspot.com) or visit this link on You Tube -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzukbeAnzXs

I want to take a moment to thank all of you out there who have shown an interest in my work, a prosperous and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

See you in 2011!!!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-22T18:01:00.000-06:00

"Winter Along Bluebird Road"

Photograph © Bruce A. Morrison

Well the solstice is past us now...the days will start to get longer! OK, not by much at first but it's the thought that counts! Hope you had a chance to view the total lunar eclipse on the solstice! That will never happen again in our life time. I had all my camera gear set and ready to go but when I got up at 1:30 a.m. to check it out here, the sky was still overcast and not any sign of even where the moon was. Luck of the draw I guess.

The native pasture here is now pretty much buried in snow since the last blizzard a week and a half ago. I've been plastered to the easel and doing framing work and orders.

The Christmas cards have all been printed, written in, and mailed! That's quite a job, one I've been doing now for 46 years I believe. I didn't do a painting this year as I am working on commissioned work their right now, so I printed cards with the header image above.

Georgie and I wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a great Christmas, holiday season, and a wonderful and prosperous New Year in 2011! It's hard to believe this year is almost history but that's what happens to you when you're busy I guess! But it will be Spring again before we know it, so enjoy your holiday season and Winter while you can!

See you next year in the studio!

OK - Uncle!

2010-12-11T12:49:00.001-06:00

Blizzard view from the studio door

OK, I give up! No leaving the premises today! Anyone in the region knows what I mean; the blizzard did materialize and at this time the image above is what it looks like from the studio door (opened for a couple seconds)! I cannot even make out a teeny bit of the house, which is only 75-80 feet away!

Needless to say, the Holiday Open Studio was canceled this morning (Duh!).

But I'm taking this lemon and making lemonade! Painting all weekend now...the wind is hitting 45-50 mph, so I don't even know when we'll start trying to dig out...let the fun begin!

Keep warm, stay safe!

Holiday Open Studios and a Blizzard!

2010-12-10T17:09:00.002-06:00

"Prairie Skies" © Bruce A. Morrison

9X12" - Oil on panel - available at McGee's Gallery in downtown Peterson, Iowa

"Holiday Open Studios" and a blizzard...all on the same day!!! How's that for mother nature cooperating with us!

Yes - you too can enjoy a good old NW Iowa blizzard while attending Holiday Open Studios in NW Iowa! :)

I'm actually showing at a friend's studio and gallery tomorrow...Saturday the 11th - McGee's Gallery in downtown Peterson, Iowa. But the weather...best laid plans ya know...oh well, Barb has promised me homemade beef vegetable soup for lunch and you should see the things Georgie had fixed for me to take down there! Also, I made (ya me!) my favorite treat for this time of year, coconut joys...dark chocolate in coconut.

We may not see a lot of shoppers in our "Holiday Open Studios", but I think there's enough to stoke up on to keep warm while the snow's flying! :)

It's raining pretty good right now, just got back from Hartley a few minutes ago...the forecast is this rain will start freezing sometime tonight and then the snow begins. Then while it snows tomorrow the wind is supposed to kick up to 30-40 mph. High winds, snow, ice underneath...I think I'll be eating more than selling paintings.

By Sunday morning I'm hearing we'll be below zero Fahrenheit, so I guess winter is starting before the solstice as usual. Winter on the Tallgrass, gotta love it! (What else can you do?)

Stay safe - see ya on the Tallgrass!

A Tallgrass Year

2010-12-04T16:12:00.003-06:00

Cope's Gray Tree Frog at Prairie Hill farm

Photograph © Bruce A. Morrison

Thank you to those folks who came to the Prairie Heritage Center for the Prairie program Thursday evening...although my voice gave out early on, you hung in there!

If you weren't able to make it to the center, I'm going to post the first part of the program which was a media program, recorded with images and audio from our prairie here at Prairie Hill Farm. I should state "most" of the images were from here; they were all shot within a 35 mile radius of here but at least 90% were here on our property. The music soundtrack was licensed through CSS Music, Inc.

The web address for "A Tallgrass Year" is -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjlGSSd_0Uw

We're very busy here at the studio, with the Christmas season upon us, but if you're in the area and want to stop by, please feel free!

Stay warm!

Prairie On My Mind

2010-11-28T16:48:00.000-06:00

Joe Pye Weed with Painted Lady

I've mentioned the Prairie Heritage Center before...it is a gem in the extreme SE corner of our county (O'Brien). There is an exhibit of the tallgrass prairie at the center, running now and through January 6, 2011. The exhibit is a state traveling exhibit entitled "Tallgrass Prairie - Past, Present, and Future", and is a great exhibit for all ages to see, enjoy and walk through!

