Gett'n Close!

 

"McCormack Sunrise" - oil painting - © Bruce A. Morrison

 

 

It's finally March and we had our first Robin of the year this morning!  Things are looking up...well, sort of.  Next week we're to have another 2-3 days of snow...maybe not much but still...ugh.

Really I'm not feeling as grumpy as I make it sound.  We are finally in a zone of precipitation, something that just hasn't been the norm here the past 3 years.  Although the ground remains frozen, we still have hope that some of this winter's snow and rain will make it into the soil.  Maybe some of the seeding we did again in the north pasture will actually take this time???  One can certainly hope!

My easel has been hopeful this winter as well, I figure if you can't have warm weather - just paint it!

The image above is of a nice little conservation area maybe 7 or 8 miles south of us "as the crow flies".  The McCormack area was donated to O'Brien County about 30 years back by Francis McCormack.  Francis was a native to the area having grown up in the vicinity of this location.  He left the area to serve in the US Navy...spent many years in Philadelphia after his service - then returned home in 1986 and purchased this ground from his brother - ground they were all so familiar with.  Family say Francis would spend time there "for peace and quiet".

It is a very nice quiet spot, one my wife and I and even grand kids have visited...over the years it has been on my regular visit list.  Thanks to people like Francis McCormack for giving back to the people of this area - there are so few places in our county still left that aren't plowed under or built up with houses or confinements.  The McCormack Area is a treasure of our natural heritage.

In the meantime I'm keeping at it in the studio - watching the landscape gradually change in the valley out front.  Spring is gett'n close!!!

 

Changing Up A Bit - A Look Again At The "Process"

 

"Past Thanksgiving - November Barn"  - oil painting - © Bruce A. Morrison

A few friends have noticed I haven't been "yarn spinning" for a while. Getting caught up in other things always gets the better of me...I'm easily distracted... SQUIRREL!!!

 

Where was I? Oh ya; I think I'm changing my old format up a bit and will eliminate the "Archival Works Friday" theme; but still occasionally give some insight to what steers me and my work derived from it. I'll try and bring these up from time to time. I have to admit I never liked schedules because too many things pop into my head and I just give in to whatever shouts the loudest.

 

Some weeks back I posted an image of our old stucco barn here on the acreage...it was a still late fall evening under a crescent moon. It was taken on the evening of November 26th and posted the next morning. I will post that November 26th Photograph in my first comment below...so you can make a comparison from the original photograph below...

Original photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 

I've always been partial to crescent moons. And I've always been partial to the stucco barn here; I believe it to be the only such barn in our county. I could be mistaken but have looked for 20 years and not found another. The barn was retrofitted with concrete stucco sometime shortly after WW2...concrete block reinforcement of the north and west sheds was done first, and concrete buttresses added to the north shed to support or reinforce the addition are fairly unique for an "old" barn as well. 

 

I've done paintings of our stucco barn a couple times in the past...still regret selling one of them. And Georgie - bless her (!) has also painted the stucco barn a few times - literally! She has been up there with the barn swallows many times in the past 20 years with her bucket of paint and brush!

 

After I first brought the November 26th barn image file up on the computer screen, I liked what I was seeing...the photograph was nice yet there were elements in the picture's foreground that did not lend nor add to the support of the image. But I was struck by what I saw in my mind - could I do it justice? Well, that's always the question when I pick up a paint brush.

 

I set out to simplify and celebrate the light and the delicate crescent hanging in that last glow of the remnant day. That silhouette of our barn was almost iconic and somber in color and tonality. Did I mention loving that crescent phase? I embellished it ever so slightly, by increasing its size by about 50%...not too much to make it seem too unreasonably exaggerated. 

 

There was much too much "busyness" in the foreground...all the bushes and shrubs add nothing to the design and composition - they will not be included. That lone crab apple intersecting one of the barn windows was actually two trees, one had been damaged by strong winds many years ago and I couldn't bring myself to cut it down...it was still gifting us with a flush of deep prairie rose colored blossoms on its lop-sided trunk each spring. Another opposing color crab was planted next to it a few years ago and they seem quite happily married now. It will be painted as one, as that's how it appears.

 

The complete idea of the very closest foreground leaves and gravel drive will give the image a resting place, a foundation to support the image. I appreciate those leaves; fall is nearing its end...their least bit of color notes are peaceful on the eyes.

