The Process

American Robin

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

Two days ago it was a blanket of snow....yesterday it was 3/4" of rain...its a process, this season called Spring.

The Herons are back in the rookery across the valley...we're not sure how many more are to arrive, or how many here now will move on.  It depends on the season called Spring.  Some Springs can be brutal and some storybook pleasant.  I like a good story, maybe this will be a nice one.

Dark-eyed junco - male

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 Many birds have returned to the acreage, like the Robins and the Red-winged blackbirds and Grackles.  Some are gathering to leave for north destinations, like the Dark-eyed juncos and Tree sparrows. 

Black-capped Chickadee

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

Our Chickadees are still with us...most Springs they gravitate back to the woodlands down the valley. But many more "visitors" stop by for a few short weeks to visit and we expect them soon!  

Its all a part of Spring...its a process you know! 

 

Past and Present

"Black-capped Chickadee and Blue Jay Portraits"

from the Favorite Birds Portrait Series

colored pencil drawings - © Bruce A. Morrison

I was recently thinking about where portraits and paintings of birds have gone with me over the years.  I don't believe I still have the "very first" images I drew of birds, but do have some from my teenage years...the very first "commissioned" birds I can remember doing were india ink drawings...I may still have slides of those...I'll have to do some digging and see.  I think they were around 1966-67 when I was around 16-17 years old?

The "portrait " series I've been dabbling with the past couple years, when my time permits, have all been in color pencil.  The earlier ones in Prismacolor and the later with Lyra polycolor.  My very first color pencil of a bird was a rather badly done drawing of a Peregrine Falcon.  I don't remember the year but I'm guessing it was around 1962-3.  I vaguely remember what that drawing looked like and it's not a memory I care to hang onto!  But we all have to start somewhere.

 "Blue Jay" on mat board
colored pencil drawing - © Bruce A. Morrison

I took up color pencils again around the early 1980's...the image above is of the type of work I did at that time...using a colored board to draw upon was a convenient  tool - saving a lot of time in rendering a background color with the pencils themselves.  

"Snow Laden Cedar - Chickadees"

oil painting - © Bruce A. Morrison

I did many drawings of birds but didn't "paint" a bird until my first year in Community College.  I was in my art teacher's office and saw paintings he was working on.  He had a painting of a Killdeer that I was quite taken with - here was an artist painting birds!  I always wanted to paint birds and this was the catalyst that pushed me forward!  My art teacher "Mr. Halm" (Robert Halm) encouraged all his students to do what "moved" them and that was wonderful encouragement for me.

The "Snow Laden Cedar - Chickadees" was a change from earlier years too, I was now placing birds in their environment.

It is occasionally fun to look back where you were years ago, but that was "then" and this is "now".   Keep moving forward!

 

A Bright Spot

"Black-capped Chickadee"

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

We don't get many Chickadees here on the acreage as we are somewhat removed from the timber that stands in the valley below to our SE.  We did have a pair or two when we first moved here in 2002 but West Nile disease had made its appearance in NW Iowa a year or two earlier and swept through the populations of certain birds...curiously, the Chickadees were one of those affected. (Crows and Blue Jays were other known victims) 

Occasionally through recent years we might have one in the yard for a few days, but they inevitably leave.  I presumed we didn't keep them because their numbers were down and they were likely seeking other Chickadees to associate with.

Black-capped Chickadee numbers have rebounded significantly in NW Iowa now and we're lucky again this winter to hear their cheery songs...its one bird I can imitate and talk to, and Chickadees are actually one of the songbirds that are not terribly skittish around people.  

I remember years ago on the north shore of Lake Superior at our small cabin, walking the paths we grubbed out to the lake shore...being followed by a small group of Black-capped Chickadees.  They seemed most curious about me and flitted along with me as I walked - all within arm's reach.  It was mesmerizing and quite uplifting!  I talked with them and they seemed fascinated by this "Big" bird on two legs, talking back to me as well.  

We're very lucky to have a pair of Chickadees this winter here.  On mornings when its well below zero and even with a stiff breeze - there is always one bird song cheering us all on - our Black-capped Chickadees!

 

Solstice

The Winter Solstice comes tomorrow (Sunday the 21st) and now it definitely looks and feels the part even more than my last post. We've had around 15-16 inches of snow this past week and now the NWesters are bucking up and it's feeling like we're in it for the long haul!

Yesterday after blowing out the drives and paths (3 hours worth) I was walking some mail down to the box and a flock of Canada Geese at least a half mile long (I kid not!) came over the farm at that height you hear the wing beats...it was totally cool! I felt you could hold a conversation with them - they were so low and the air so still. The birds weren't in their characteristic "V" but one long string until near the very end they began to break off into a couple separate formations. I usually think of Canada Geese as autumn birds...but hey it was still autumn yesterday after all.

I've done Canada Geese in my work before but not in winter settings. Most of my winter work, whether photography or artwork, has served as Christmas card material over the past 40 some years. In early years I did pen and ink, transparent wash, or lino cuts for cards, but gradually graduated to serigraphs (silkscreen prints), photographs and paintings.

I should have opted for a photograph this year because my time has been too tied up, but I got this ...well, for a lack of a better word "idea", that I thought would make a nice winter painting so started one about 2 weeks ago. It wasn't till I was about half way through the piece that Georgie said to me something about how close to the "deadline" I was working. I pondered her warning and then realized, good grief - Christmas was somehow sneaking up on me! How did this happen?!

The Black-capped Chickadee header for this blog was a simpler "illustrative" card from 1984. I believe it was a ink/wash drawing. I did many more ink drawings than any other medium early on, in fact my first "sale" in the early 60's was an ink drawing.

The next year's design got a little more involved, it was a 6 color serigraph. One thing about silk screening is the "error factor" when you have miss-registrations, ink "accidents", and mixed colors running out before they were supposed to. On this piece I ran out of the two rabbit colors (the highlight base and the top color) before I wanted, so I had a lot of prints with no rabbit - just tree!

In recent years, I've done a few more color pencil pieces but I think the first one to be done specifically for a Christmas card design was this one done in 2001 (titled "Winter in Iowa"). I really enjoy color pencil work but have not done many recently...it's a time thing...dang time!

Yesterday I finished printing, writing, and sending out the last of my Christmas cards for the year. "Time" really got in my face this year...I'll have to start this process around Halloween next year maybe?

Keep warm out there!