With this exhibit, the host organization is responsible for putting on a program in conjunction with the exhibit theme. I was asked if I'd be willing to do so and agreed...prairie is near and very dear to my heart and I'm always happy to speak on this subject!

The Prairie Heritage Center is calling the program "Colors of the Prairie". I've put together a short media program which will be followed by "colors of the prairie" and a discussion of my experiences and personal viewpoint of the Tallgrass Prairie. The program will take place at the Prairie Heritage Center on December 2nd at 7 p.m - that's this coming Thursday night, so if you have an opportunity to get away for a short evening event - be sure and stop by!

For those of you who may not have been to the Prairie Heritage Center, directions are "east" of Sutherland, Iowa on HY 10, or "west" of Peterson, Iowa on Hwy 10...or 4931 Yellow Avenue, Peterson, Iowa. You can also call for more information at (712) 295-7200!

See you on the Tallgrass!

In The Neighborhood

2010-11-19T11:58:00.005-06:00

"Little Sioux Autumn Sunrise"

(click on image to see a larger view)

Chilly gray November days have kept me in the studio, and that's a good thing as I've been busy with several projects and some commissioned works.

One piece I've been working on was just finished and framed this week; its another color pencil and is in a panoramic format. Not a large piece, but slightly bigger than most of my recent color pencil pieces - approximately 5X16". All my color pencil work is done from my own photographs, and its not hard to see that photographic influence on these pieces. I do "edit" in my head while working on these pieces, but the original influence is still evident. This is an early autumn landscape; the corn is still in the fields and the trees are only just beginning to turn. The view is "in the neighborhood", as I like to say...probably 10 miles from the studio "as the Crow flies".

As I've said in the past, I see many things out here on the prairie in panoramic terms...it's not hard, most landscapes out here are sweeping. I could isolate the elements that make up these vistas, and often times I do; this is part of a view I enjoy again and again, and has much significance to it.

The vantage point I am standing on for this scene is on the old "O'Brien No.1" site. In the early 1940's, state botanist Ada Hayden was given a grant of $100 to travel the state and find existing prairie remnants "of importance". This location, now part of the Waterman Prairie complex, was one such location Ada recommended for preservation; she designated it as O'Brien No.1. The site was finally preserved in the mid 1990's; took long enough (!) but thankfully we finally got it right!

This view is also of geological significance. This is the view from above a 10-15 thousand year old remnant "Hanging Valley", the former river bed of the river flowing below (Little Sioux River).

The area was also home to the Mill Creek Culture, which inhabited the valley as late as around 1150 AD; there are over 80 village sites along this valley and up to where our studio is!

AND this is also the location of our earliest settler (pioneer) homesteads...a lot of natural, cultural and geological heritage happening here!

This original piece is hanging in the studio here and can be viewed any time I'm here...just give me a call or stop by and chance your luck of me being around! All my information, address and phone number can be found on our web site at http://www.morrisons-studio.com .

Tallgrass prairie, glaciers, native americans and pioneers - does it get any better than this?!?! Gotta' love it!

Winter Fare

2010-11-14T12:54:00.001-06:00

Sharp-shinned Hawk (adult)

(click on image for a larger view)

Had our first winter storm yesterday...well it's not really winter yet, we've got a few weeks before the solstice arrives. Had high winds and around 4-5 inches of snow. This kind of weather makes for good studio time...or a good book and a cup of hot soup!

The neighborhood song birds really come in to the feeders at this time of the year, and become regular guests until spring. Other birds come "visiting" for the guests, which really can make for some shorts bursts of excitement. This morning Georgie was over in the studio with me and alerted me to some wild activity out front...a Sharp-shinned Hawk was chasing the Goldfinches and Juncos around the front yard!

The bird landed in the Silver Maple out front and I grabbed the small camera and took a couple shots of it before it launched off into a chase after finches over and past the corn crib, the last we saw of it for now.

"Sharpies" are real cool little hawks, they're the smallest member of the accipiter family in North America. The bird we hosted this morning was an adult and appeared to be a female. Females birds of prey are larger than the males...their plumage is the same though. This adult is recognized by the slate gray back and wing tops, the orange barring on the breast and their red iris. An immature bird would be brown on back with a streaked brown/buff breast. If you know your accipiters you'd recognize this bird as a female because the size is basically the same as a male Cooper's Hawk - the next accipiter up the size chart. The easiest way to determine whether a bird is a female Sharp-shinned Hawk or a male Cooper's Hawk, is to look at the tail of the bird in flight or perched. The Sharpie has a "squared off" or "notched" effect on the end of it's tail while a Cooper's tail end has a "rounded" effect...they can be a hard call unless you have more time to observe and make a distinction.

