Out of the Deep Freeze and Loving It!

 

"Morning Glory" (framed)

oil painting - © Bruce A. Morrison 

 

It's good to get out of the freezer! Yes it has been a frigid one the last half of February...nothing to write about, besides my fingers have been too numb to type!  Ha!  

 

Well I did try to warm things up a bit in the studio...have been doing some small commissions for people and then decided to try something just for myself...I decided a "Sunrise" was in order.  Haven't really done a sunrise just for a sunrise's sake...had done a painting many years back that had a sunrise in it, but it was done more for the mood and color play in the landscape...that was a painting called "Daybreak - Southwest Corner Fence Line".

 

"Daybreak - Southwest Corner Fence Line"

oil painting - © Bruce A. Morrison

 

My latest depiction of a sunrise is "Morning Glory"...it was painted from a sunrise one morning this past August here across the valley from the house and studio.  I was a little unsure of this one as it was a very vivid sky with more color than I've ever thrown into a sky on the easel before!  But after I got into it, I was really enjoying the process!  In fact I've missed painting skies for the sake of it and do want to do more...doesn't need to be another sunrise but then again maybe so...whatever happens is fine by me.  I'll post a larger image below for more detail.

 

"Morning Glory"

oil painting - © Bruce A. Morrison

 

It's finally March and this first day is a fairly pleasant (albeit somewhat chilly) one...guess that means that March has come in like a Lamb...hopefully Spring doesn't throw too many hard balls at us! But regardless, we're finally out of the deep freeze and loving it!

 

Summer Solstice

"Sunrise on McCormack"

photograph © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view) 

Today, as I write this entry, is the Summer Solstice.  There is something about those words, "summer solstice" that I find almost mystical...mysterious...much like a bank of intangible emotions.  The evenings now have an air of insects and amphibians, carried aloft across the valley and into the yard windows.  It lulls you to sleep and brings pleasant dreams, but not really of this world.  

Does summer take on a more specific meaning or feeling to a person after many decades on this earth?  I have to believe so. The seasons have long been compared to our lives; maybe the summer solstice reminds me of younger days...I don't know.  But it does make me feel motivated somehow.  My motivation is "out there" certainly...out there, outside that yard window, that music in the valley that Georgie and I embrace each morning, afternoon and evening.

If I were to sit upon a twig and float down the creek outside our door, I would eventually pass this place I've photographed here.  It reminds me of the summer solstice...there is that same feeling of fleeting intangibles I'm so desperately trying to put into words.  And now that this moment has passed, the days will very slowly shorten once again, but I am grasping every encounter and savoring and caching them for the rest of the summer and into the final seasons.

Ufda!

No, I'm not Norwegian...Georgie is though, and although she doesn't exactly say it like that, she certainly makes it known "It's cold out there!" Well, I suppose it's not so bad compared to many winters past here or say, North Dakota or N Minnesota...International Falls was 36 below this morning compared to our mere 6 below (we are supposed to get near an actual 26 below tomorrow morning though).

The sun dogs were in full display this morning at sunrise, like so many cold mornings we experienced back before Christmas. I've been missing so many photo opportunities of sun dogs this winter that I decided to quick suit up and plow out to the south pasture fence a fast as I could to at least record this one. I must admit the landscape wasn't exactly adding or contributing to making the image anything unusual or particularly inspiring; I guess if I have aspirations for a landscape image that'd hold up technically and artistically on it's own, I'd better get up before dawn and drive to a more eloquent location and hope for a good sun dog event...or maybe just file this all in the back of my mind for a future painting...!?

The acreage is in need of a few hours work to get blown out right now but since we do all the work and the forecast is talking about more high winds, I think we'll hold out for a couple days yet before cranking up the snowblower and arm and back muscles! I'll just stay in the studio for now and see if I can earn my keep that way.

Keep warm!