Painting, Photography and the Tallgrass Prairie are passions of mine.
Finding time for all can be a challenge! Stop by from
time to time and join me in the process.
Although this month has half expired, I still think of it as new. I probably exhaust people with my lamentations of time slipping through our figurative fingers, but in my mind - August just arrived!
I just recently finished a small oil painting of a hay bale in a nearby county area planted to prairie. It brings about many thoughts to mind.
About 25 years ago I met a farmer down in Larabee, Iowa who had hayed the prairie ground on Steele prairie (Northern Cherokee County) every summer during his youth and younger years. He talked of the amazing flowers and grasses, the Prairie Skinks, and the grassland birds...the ground had never been plowed.
It must have been just like the early settlers trying to make due with life on this virgin earth...imagine the smell of the fresh cut prairie vegetation, the sight and sounds of bounty back then!
A small plot of county land a couple miles north of us holds nothing quite as dramatic, but when I discovered the prairie planting there had been mowed and baled, I couldn't resist taking some photos and trying an oil painting of one. (SE O'Brien County)
Although the haying of prairie 100+ years back would not resemble the round bales of modern farming by any stretch of the imagination - I cannot resist the temptation of images of hay bales in the landscape. The Black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta) flowering around in the recovering native grasses give that hint of those days hearkening back to the pioneer beginnings on the tallgrass.
As the painting sits on my easel drying, I contemplate another perhaps...time will tell.
I have been posting fairly regularly on my You Tube Account the past few weeks...one from this week featured Cup Plants while another this week featured Swamp Milkweed.
Feel free to check them out!
Consider subscribing to my You Tube Channel as well!
We seem to go from feast to famine here. The rain shut off in early July...little over an inch of rain through some very hot and windy weeks. Georgie has been having to hand water her two gardens, which never works as well as rain. She has now gone through all 8 rain barrels. We have no well here.
The pre-Christmas seeding I did on the south pasture has mostly dried up. I don't know if the heavy spring rain here brought them on too quickly? But they sprouted upward and had quite an impressive canopy of leaves - really surprised me. Then the sky turned off and the heat and high winds turned on...now most of the new growth is shriveled and dried up looking. But that pasture is mostly gravel slope...just drains too well. I'm of the thought that the early abundance of moisture may have handicapped new plants...hope I'm wrong.
A wet Red-headed Woodpecker appreciates any rain showers as well!
We are getting some light showers right now - about time! So appreciate any rain what-so-ever...
I hope everyone out there is doing well and having had a decent summer so far. We still have about 5 weeks of it left to enjoy out there - please do!
Be good to one another, we are all in this together!
The days are slipping by fast here and the Artisans Road Trip is quickly approaching! If you haven't heard of A.R.T. before, it is an open studio tour of artist's studios and galleries in NW Iowa each fall. This year marks the 10th Anniversary for the Artisans Road Trip and there's a lot of artists scattered about the countryside here in NW Iowa to enjoy - why not stop by the studio here and get a great view of the valley and the studio as well!
I have been busy framing up new pieces for visitors to see and even just finished a small color pencil drawing that I started back in July! A nice little piece of a Red Admiral butterfly on a Swamp Milkweed (Aclepias incarnata) in the lower pasture here!
I have also been busy creating new gift cards and note card sets! Did
you know the largest gift card and note card
collection portraying NW Iowa
is found right here in our studio?! No where else will
you be able to find as many, beautiful, and diverse Note
Card Sets, single panel, two panel and
triple panel Art Cards and Photo
Cards of NW Iowa, our landscape and flora
and fauna!
The
most recent addition to our notecard sets is the
"Scenic O'Brien County Card Collection"! This
beautiful little set is of the most recent set of
beautiful landscapes to be added to our notecard
collection. Our note cards come in sets of 4 designs,
2 of each - in a set of 8 cards and envelopes. These
are great cards to send to friends and family - the
old fashioned way of communicating is still the best -
most personal and heartfelt, and genuine way of
communicating with those you love!
Stop by anytime or take advantage of the 2013 Artisans Road Trip and make the trip more special! For more in formation on the 2013 Artisans Road Trip - check out the web site at http://www.artisansroadtrip.com/ - a fun way to spend a fall weekend!