I noticed a slight blood stained tinge on this bird's talons and foot pad; I'm assuming it already had break fast and was working on lunch!

Hawks are one of the reasons I grew to like birds as a kid and they still fascinate me today...my very first commissioned art work (india ink) was of a hawk (Red-tailed), when I was a teenager. Couldn't imagine a better way to earn a living! Imagine doing what you like and getting paid for it! Blew me away. It's not as easy as that of course, but I feel fortunate to be here and doing and seeing what we have here each day and season!

Here's to the season, and more drama in your life!

Out and About

2010-11-07T11:21:00.000-06:00

Negus's Bales

(click on image for a larger view)

This time of year here in NW Iowa tends to transition from the appearance of a landscape having come to fruition, to one becoming increasingly barren and monochromatic. But one thing I always find is it's the light that speaks through any landscape...and it's also the perspective or personal interest, if-you-will, that keeps things interesting or fresh in your self awareness and appreciation.

I recently ventured out into the "neighborhood" before sunrise, on a quest to fulfill a commission to photograph an agricultural landscape. I passed by the image you see at the top of this blog and thought "Wow", I have to come back here on my way home!

Thankfully the light was still great, and the wind hadn't come roaring up as it seems to have this year each time sunrise comes around. I stopped and took a few images until the sun climbed higher and the color changed slightly.

The mornings are getting crisp; it was around 20 degrees Fahrenheit and my attire wasn't quite up to snuff, so I was happy to climb back into the pickup where it was cozy. Soon the frost and snow will become the landscape's veil!

I like this piece...it makes me happy; isn't that important??!! I'm very tempted to try a painting of this scene sometime this winter when the frigid wind keeps me in the studio.

Times flies when you're having fun!

Digging Back In

2010-11-01T10:48:00.005-05:00

"After the Storm Passed - Study"

(Click on image for larger than life size image)

It's been a time of digging back in here at the studio; the hours being spent printing up jobs and framing for clients is winding down from the aftermath of the Artisans Road Trip in early October. Now it's November! (How does that happen so quickly - someone please explain it to me!!!)

Now I am mustering up the mental stage to get back into creating new work. This is the time (that comes along almost any time all year long) for me to go through my jointed and disjointed thoughts and begin new pieces. How this comes about varies wildly here! It either hits me like a 2x4, or I go back through recent and past "studies", like the small color pencil image under this blog's title...or I spend hours perusing through image files on the hard drives or the film file drawers until something talks back to me.

I'll be frank...this can be a frustrating process!

In the meantime we're at no loss for work around Prairie Hill Farm; we just finished patching cedar shingles in the barn roof, picking seed on the farm's native pasture, trimming down broken trees from the year's storms, and putting gardens to bed for the coming winter. Never a dull moment!

Bald Eagle along the valley here below the Prairie Hill Farm Studio

The wildlife around the farm has been changing from summer to winter residents also...this makes things more interesting. Certain yard birds become more numerous and our winter residents return; like the Bald Eagles in the valley here. We've now had eagles for the past couple weeks. It's pretty cool when a bird flies over your head when you're out and about the place, or when one passes by the living room window when your going about business in the house!

It can be pretty inspiring stuff! Guess I should get busy!

Revisted

2010-10-22T12:49:00.001-05:00

"Arches Mulie"

color pencil rendering - 5.25X7"

(click on image above to view as a larger size)

Just finished another small color pencil piece I've been working on for some time; this one being done for a specific purpose that I may go into down the road. But it's not my typical subject and not a regional piece this time. Occasionally I do stray off the tallgrass, and revisit places we've visited or spent reoccurring time. This piece is from the memory/photo bank of a visit by Georgie and I to the Southwest...it's been a few years, but this particular trip was memorable for both of us.

Arches National Park was one destination of ours that was pretty amazing for the senses. Going from NW Iowa to the grand and amazing geological formations of the high desert left an impression! The colors of the high desert, the flora and fauna, and even the feeling of the place were almost magical; kind of like visiting a different planet! We camped out there in the winter - yet had no snow, also with comfortable days...a place we could spend more time in without qualms!

There are many more places in our memory banks I try and revisit in my photographs and artwork. In the meantime I hope you enjoy this "snippet" from a great time and place!

Processing, Processing, Processing...

