Autumn Is Good!

 "Autumn on Yellow Avenue in SE O'Brien County, IA"

(photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison)

The days are shortening and the color is good...the air is crisp, yet the sun is warm; this is a neat time of year and as with the harvest, there is much to be thankful for.  

 "High Water Color on the Des Moines in northern Webster County, IA"

(photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison)

We don't live in New England or where colors are breathtaking with reds, yellows and oranges shared among hardwoods like hard maples, but we can occasionally get lucky with autumn when all the cards fall just right, and this was such a year!

 "Electric Blues on the North Raccoon in southern Sac County, IA"

(photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison)

 Georgie and I drove the back roads here and in this corner of the state. taking in the transient scenery - a chance to get away from the daily tasks and reflect.

 "Below the Rapids on the North Raccoon in northern Sac County, IA"

(photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison)

We miss the river roads and streams of past journeys - they were dressed in colorful attire, preparing for a good rest from the past year.

 "Quiet Color near the Washta Access in southern Cherokee County, IA"

(photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison)

Some places were bright and noisily passing the day away, while others more somber and reflective.  It's been another year of new experiences, of life's sorrows and joy; it's now a time to rest and regain one's bearings, and to be grateful for those blessings that have come our way

Have a great Autumn season and be good to one another!

Still...

Prairie Autumn Stream No.27X14" Prismacolor (color pencil drawing)

I finally finished another autumn color pencil piece I started way back before Christmas. I'm glad it's over; it wrestled me most of the way. I will offer this piece for sale as all originals I do...just have to set up a page on my business website for it first...in the meantime, if you are interested just email me and I can give you the particulars.

As in my mid November post, this image also came from the same trip Georgie and I made down into Sac County, Iowa while working on the Watchable Wildlife project. The day was horribly windy and very little came out of the trip as publishable photographs but it was beautiful and I used the image files to draw from to try and recapture that valley along the Raccoon River.

Back lit scenes are a favorite of mine, but I'm going to take a rest from them for a bit and try to get onto some other images burned into some lost corner of my brain.

This is what it currently looks like in the back grove today, we're in a blizzard warning and all county plows have been pulled off the roads till later tonight. We can't even see the mail box down the hill as I write.


So, this is where I'm staying at the time being...where I should be I guess! Looking for warm weather images to conjure up!

Stay safe...stay inside!!!

Autumns Past

Prairie Autumn Stream
7X14" Prismacolor (color pencil drawing)
SOLD
 

It's still autumn here in the valley, but it's the time of fall when all color has drained from the landscape, save the sky. The sun still lends a beautiful yet subtle magenta veil to the hill sides and high tree branches when it nears it's last breath in the late afternoon.

Autumn was once (maybe still is in many ways) my favorite time of year. I used to spend fall days walking the edges of the Des Moines River in Fort Dodge (Iowa), or even wading to Duck Island...or wading Lizard Creek for Smallmouth Bass. There is nothing quite like fishing in-stream with a pair of waders on; you feel the stream, sense it's rhythm, and smell that fall air. It's easy to lose your balance and take a chilly bath if you get caught up in your surroundings and not pay attention to what you're doing. Sometimes I felt waders were just foreplay with the stream.

The image above is from the past 3 weeks with my color pencils and blenders. It was inspired by what I have just reminisced. When you get to my age, a lot of what directs or moves you is past experiences like that. How could someone paint, draw or write about something they have not experienced, dreamnt or reminisced?!

The material for this effort was garnered far from our last Watchable Wildlife trip down to Sac County in late October. It was very windy that day...30mph and higher, not a great photography day. But, as I described back then, the landscape was wonderful. I may have one or two salvageable images from that day to use as photos down the road...I just have not had the time to process/edit yet. But the material from my files were perfect to order for a painting or drawing, and I chose the later.

It could pass for Lizard Creek, or even the Little Sioux, and even (after a stretch) - Waterman Creek, here across the valley...but it's still a prairie stream.

Drift down your stream, if just in your mind and memory...