Nearly September

 "Nearly September"

8X6" oil on mounted canvas
© Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

If  you subscribe to this blog, the title will seem "late"...you'll likely receive it "in" September!!  The last hours of August are upon us and we sit and wonder when time will slow...but it was fun while it lasted (I think) and the mosquitoes are getting closer to being zapped away by the eventual first hard frost!  Ya, OK I'm getting too far ahead of myself!  Let's enjoy September now and not look too far ahead.

The small plein air painting I'm posting was done several days back; I'm even late posting it. It was named appropriately (at the time) "Nearly September".  This was one of the last summer skies we had in August, and the goldenrods and sunflowers were beginning to overtake the prairie, bringing the rust and yellow hues of late summer to the grasses of native pasture ground.

I'm very far behind on everything, in the studio and in the field.  I actually missed the peak on our own summer liatris bloom here.  That's just sad!  But we gotta do what we gotta do and that's that.  More framing and printing ahead through September to reach the Artisans Road Trip deadline.  Looking forward to a very nice autumn ahead!  Hope to see you here at the studio in a few weeks!

Ever Have One?

Late Afternoon Bales"

(6X8" oil on mounted canvas)

Ever have one of those days where you almost lose it?  I'm sure we all have...yesterday was my turn I guess.  Near panic struck when it appeared both backup hard drives had gone south on me.  What are the chances of that?  I didn't care to entertain the thought...just kept trouble shooting the studio system until I figured out that apparently my firewire board was toast instead.  

Whew...that was close!  But after that I had to backup files via USB...and we're talking Gigs of backup...my whole last 2 weeks of field and studio work.  Long story short, I spent over 10 hours doing nothing but transferring ones and zeros.

When Georgie came home for lunch she knew something was wrong...I don't like talking about the computers because it makes both of us crazy!  After I told her (I hadn't figured the firewire issue out yet), she suggested I just go back to bed or lock myself safely away so I wouldn't destroy anything else...was tempted but knew I had to face the music.  Boy that's a sick feeling!

Happy ending though; all was saved.

After the tribulation was over Georgie mentioned to me that one of the neighbors was baling hay across the road.  Been waiting to see that...bales are a favorite farm subject of mine.  

Today was a beautiful day...the short heat spell had broken during the night and the humidity was perfect.  After doing chores and other correspondence on jobs and such I figured it'd be a great day to paint some bales!

A small piece, but you never know - they might come and get them before I finish!!!

Today was more like it. Hope you had a good one as well!

Workin' It and Enjoyin' It

"Late Summer Afternoon"

(12X16" oil on mounted canvas)

There is so much going on out on the prairie these days; keeping up is not realistic but taking advantage of just "some" opportunities here is even tough!

I have been very involved in work on one end of the spectrum...just finished another client's website so was able to put in a little painting time again.  We've had so many amazing skies here the past several weeks and I love painting skies...this "Late Summer Afternoon" painting was one that typically presents itself out west of the "back 80" here, however this time I made up the foreground...the back 80 is in soybeans this summer and just not so interesting visually.  Since this was a plein air study, the foreground was actually put in a few days later back at the studio after some "pondering"; but still done with brief  efficiency of brushwork.

I've been making excursions afield when I'm able and have been back logged with image file processing...I'll post more on the summer prairies in the neighborhood when I get more caught up.

Work it and enjoy it!