2010-10-17T16:34:00.002-05:00

"M12 Fall Bales"

(photograph - click on to view a larger image)

I Love the Fall! It's wonderful out after a few frosts have calmed the summer's mosquitoes and other biting bugs. But it's really the sky, the air and the sun I enjoy...along with fall colors, the crops being harvested, even the early evening light.

But sometimes things catch up with me...I am trying to work on the many image files I downloaded onto the hard drives. I have processing to do. A lot of processing to do.

Years back I would always look so forward to going through batches of film, either after I processed it or had it sent out instead. I shot transparency film, so spent a lot of time over the light table peering through a loupe , checking for film scratches, sharpness and what were "keepers". When this film returned from a processor, it was almost like Christmas...I'd eagerly open each box in anticipation! When I processed it myself (E-3, then E4, then E-6 processing), I still got excited about what I was seeing but the work load would temper this enthusiasm somewhat.

I still look forward to going through images on the computer monitor, the old feeling of anticipation is still there but one thing I have noticed the past 10 years (I've been shooting digital since 2000) is the work load actually gets more cumbersome! Why? Well, when I shot film there was a "finite" number of exposures I could make...you'd have to be made of money for that not to be true! With digital I found I was freed up a great deal and did much more experimentation...also I took many more photos of what I'd call "idea" shots...these "ideas" pile up fast! Soon I have more "ideas" than I can manage - on my hard drive or in my own head! But I keep recording these ideas...and they need "Processing"...they have to be sorted and filed somehow so I don't forget them or loose track of where they're at.

Georgie knows how "organized" I am...uh...OK - "disorganized" :) But I still plug away.

The "M12 Fall Bales" photo at the top of this post was forgotten...but I only took it 5 days ago!!! Uh...I also saw numerous...too many to count images that I forgot about, and they've only been taken the past 2-3 weeks! I think I need to do a dump on my hard drive most people call a "head"! I seem to be hobbled as to how much can actually go up there and still be retrieved without too much difficulty!

The "M12 Fall Bales" image is something I like to do; panorama shots are becoming more common...I've been doing them since around the time I shifted to digital film, and they were less common then. There is now a myriad of software and cameras out there that automatically pull these shots together (stitch them) but I am still stubbornly plodding away - doing them the "old" way...stitching frames "by hand"...well, still with the computer, but without the automated programs. (This shot is made from 4 individual frames.) This takes a while, but it still feels right to me. Maybe someday the "processing" will get to me and I'll relent and go "auto" (?)...we'll see.

For now I'll still go through all these images that I shot just last week and had forgotten, or will uncover that great moment I remembered from last summer or spring - but tucked away so well I forgot where it was!

Never a dull moment here...now back to processing...

Studio Autumn

2010-10-11T18:42:00.000-05:00

We can count on the Raccoons here to get themselves into trouble!

Been a lot of activity around here...the critters especially! Hasn't been a night recently we haven't been serenaded with the Coyotes in the valley, and the night time visitors (Raccoons) to the yard are getting into mischief here and there. During the day we are watching the old familiar birds of summer leave us and old familiar friends, such as the Blue Jays, are becoming more and more vocal around the yard.

Georgie counted 15 Blue Jays in the yard this morning - it's a "party"!

(No, really - that's what a flock of Blue Jays is called...they can also be called a "riot"!)

It's been a busy time digging out from under the A.R.T. weekend too. Still working on framing orders and commissioned work and watching the neighbors take out their crops - everyone is busy around here right now!

It's been a very warm fall here so far. We have had a couple frosts but it gets right back up into the 80's and the air's full of all the biting/pesty insects you could ever shake a stick at! Yesterday Georgie and I finally saw a few clouds in the sky (the past couple weeks have been clear) so we decided to take a Sunday afternoon drive down along the Glacial Trail Scenic Byway south of us, since we hadn't been along it since summer. There's a temporary web site for the trail run through the Iowa Lakes RC&D at - http://www.iowalakesrcd.org/GlacialTrailScenicByway.htm if you're interested in where it's at...the DOT is putting together a final site that'll be finished sometime in the future.

The Iowa DOT (dept of transportation) has been working to revamp signage and revitalize the byways in the state. This includes showcasing various places and events in the region and just the natural scenic aspects of the byway area as well. I freelance throughout the year and last spring got a contract to shoot the landscapes and activities along this byway.

The autumn colors in the NW corner of the state here this fall are not as good as in years past. Georgie and I found ourselves trying hard to find color compositions along the roads...you know things are not good when it becomes work to find fall photographs! The reds, burgundies, and oranges are not present along the road ways here this year...the yellows are spotty in small numbers.

