2012 A.R.T. at the Studio this Weekend!!!

Fall colors this morning at the studio at Prairie Hill Farm!

(click on image for a larger view)

The 2012 Artisans Road Trip is finally here this weekend!!!  This is the 9th year of this NW Iowa "Studio Tour", and as far as the autumn color is concerned here - one of the prettiest I can remember!

It sounds like fall weather is actually going to be here on Saturday and Sunday, so wear your sweater and enjoy the crisp air!  The studio is heated so that's no problem :)  I don't know if anyone remembers the 2005 A.R.T. event, but we used to hold our exhibit out in the corn crib/grainery (before the studio was built) and it was 22 degrees Fahrenheit inside the crib until after noon!!!  Brrrr!  But that hasn't been an issue the past 5 years with the new studio/gallery :)  Besides, we have hot cider and so many of Georgie's specialties to enjoy!  Why do I always gain weight this weekend???!

The native prairie pasture here even looks like autumn in full glory!

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The weekend Artisans Road Trip Hours are - Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday afternoon - Noon to 5:00 p.m.  

Need to get out and get some fresh air this weekend? Come to the valley here and enjoy the view inside and out!  If you like paintings, drawings and photography that is "about" the area in which we live...that is from "real" places - locations in our beautiful corner of the county, then we've got 'em!  Did you know we have the largest offering of art and photo greeting and note cards depicting NW Iowa in the region?!!!

Hope to see you this weekend!

 

The Time is Near!

"Creek's Bend"

12X16 oil painting - © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

Tomorrow is the autumnal equinox...how great is that!?  Also, how weird it arrived so soon!?  I keep harping on the "time" thing...I apologize, its just a character flaw I guess...but geeze its going too fast!

Georgie and I have been busying ourselves getting ramped up for the 2012 Artisans Road Trip coming up in just two weeks...the painting shown above has been kinda hampering my efforts!  I know better than to start a painting so close to the A.R.T. weekend but you have to strike when the idea hits you, or its almost always gone for good.  

"Creek's Bend" is reminiscent of this past late June/early July when there was still water in the creek below the studio!  The summer hasn't been good to the water table around here...the creek is about a foot wide in many places now...hoping for a wet fall!  This painting will be on the studio easel for the Road Trip weekend (Oct 6 and 7) because it'll be too wet to put in a frame yet - but will still be for sale of course :)  Here's a chance to own something hot off the easel!

Next Tuesday - the 25th, the 2012 Artisans Road Trip will be holding their annual fall exhibit at Arts on Grand in Spencer, Iowa!  The evening reception is always a good one to get in on...delectable morsels and drink...and lots of good company; many of the artisans road trip artists will be present and  its a good time for a sneak preview of what the road trip will have to offer this year!

I'll have 4 pieces of work there...mostly brand spanking new.  Hope to see you there,

and keep your calendar clear for the 9inth annual Artisans Road Trip weekend - October 6th and 7th (Saturday and Sunday)!!! 

Summer's Fading

"Stream-side Cottonwood"

color pencil drawing - 6X8"

© Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view) 

Cottonwoods are a prairie tree...a stream-side tree...a tree of wet or dry places, a real opportunist. As a stream-side tree, Beaver love it, its a favorite for Herons - its a great rookery tree.  They'll grow very tall and gain great girth in a fairly short time, and that's perfect for rookeries like the one just SE of the acreage studio here.

I've climbed many cottonwoods as a kid...they're perfect before they gain too much girth because by then they've tended to loose their lower branches - those you need to grab onto in order to gain some height and get to those more easily handled perches. Besides, a fat tree is nearly impossible to hitch up unless you're a woodpecker or squirrel!  I spent many a summer afternoon 40-50 feet up in a cottonwood, seated on a big horizontal branch, gazing out into the river or creek valley below...occasionally something would land nearby and be startled by the sight of me!  This was a great perch for watching Red-tail Hawks and Turkey Vultures soaring in the sky; like a "head-start" to their level.  What memories!  And I've fallen out of 'em too...but lets not go there!

The piece shown above is a small color pencil drawing I just finished.  It, like a myriad of others, is of the creek in the valley below the studio here (Waterman Creek)...I'm beginning to suspect that no other person has painted, drawn or photographed this creek more than I have!??  I could be wrong but I don't know?  Anyway I'll keep walking and exploring it and all the other area creeks and rivers I possibly can

The Cottonwood tree on the other bank was my focal point, I just loved the structure of the tree, but the sun was lighting it frontally (not an easy or preferred way to portray something) so I threw the left foreground into a "bit" of shadow to help with the composition and to give a transition to step into...the creek helps conceptually and compositionally too of course.

I like these small color drawings, they're fun to do but are not always cooperative!  

I'm trying to get ready for the 2012 Artisans Road Trip now!  Well, I've been trying all summer but now I'm down to "crunch time"  and I'm afraid I'll be glued to the studio from now until October 6 and 7 when the event takes place.  This is the ninth consecutive year of the Artisans Road Trip and it should be a great weekend!  Set the days aside if you can.  If you haven't taken one in during years past, or have yet to have visited the studio here along the valley - check the dates off on your calendar!!!

The summer is fading - take advantage of it while you can, and enjoy yourself!

For Sentimental Reasons

"Home"

color pencil drawing - 7X10"

© Bruce A. Morrison
(click on image for a larger view)

I've long wanted to do something relating to our home, our gardens or yard..this is a sentimental "self assignment", you have to do those sometimes - it helps refocus and gives the old brain a break.  My drawing habits were somewhat loosened and strayed a bit here.  It may be hard to tell but this drawing isn't typical for my past color pencil pieces.  In fact, I hate to admit it...this really gave me a lot of trouble at times!!!  I think when you are portraying something as tangent as a house or entryway, it needs to stay true enough to be recognized and not become an object of critical consideration.

