Dickcissels...let the prairie season begin!

The Tallgrass Prairie season has gotten off to quick starts, then pauses and spurts, but is back up and running again. With 3 days already in the 90's since April, it feels like a tallgrass summer already.
Georgie and I spend a lot of time watching for the prairie birds that normally occupy our prairie area. The Western Meadowlarks never really left but you don't see them during the winter months unless you know where they're hanging out; they started singing back in March. The Song Sparrows and Killdeer returned early on as well, but the rest of those we think of as "prairie" birds have been slowly trickling in...

The Bobolinks made it last week, the Yellow-headed Blackbirds as well, the Sedge Wrens and Common Yellow-throats a few days ago, and a Sora Rail calling from the flooded pasture across the road. Tree Swallows and Eastern Bluebirds are nesting in the fence line boxes. We've even listened to the Field Sparrows this past weekend; their song is something of prairie summer magic - I only wish our property were situated closer to savanna type habitat so we could hear them non-stop. We have yet to hear a Grasshopper Sparrow, which should come soon too.
But I've been waiting for a neighborhood friend to return home.

This morning a Dickcissel showed up in the yard fence line! Hanging on for dear life to the barb wire in a 35 mph gale. It looked like it wished it had stayed in Argentina but I am so happy to have him back!

To my surprise, the average person from the country side has never seen a Dickcissel, or at least did not know what they were hearing or seeing. Such a shame! Such a pretty little bird and even speaks it's name non-stop throughout the heat of the day. I'm glad to see you back, thank you for coming home for the prairie summer ahead!

If you're out on a lone gravel road this summer, or walking through a prairie remnant nearby, give pause for the Dickcissel's summer song.

The piece I did above of a male singing Dickcissel was done in color pencil last year. It is the characteristic pose when singing it's heartfelt song. The original drawing is now in the permanent drawing collection of the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, Wisconsin, but I do have signed Open Edition Fine Art Giclée Prints available through the Iowa Art Council's Buy Iowa Art website if you are interested.

Wild Alarm Clock

We've had a different sort of wake up call around the prairie farm lately...a Ring-necked Pheasant rooster has taken to enjoying the yard for it's many attractions...bird feeders and lady pheasants, etc.

The rooster likes the high vantage point of the roof of the root cellar. He sits in the sun and preens, puffs up, and crows! This makes for a great alarm clock as his perch is also just below the bedroom window!

An added bonus with a rooster pheasant is the whir of wing beats when they cut loose with their "crow"...an added drum line to accompany his performance, if you will.

Studio/Gallery

Managed to do a painting here on the studio site, of a pasture and small alfalfa field, just north of our place. This was actually done from some photo references I took when it was still late summer...it was mid September when the references were taken. As usual lately, I was unable to actually tackle the idea until this past winter was well under way.

"September Summer, View from the North Pasture"
Oil on panel

I like agricultural subject matter, especially for landscapes. I'll try and delve into it more as soon as we get the studio/gallery built!

We finally have had everyone who needs to, look at the building we're turning into a studio/gallery. Now we need to hear the bad news (bids/estimates) before we can continue! We have just finished putting up the interior gallery wall. It will be the last thing we do inside the building until the roofing has been accomplished.

The building is our chicken coup/sheep barn...we've been cleaning it up the past 4 years now and can finally see the possibilities there. (Without Georgie's prompting and vision, I still wouldn't see it.) The entire roof and trusses have to be removed, a new trusses and roofing installed...then we'll have the electrical roughed in, which we'll finish up ourselves, the new windows, doors, and insulation, a furnace and AC for humidity control and heating/cooling (of course), and a restroom, a handicapped accessible entrance, lights, etc...and we'll be back in business.

We want to keep the theme of our setting true to the studio/gallery. We want to retain the heritage of agriculture, in the building.

The inside wall we just finished is in recycled barn board siding. The patina is wonderful and the already weathered surface will be forgiving of future "dings". Eventually all walls in the studio and gallery will be done in this salvaged lumber. We are doing the majority of this project with recycled materials, and much of it from here on our acreage.

This could be a long year!?

Timing?

They say timing is everything don't they? Well maybe my timing is off, as I picked a hard time to begin a blog...we're in the middle of construction.

We're working on our studio/gallery/workshop at the present time. We'll need roof work and total electrical setup and furnace/AC wiring and setup, that'll come this summer we hope.

Georgie and I were working on the interior gallery wall today...can still work on that as it won't influence any outside walls, windows, or roof work. We are out in the country and are remodeling an older farm building for the studio, so there's a good deal of a ways to go yet.

I did just finish a fairly large piece (for me), a color pencil landscape that I'd been toying with in my head for quite some time. I've fixated on night time landscapes before, but always wanted to do one with an owl in it. This goes way back to when I was a kid...saw many owls at night growing up and the images of these cool birds just stuck in my imagination. I've always loved raptors and owls anyway, they're a more dramatic creature than the run of the mill bird, and stir up lots of images in people's minds.

The owl I chose for this nocturnal landscape is a Great Horned Owl...I've probably done more GHO's than any owl. They're the most common owl where we live and always were where we grew up. But I must admit to really liking Eastern Screech-Owls as much. But I'll save a Screech-Owl for another day.

The scene is one I did several photographs of last early July, and is just across the road from our place...it's of another subject that I can really get interested in, hay bales. Love the interest they bring to a pastoral scene....they also lend the sense of size, proximity, and relief, etc...

Click on Image to enlarge

The original piece is 23.5" W X 8" H. The length tells you it's more of a panoramic image, and yes, I've been interested in panoramic landscapes the past couple years...they seem to fit the prairie theme and agricultural themes as well. The prairie landscape can sweep away into the distance, or up into the sky for ever...there's no one way to see or experience it.

The "Night Pasture - Great Horned Owl" depicts a night lit by the full moon with early July southern sky constellations. The stars are approximate, and are fainter than they'd be if it were a moonless night. You may have to see the original to get the interpretaion on my part...there is only so much that will show on a monitor at 72dpi...and of course it "is" just an interpretation on my part.

What - me blog?

Never gave a lot of thought to doing a blog! As some of you may know I have published a web journal "A Tallgrass Journal" for some years now, relating to the Tallgrass Prairie and our own efforts to restore a prairie remnant on which we live. But "A Tallgrass Journal" is only a quarterly journal; life gets in the way of making it more frequent.

I've been a painter and natural history photographer for well over 30 years, and developed a business website (www.morrisons-studio.com) as many, many other artists have - but I am seeing something I've overlooked! I have seen that artists can involve or share their efforts on a much more interesting level than just through introductions on a static website. I've witnessed how blogs are a very good tool for feedback, and for keeping friends, art collectors, and other artists informed on what directions the blog artist is taking, how they are formulating their ideas, their approach to the medium and the subject matter...it can bring an active involvement for everyone.

I am going to try and share the prairie and other natural heritage subject matter through my artwork and my photography. You may get a bit of personal involvement in the Prairie, but I want the creative process to rule this blog; the "subject matter" matters however!!

Like anyone beginning a process, this may take some getting use to but I hope it will be a good experience for everyone!