Fall color in the trees of NW Iowa are sometimes very hit and miss...sometimes it's just the luck of the draw. I think the best autumn color this year is in the prairies! Check out this past blog showing Indian grass and New England asters for striking colors - then imagine it "en masse"! Very satisfying color out on the NW Iowa tallgrass prairies right now!

Hope you're enjoying it!

Thank You!

2010-10-06T16:37:00.000-05:00

"Little Sioux Valley Autumn"

It was a beautiful weekend during the Artisans Road Trip...the fields here were busy with the harvest and those who were able to get out into the country side enjoyed the clear fall air and warm sunshine.

Here at the Prairie Hill Farm Studio we had many new visitors, which is a good thing! I like showing work to folks that have never been here - and people that haven't been to the farm or studio are always amazed at the beauty of our location and the studio itself. It's great to see first impressions in people's eyes! :)

I'm happy to say that there were several original works that found new homes this year, and I'm always glad to see pieces go to a good home...warms my heart! You'll notice a few "Sold Signs" at the Studio's web site. I also have some commissioned work this year which I think is great as well! In fact I was out and about this morning gathering field material for a commissioned oil painting...autumn is my favorite time of the year to be outside.

I'd like to take a moment to say "Thank You" to everyone who stopped by Prairie Hill Farm Studio to see us. Thank you for your patronage, interest and support!

Have a great Autumn!

Autumn Begins!

2010-09-22T16:37:00.004-05:00

Yes, this evening at 10:09 pm (central time) is the Autumnal Equinox. And I just learned it's also the Harvest Moon! I think I remember the first full moon after fall begins is the harvest moon, and by coincidence the moon is full tonight - that hasn't happened in 19 years! Pretty cool!

Well...we won't be seeing the moon tonight here because we're having our last stormy day and night of the summer (remember it's still summer till after 10 pm tonight!). We've been squeezed between some big boomers most of the afternoon...either slipping past us to the east or north. Hearing that they've been dropping walnut sized hail and larger, we weren't disappointed to be missed! (knock on wood)

Addendum: well we just got nearly an inch of rain and marble to quarter size hail...all in about 10 minutes...still "feels" like summer!

"Rain Shaft"

(Click on image for larger than life size image)

In honor of the last day of summer I've done a miniature piece entitled "Rain Shaft" the piece is a color pencil on hot press paper and will be part of a few miniature pieces here for sale during the 2010 Artisans Road Trip coming a week from this Friday (Oct 1st, 2nd and 3rd).

I like doing these small miniatures but I also like doing pieces that can be a spring board for larger works down the road and I think "Rain Shaft" would lend itself wonderfully for an oil or larger color pencil rendering. That's the way storms look from Prairie Hill Farm during the spring and summer - they can be quite impressive and larger than life!

Like to own your own original work?! Hey, miniatures are in everyone's budget...and I throw in the easel to boot :)

Stay safe in the storms and enjoy the fall to come!

Hope to see you here at the studio during A.R.T.!

Nearing the Equinox

2010-09-19T12:59:00.003-05:00

"Night Pasture - Great Horned Owl"

(click on image for larger view)

Summer is just about a memory now. I'm sure we'll still have plenty of nice days to come "hinting" at what we selectively remember fondly of the past season...but autumn is in the air and the Monarchs have left their roost here at Prairie Hill Farm (see "A Tallgrass Journal" blog) and are well on their way to Mexico!

We're still enjoying the invertebrates of this season though - minus the mosquitoes, black flies and the soon to come hoards of Asian Lady Bird Beetles. It's a philosophical exercise in "justifying" those bugs that torment us! But this is the season of goldenrods and asters...and there are still many butterflies, "friendly" wasps, bees, and spiders to see on the prairie!

We've been enjoying the sounds of the season here very much. Each night has been bringing the late summer insect serenades, the neighborhood Great Horned Owl has been hooting from the yard by the house around 3-4 a.m. each morning and the Coyotes in the valley have "sung" numerous times for us this month!

I'm going to share our Great Horned Owl, serenading insects and one lone (distant) Coyote calling for it's friends, with you. I posted this audio snippet with friends on Face Book and I'll share it here on the Prairie Hill Farm blog too. If you are an e-mail subscriber to this blog you'll need to visit the physical blog or my Studio Face Book page to view/listen!

Since Google's blogspot doesn't have a really easy way to post simple audio files, I'll share it as a video file. The image used on the video is a small "detail" of the image posted at the beginning of this blog...one I shared about 3 years back on this very blog. It is of the pasture across the road from us, depicted at night in late summer - a moon lit landscape with a Great Horned Owl passing through in flight...maybe (?) on it's way up to Prairie Hill Farm to spook a rabbit or skunk out of cover for it's dinner!

