From the Tallgrass - 2012

 

artwork  © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view) 

Thank you to everyone who made it to the exhibit's artist reception!  If you haven't been able to stop by the Witter Gallery in Storm Lake just yet, I hope you can make it sometime while the exhibit is up through the 26th of April!

Thank you...

...Bruce

Time...

(click on image for a larger view)

Time...just never have enough of it do we!!?  It keeps slipping away, but we make due as best we can.

The next "From the Tallgrass" exhibit begins next week and I'm still printing tags and crating up work to haul to Storm Lake.  We'll have over 60 works in this exhibit!  I'm not in the panic mode yet but its closing in!

Time is also "speeding" along in the valley here outside the studio.  The Wild Plum flower buds are swelling and will most certainly be intoxicating the countryside with their mesmerizing smell and beautiful blossoms in just a few days!  This is 4 weeks sooner than we've recorded them in the past...I keeping saying it but the weather is really ahead of itself this year...almost like the planet sped up rotation and skipped a month somewhere this winter!

I hope I don't miss the plums during the last minute preparation with the exhibit!  And I hope you don't miss out either!  Be sure and set some time aside this April if you can and stop by the Witter Gallery in Storm Lake, Iowa to see "From the Tallgrass".  And if you can make it next Thursday, April 5th - early evening - from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m., I'd sure love to see ya at the artist's reception!

Don't let things slip away this spring, enjoy every moment you can!

Spring!

"Winter Along the Little Sioux"

color pencil drawing - 6X10" - © Bruce A. Morrison
(click on image for a larger view)

Today is the first day of spring!!!  So why am I heading this blog with a winter landscape??  Well I'd been working on this little color pencil piece for the past several weeks and finally finished it last night - on the last day of winter!  Glad that's over (in more ways than one).

(click on image for a larger view)

I've been busy preparing for my solo exhibit coming up in April...getting things labeled, crated up and ready to roll!  The "From the Tallgrass" exhibit opens on April 5th at the Witter Gallery in Storm Lake, Iowa and runs through April 26th.

There will be an Artist's Reception at the Gallery on Thursday, April 5th.  The reception runs from 5:30 - 7:00 p.m. and the public is invited!  That means you!  :)

This should be a fun exhibit.  Come on down to Storm Lake and see what I've been up to the past 9 months!  I'd love to see ya there! 

Wishing you a great Spring!

Mid (to late?) Summer at Prairie Hill Farm

Big Bluestem in flower at the Prairie Hill Farm Prairie

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

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

"Prairie Cantabile"  Painted Violin 

(casein on applied canvas)

© Bruce A. Morrison

(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! 

From The Tallgrass...A Book

Something that I've had in the works for some time is a portfolio of works that summarizes my direction as an artist over the past three decades or so. "From The Tallgrass" is now in book form and available "now" online and soon at the Prairie Hill Farm Studio.

I must say I was very pleased with the print quality of the color and the B&W work in the book. If you wanted a visual synopsis of the Tallgrass Prairie and my painting, drawing, and photography over the years...this is it. If you're a collector...you may see some familiar pieces in there as well.

Available as softbound, hardbound w/dust jacket (recommend), or hardbound w/image wrap (with either I'd recommend the "premium" paper choice)- you can check it out online Here or just click on the book cover above or the link on the side of the online blog.

Thank you to all who have supported my work through the years, I hope to bring you more in the years ahead...

...Bruce