A Circus

"Grumpy Hummer"

photograph © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

Its been a regular circus around here lately....a circus because of how busy and preoccupied we've been.  But also because of the critters.

Love this male Ruby-throated Hummingbird from a couple days back - just a great expression!

And yesterday I was working in the studio and noticed out the window that I was being robbed in broad daylight!  Good grief, what's this world coming to?!!

"Masked Bandit"

photograph © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view) 

OK, so it was just a Raccoon, but geeze...I'd been putting all the hanging bird feeders away at night so I guess they decided to hit us during daylight when we'd least expect it!

Later in the evening yesterday I heard a familiar sound and hoped I was wrong but ya...we had a lost baby looking for momma.

"Where's Momma?!"

photograph © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view) 

The noise I was hearing was a bleating White-tailed Deer fawn.  This has happened before and I was holding my breath that this little guy's mother would find it again.  Some mowing had been taking place in a field just to our northwest and I'm thinking this fawn was in there and ran out from the disturbance...also there was a lot of field spraying going on just down the road from us, and a lot of vehicle noise and traffic on this normally quiet road.

But so far so good, we haven't been paid another visit yet nor have we been hearing any commotion, so maybe things are all good once again.

The rest of the circus for the month has been the process of putting together 56 pieces of work for the Neal Smith NWR down by Prairie City, east of Des Moines for July and August!  Man it takes a lot of time getting work put together, framed, printed, labeled, and you name it!  This solo exhibit is "prairie themed" and owns the same title as my last solo exibit in 2012 - "From the Tallgrass"...it is not a repeat of that same show however, so more work to get it ready!

Also I am in a new exhibit down in Storm Lake, Iowa right now - the 2014 Artisans Road Trip is having an exhibit at the Witter Gallery in Storm Lake.  This show began last week on June 5th and runs through June 27th.  Be sure and stop in to see the show (either one!) if you have time!

Back to the circus!

 

 

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!

Winter's Waning

"Winter Stubble, Bales"

oil on mounted canvas - 6X12" - © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

Still waking up to snow covered fields...the occasional Bald Eagle passing by the farm each morning, repeating the "visit" each late afternoon.  The winter flock of Crows appears much larger this year and they seem to make a small game out of harassing whatever sits long enough to attract attention.

But winter is waning here.  Yesterday afternoon the ice went out on the creek down below, and on the Ocheyedan River to the northeast.  We had heavy "rain"  a few days back - even thunder and lightning, our first for the year.

Georgie saw her first Robin of the year last week, while I think I've been in front of the easel too much and haven't seen a thing yet!

I did decide I had better work on a winter landscape before the "atmosphere " of this season totally melts away.  This is a typical winter agricultural scene for me...and for the "neighborhood" in which we live.  I tried to work more with some negative space in the foreground, using the stubble as a visual guide, directing the composition into the upper center of the canvas.  I worked "juicer" than I have been all winter...the brushes carrying heavier paint and leaving the canvas a little thicker with paint.  I like painting this way, but its not as easy for me as I'd like!  I do hope you enjoy it!

This painting and other new works will be at the Witter Gallery (Storm Lake) in April for my next solo exhibit - I'll give more specific information soon - be sure and keep April open on your calendar!

Here's to a happy ending of the season and an even happier beginning of the next to arrive!