This artwork original sold at the Artisans Road Trip back in 2008 but I do have signed open edition prints of this work for sale at the 2010 A.R.T. event this year. I also have many new works (photographs, drawings and paintings) this year and would love to share them with you at the 2010 Artisans Road Trip coming up in just 2 weeks! We'll share a lot of mouth watering treats from Georgie's kitchen as well!

Why not go on a early autumn road trip the 1st, 2nd or 3rd of October and stop by the studio here at Prairie Hill Farm?!!! Even take a walk through the late Tallgrass Prairie here too and enjoy that air we all remember in the fall!

Enjoy the "Night Sounds" audio video and stop in for some day time memories if you're in the neighborhood!!!

Nearly September

2010-08-31T17:17:00.001-05:00

"Nearly September"

8X6" oil on mounted canvas

(click on image for a larger view)

If you subscribe to this blog, the title will seem "late"...you'll likely receive it "in" September!! The last hours of August are upon us and we sit and wonder when time will slow...but it was fun while it lasted (I think) and the mosquitoes are getting closer to being zapped away by the eventual first hard frost! Ya, OK I'm getting too far ahead of myself! Let's enjoy September now and not look too far ahead.

The small plein air painting I'm posting was done several days back; I'm even late posting it. It was named appropriately (at the time) "Nearly September". This was one of the last summer skies we had in August, and the goldenrods and sunflowers were beginning to overtake the prairie, bringing the rust and yellow hues of late summer to the grasses of native pasture ground.

I'm very far behind on everything, in the studio and in the field. I actually missed the peak on our own summer liatris bloom here. That's just sad! But we gotta do what we gotta do and that's that. More framing and printing ahead through September to reach the Artisans Road Trip deadline. Looking forward to a very nice autumn ahead! Hope to see you here at the studio in a few weeks!

Dry Spell?

2010-08-23T11:28:00.001-05:00

August mornings are full of dew covered webs
(click on images for a larger view)

We haven't had rain for almost 2 weeks now! I'm voicing this as a positive thing, mind you; it is so nice to have a reprieve from constant rain this summer. One thing it has brought to the region is lush landscapes and record crops though - an amazing change from our normal dry and browning late summer settings.

I'm experiencing a short dry spell in the studio too, was planning on getting some more painting time in but have had several personal and business issues get in the way. I came to the realization just a couple days ago that I only have 6 weeks to prepare for the Artisans Road Trip on October 1-3! Holy smokes where did the summer go!??!

The Stiff Goldenrods(Solidago rigida) are bowing over with blossoms

and the weight of pollinators (Monarchs in this case)!

Well, it (summer) hasn't disappeared yet but it is rocketing toward fall now...what we're seeing on the prairie remnant pasture here is now in the late liatris, prairie onion, goldenrod and sunflower stage. I had to spend a couple hours in the pasture yesterday clearing the fire break/paths. The rain has grown monster goldenrods and sunflowers and they've all toppled over each other and onto the paths making mowing impossible. I had to cut stalks and volunteer trees (we get a lot of mulberry, elm and locust volunteers in the pasture), and wade through a gazillion butterflies, flies, bees and wasps in a feeding frenzy on the blossoms...and mosquitoes on me!

I'm settling in to the studio as best I can to pick up the momentum here now. But I'm going to have a tough time tearing myself away from the prairie outside the door ...maybe I'll get a chance or two to sneak in a painting yet this summer?!

When it Rains...

2010-08-13T12:01:00.000-05:00

Orange and Clouded Sulphurs

(Colias eurytheme and philodice)

As the old adage goes...it does pour. Everything to excess this summer it seems! Too much rain! Too much work to wade through (much because of the rain). But who could ever say too many butterflies?! Don't look at me!

It has been a busy summer for the Sulphurs...for a couple weeks there they seemed to commit a mass amount of lives to highway traffic. But on the rural roads and yards every where they are adding a great deal of color.

I'm just stepping off a busy weekend from a bio blitz at Lost Island Lake. It was a great time to see butterflies, dragonflies, mammals, birds, prairie plants - you name it! I was in charge of the prairie plant inventory process.

A Bio Blitz is when a bunch of folks get together in organized groups and methodically walk through specific locations and list species they find. This is an exciting process but very intense, especially when you are trying to determine species closely related to others or which may be new to you! I am still going through the listing process but getting closer to the end...it'll be interesting to see what we found as an event!

Get out if you can and enjoy what's going on right now...it's pretty amazing out there!

