Making Use of Time

"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!

 

Summer Still

September Dawn, Little Sioux River
Oil on mounted canvas - 6X8"
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This morning was a nice replay of many mornings this summer, particularly this month. A nice morning haze or low lying fog along the valleys and streams. It is something I like to try and chase on occasion, for the effect it plays upon the landscape.

I did a painting today and the fog on the Little Sioux River was fleeting, it was gone when the work began, but there was a very light transparent veil over the water as the sun burned through the trees upstream.

This was a difficult effect I've never tried to tackle before and very transient. The inception of the piece was begun on site and the painting finished here in the studio. I tried a smaller canvas in hopes I could do justice to the fleeting impression I had of the river at dawn...but even so it is something I'd like to try more of in the future.

I don't know if I can get in any more painting before the Artisans Road Trip in two weeks, but I'll try if possible. My to-do list for A.R.T. is getting longer!

5 days till summer's end!

High Summer Sky

The Pearson Lakes Art Center notified me they are having their 2008 Plein Air Invitational Painting Exhibition beginning on September 19th. The show runs through November 8th. I have to have up to 4 painting done by September 16th and am feeling a little pressure here with so much going on. The paintings are to be done outside on location and within a 60 mile radius of the lakes area...that's a help for me as I'd like to have more choices as to what to paint.

(Sold)

I've finished my first plein air piece of the summer and am hoping to get to at least one more. Time is a nagging issue this summer and I regret that part...would like to get out and do more!

I call this piece (a 9X12" oil) "High Summer Sky". Its of a low wetland area near Hwy 9 north of here about 30 minutes.The sky is my focal point - the thing that stops me along the road and begs for long looks and admiration for creation itself.

The prairie and wetlands have the sky as their "mountain" backdrop, only they have the advantage for a changing view every hour of each day.

The hayfield across the road from us is being bailed this very moment, so I'm hoping they don't cart them off before I can get down there to take advantage of the landscape possibilities...