Georgie has done wonderful things out here in our quiet space, this entrance through the arbor and to the house was not here when we bought the place...the cottage gardens weren't here either...this portion of the yard was old fill dirt remnants and very sparse grass...that was almost the crux of it. She's got a good eye! 

There are many other side gardens, vegetable gardens, secret gardens, and other things to explore - I'll save those for another time.

Here's one for sentimental reasons sweetheart!

Racing Summer

"Morning Glow" - © Bruce A. Morrison

oil painting - 9X12"

(click on image for a larger view)

Not only have I been behind on my blogs, but in keeping up with this summer as well!  I have been working in the studio and out trekking the valley below much of the past 3 weeks since my last entry...and racing summer!!!  It is tough staying at task; too many things are tugging at my sleeve nearly every minute of the day.  The sky is drop dead amazing as I type...should I drop what I'm doing and run outside with the cameras??!  Its been that kind of a summer; so much going on and too many distractions otherwise.

The painting featured above was finished a couple hours ago.  It is not a large painting but it required every ounce of my attention. It is, once again, a painting of my favorite little prairie stream Waterman Creek.  But, as I've insisted many times before, it could most certainly be just about any little creek in the area.  This particular painting depicts a walk I took along the creek several weeks ago - this was before this summer's drought brought the little creek down to a small trickle.

I walked the Waterman about a week ago...a different piece than I had in the past, and was hard pressed to come up with even a photograph.  That mile section of the stream was so low that I almost could have walked the whole thing in slip-on rubbers and not have even gotten my socks wet!  That's "Low" for around here!  This is a summer I don't think many of us will miss - I just hope it doesn't revisit next year!!!

Summer paintings can be very difficult.  About 30 years ago I heard one painter I admired very much, say how summer "greens" were the nemesis of many a landscapist.  Summer is a season of green here, and most everywhere...green has to be tamed, or at least work with you, and that's not usually the easiest task.  

This summer morning had an impressive "glow" to it and I wanted to maintain that impression of this early hour walk down the creek. I used the creek itself as the "threshold" to bring the viewer into the scene.  I find reflections in the water as being darker than the place it reflects...that does help in anchoring a composition like this.  The small rapids breaks up the foreground some, helping keep things more interesting, and the darker shrubs in the left middle ground help keep the viewer's eyes from simply straying off the edge of the image.  The path of the composition is basically an oval or circle...about the most simple design possible in a landscape I think...just not always easy to carry out.

Breaking up the middle ground and background with a dirt embankment made it possible, in my mind, to relieve the potential monotony of the palette of greens.  A leaning toward the raw sienna in the exposed dirt created a "near" complimentary relief as well.

I hope you enjoy this painting...that the summer has been kind to you.  My heart goes out to everyone that has been racing summer, particularly if you haven't been exactly winning the race!

Still Bucking It!

"Low water Morning"

oil painting - 6X12" - © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view) 
SOLD
 

 Still bucking this summer heat and drought...even in my work.  This painting was done as a study of the creek here in the valley below the studio.  I often use the term "study" and I often find it can confuse people.  "Studies" are a long held tradition or practice in art.  They are works which serve many purposes.  I use them as a spring board to another painting or work in a larger format...often giving the "study" time to gel in my mind - whether or not I really want to do a larger and more detailed piece or if its really something I'd like to leave "as is" for now.

This painting was inspired in part by the dry summer we are struggling through this year.  I suppose if I were to go to this same spot today, it'd be even lower!  I do like the gravel embankments as an element of this painting - as well as the drama of the early morning light and the longer shadows.  I'm not sure if I'd feel the same about it as the water levels drop even more...but maybe treating the composition and light differently would make an engaging image as well.

We've only had 2 tenths of an inch so far in July here...after less than an inch in June and with weeks of being in the high 90's - some in the low 100's, adding in some days of dehydrating winds, and things are getting nasty!  This isn't on a par of the droughts in other areas though...especially what Texas experienced last year.  Its just affecting more of the continent this year than has been seen in quite some time!

I'm grateful I'm not farming here this summer!  But if I were, the crop insurance would be the only blessing available!

Our native pasture is often my stronghold of inspiration...I'm sorry to say it is not the inspiration of past summers...at least not after about 3 weeks back.  The prairie will certainly get through the drought just fine, but the plants are now going dormant as they literally dry up before our eyes!  Another aspect of this is that we'll get little viable seed from the summer drought and heat.  The grasses and flowers are drying up as they go from the flowering stage to fruiting and maturation...many of the warm season grasses are simply losing flowers as they form...all drying up for the season.

Still bucking it here...waiting for some good showers to come our way!  Wishing you a drenching this summer if you need it!!!

Drawn to the Water

"July Morning, Waterman Creek"

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view) 

Gathering more material and first hand experiences is very important for any artist...particularly the "first hand experience" part! And lately I really seem drawn to "water"!  

It really doesn't matter what a person chooses to walk, wade, paint, photograph or even immerse themselves into; it is what it should be if it is emotionally or intrinsically satisfying or important to that person's life and/or work!  Don't you think?!!

The past 2-3 weeks have found me "in the drink" so-to-speak..in Waterman Creek here in the valley, to be more specific.  And loving it!  Why, with the rotten high temps and humidity again in the forecast, I can't think of a better place to be with leaky boots and my tripod and camera...and maybe paint brushes too.  In fact, I think the creek has got me for the easel and drawing board for a good part of my summer yet.

Drawn to water in more ways than one.

Stay cool and happy out there!