Night Noise

2010-08-03T19:53:00.003-05:00

Sedge Wren singing (during day time!)

from Maximilian Sunflower

(Helianthus maximlianii) perch

I've been recording the night's here...audio recording the night noise, it's mesmerizing. Painting and photographing the natural world is my avocation...appreciating it is my "hobby" I guess you could say. A personal interest only for the fun and enjoyment of it.

One thing I've not been totally successful in recording is the Sedge Wren here at Prairie Hill Farm. They've been elusive to photograph as well, but one special characteristic with the Sedge Wren is one of it's calling habits - it sings nearly all night long! Well, "singing" is a kind way to describe it.

Sedge Wrens do sing during daylight hours too, but I can't get over how they don't burn themselves out?! When do they ever sleep?! I "can" tell you when they don't! Wake up around here at 1, 2, or 3 a.m. and I'll almost guarantee a Sedge Wren down in the pasture or out back, singing away.

I've been trying to record the nights here this summer...I've done bits and pieces in past years too, but the Sedge Wren's voice doesn't carry loudly enough to record well from the house. I usually stick a microphone out the upstairs window and then go to bed! That's the lazy way of recording nature! I have given thought to taking the equipment out and recording outside...I've done it many times but found out the hard way...you don't let electronics run long outdoors here in the summer at night. Our dewpoints have been tropical here this summer...in the 70's to around 80 degrees. I fried my parabolic microphone a few years back when I left it outside recording nature sounds. I got up and went out to turn the tape over in my deck (to record the other side), only to find out the entire set up was covered in a heavy dew...fried everything that was running...a sad state of affairs for a "hobbiest" audio guy, and it took only an hour to do it. :(

It's wet out there!!!

"Sedge Wren Sunrise"

(oil painting by Bruce A. Morrison)

Sedge Wrens are one of our grassland birds...they prefer tall grass and pasture or prairie or wetland edge...it's their cup of tea. I did a painting of one from a early sunrise encounter one year...the bird singing it's heart out like it was trying to get a few last notes in before the sun over took the landscape.

I'm going to double post this blog onto the "A Tallgrass Journal" also...it's suitable for both purposes, I'll just tweak it a bit, so if you follow the "A Tallgrass Journal" you'll see the little guy there as well.

Stay up late and give these little guys a listen...one of these days I'll possibly be able to post some audio of them for you...good night from the Studio!

July In The Valley

2010-07-24T19:30:00.002-05:00

"July In The Valley"

6X8" oil on mounted canvas
(click on image for a larger view)

July in the valley...I could really get nostalgic about it. If there were something to hold you through the winter months, one thing would be July in the valley here.

This afternoon the clouds were just wonderful...why should I sound surprised- they always are! I was able to do a small plein air study from the yard - looking east across the valley here. Nothing spectacular like a mountain vista but just as pretty in my eyes. Just as moving in my mind. Just as perfect a day as there ever was. I'm looking at this study as a larger finished painting sometime down the road.

Georgie and I sat out on the studio deck late this afternoon after I had finished painting and she had finished with a day of garden work and weeding...and enjoyed a couple beers...the view...and July in the valley...

Ever Have One?

2010-07-15T21:05:00.002-05:00

Late Afternoon Bales"

(6X8" oil on mounted canvas)

Ever have one of those days where you almost lose it? I'm sure we all have...yesterday was my turn I guess. Near panic struck when it appeared both backup hard drives had gone south on me. What are the chances of that? I didn't care to entertain the thought...just kept trouble shooting the studio system until I figured out that apparently my firewire board was toast instead.

Whew...that was close! But after that I had to backup files via USB...and we're talking Gigs of backup...my whole last 2 weeks of field and studio work. Long story short, I spent over 10 hours doing nothing but transferring ones and zeros.

When Georgie came home for lunch she knew something was wrong...I don't like talking about the computers because it makes both of us crazy! After I told her (I hadn't figured the firewire issue out yet), she suggested I just go back to bed or lock myself safely away so I wouldn't destroy anything else...was tempted but knew I had to face the music. Boy that's a sick feeling!

Happy ending though; all was saved.

After the tribulation was over Georgie mentioned to me that one of the neighbors was baling hay across the road. Been waiting to see that...bales are a favorite farm subject of mine.

Today was a beautiful day...the short heat spell had broken during the night and the humidity was perfect. After doing chores and other correspondence on jobs and such I figured it'd be a great day to paint some bales!

A small piece, but you never know - they might come and get them before I finish!!!

Today was more like it. Hope you had a good one as well!

Workin' It and Enjoyin' It

2010-07-12T11:51:00.005-05:00

"Late Summer Afternoon"

(12X16" oil on mounted canvas)

There is so much going on out on the prairie these days; keeping up is not realistic but taking advantage of just "some" opportunities here is even tough!

I have been very involved in work on one end of the spectrum...just finished another client's website so was able to put in a little painting time again. We've had so many amazing skies here the past several weeks and I love painting skies...this "Late Summer Afternoon" painting was one that typically presents itself out west of the "back 80" here, however this time I made up the foreground...the back 80 is in soybeans this summer and just not so interesting visually. Since this was a plein air study, the foreground was actually put in a few days later back at the studio after some "pondering"; but still done with brief efficiency of brushwork.

I've been making excursions afield when I'm able and have been back logged with image file processing...I'll post more on the summer prairies in the neighborhood when I get more caught up.

Work it and enjoy it!

Gathering...

2010-07-06T18:45:00.006-05:00

Bobolink - male
(click on images to enlarge)

I've been persuing field material...gathering if-you-will. Two birds have been playing tag with me this summer; I'd like to do some small studies of them...then perhaps a larger piece of work...painting or drawing. They've both been here in the pastures this summer - should make it easier huh! Not. For some reason these guys move onto the neighboring crop ground where I can't get close to them...private ground too. So I've been looking on public prairie areas that are larger in size, so they don't feel so squeezed when I'm nearby. I find birds will eventually get used to your presence if they have some space.

Bobolink - female

The two birds are the Bobolinks and the Dickcissels. Both are grassland obligates, or birds that require grassland habitat to survive and nest. Interestingly the Bobolinks are one of the first grassland birds to complete nesting and leave. They are in the process of doing so right now!

I was photographing on a large prairie area last week and noticed the males were bunching up...one of the first signs that the second phase of their summer was about to begin. Then I noticed immature birds...young that had fledged (left the nest). Yup, there they go!

Don't misunderstand, these birds will still be around for a few weeks but not in a predictable manner. They seem to move from one area to the next for the rest of the summer (kind of nomadic) , and they seldom call and display as they have the past several weeks. I miss them already!

Dickcissel - male

The Dickcissels are still calling here...saying their name and declaring territory or just enjoying themselves! Dickcissel males are the real singers, the females have an insect like buzz when they're disturbed around the nest or young.

Dickcissel - female

Have some image files to go through but hopefully will find some possibilities I can entertain. Gathering images and material is fun, now comes the hard part!

Summer Rambling

2010-06-30T17:19:00.005-05:00

"Summer Memories"

(12X16" - oil on mounted canvas)

click image for larger view

I've been waffling from the studio to the prairie to "on the road to nearby prairies", the past couple weeks. I'm being tugged where ever I look. I'm convinced I had an attention deficit way back in the 1950's and 60's before there was a name for it! But I'm trying hard to keep up with it all...finally finished a "farm/summer" landscape. I'm throwing the word "memories" in the piece title because it was not all painted from life and also because the more I worked on the piece the more I remembered the summer weeks my brother and I would spend together on my grand parent's (my mother's folks) farm in central Iowa way back in the 50's and early 60's. I have to stop thinking so much about these things as I'm getting way too melancholy for my own good!

"Jack's Bales"
(2 1/2"X3 1/2"color pencil)

click image for larger view

I was also toying with just something fun...something to do with my idle hands when I had no "great" idea boiling in my brain :) I did this small 2.5X3.5" color pencil rendering from a photograph I took across the road from us about 3 years back. Just to have a little more fun with it I've put it onto a miniature easel for displaying...no great fodder for thought but ya gotta keep things less serious sometimes.

Out in our native pasture, the succession of forbs (wildflowers) is moving right along. We've experienced quite a bit of rain in June here. 14.35" here at our Prairie Hill farm...I don't believe we even had 1 inch here last year during the same period...it was extremely dry then. Feast or famine! The mosquitoes have now arrived with all this standing water and a walk through the prairie brings other logistical problems...I've taken to wearing my bug hat and a cotton sweatshirt! Like a mini sauna...great for a weight loss aid!

Showy tick trefoil

(Desmodium canadense)

click image for larger view

One forb I like collecting seed from is the Showy tick trefoil...I used to collect it's seed when I was a kid - but never knew it...well, I knew it but didn't know what it was and didn't appreciate it! The seed, sometimes called "beggars tick", sticks to anything...kinda like a predecessor to velcro! I love it now because you don't need a bag or sack to collect it...just walk through it and it sticks to your clothes! Then pick it off when you get home...in front of the TV works for me :)

Hope you can get out, avoid the skeeters, and enjoy the prairie!