 

But - as you'll notice, I gave the scene my own color interpretation...I am NOT trying to lavishly copy a photograph but give my own sense of the "emotion" the original scene evoked for me.

 

These are my thoughts and goals as I worked on this painting. These are the ideas that formed this attempt to remember this moment in oils. It left a lasting impression on me and this small token of an idea, albeit small, is part of this memory.

 

"After Thanksgiving - November Barn" - oil painting - © Bruce A. Morrison

All is Good!

 

"Plymouth County Barn Bales"

oil painting - © Bruce A. Morrison 

 

I guess I'm still trying to think positive about the faux-like Spring we had last week...it was hard to work on this painting because it was sooooo nice out!   It got into the 60's and even had some nights well above freezing - and it virtually took out the snow!  It was "that" close!  Oh well...

 

Yesterday we had a good 5 inches of snow - very heavy wet stuff...today it has snowed non-stop here, nothing heavy but persistent...looks like a winter wonderland again.

But the painting is finished and I really did enjoy this one...love thinking of summer as I work!  This image actually sat in my mind for several years...the barn was real, but it likely no longer stands.  Hard to say...I did quite a bit of repair on the structure, but decided not to give it a fresh coat of paint - it needed some "ambiance". 😉

 

Next week is supposed to be in the 50's each day so Spring is really coming...my studio work may suffer, but all is good!

 

 

Where'd it go? Did you get it?!!

 (Pasture Sunrise - © Bruce A. Morrison)

OK...maybe the heading is over doing it, but what happened to Indian summer this fall???  I have never seen or been through an autumn season without an Indian Summer day.  Did you get lucky?  If you live south, east or west of us you likely did - I hope so!  What a sad state of affairs...no Indian Summer day this year.  

In case you don't observe these things or think about them...I've always considered a day, after the first killing frost, that reaches above 60 degrees F an Indian Summer day.  Never made it this year and I'm not being too optimistic that it will happen yet.  (I'm saying this out loud to "dare" it to happen!!!)

Its been about 6 weeks or so since my solo Exhibit "Of Moment and Place" opened at the Pearson Lakes Art Center in Okoboji, Iowa (You can read more about it here in the Discover Magazine article - "Of Moment and Place") and I am finally back on the ground here at the studio - trying to catch up with everything that sat by the way side for the past year and a half while I was trying to put this exhibit together!  

It was an over whelming experience...I have found that I can write better about how things affect me more so than I can verbalize!  Again, I was just over whelmed by it all and although the exhibit runs through into the first week of January, I'm relieved the opening night reception has passed! But it was an amazing experience and I want to thank everyone who came...I met some really nice new people as well as all my friends and collectors who came as well!

I was very honored that the Pearson Lakes Art Center also purchased a couple paintings for their permanent collection - this painting above "Mid Day Summer on Diamond Lake" and the painting below "Windrows in Cloud Shadow".  Thank you so much to the PLAC for having the confidence in me, not just for allowing me to exhibit there for 3 months but to include a couple of my paintings in their own collection!

I would also like to thank the many collectors for allowing me to borrow works back to help make this a truly cohesive collection for people to see all together.  I am in your debt and appreciate your gesture (and confidence in me) more than I can express!

Here are just a few more images of the show. As I mentioned before - the show runs till January 4th, 2020 - so if you missed it you still do have time to take it in!

Thank you for visiting the blog as well - and Happy Thanksgiving to everyone out there if I don't see you before then - have a Blessed time with your family and/or friends!

Easel TIme (A Couple Seasons Behind)

"Autumn Along the Mouth of Dog Creek"

oil painting - © Bruce A. Morrison

"It is finished"....those words mean a lot to any artist.  In this case it is both of relief and satisfaction.  Most people don't truly understand the struggle artists can go through trying to make something in their minds slowly (and sometimes painfully) actually materialize on the easel.  

This can be a very long effort...this one began several years ago.  I was south of our place about 10-12 miles as the crow flies, and came upon this spot along the small creek that has some history in the county.  One of our first settlers lived near this creek's mouth and is buried upstream about a mile.  A little further to the west this creek was dammed creating a small "hillside surrounded" lake which was named after it. 

This is Dog Creek, a very unassuming little stream, which runs into the Little Sioux River, only a few yards from where this painting is depicted.  Behind this stream are rolling prairie hills and to it's south a "hanging valley"...a really curious and fairly small yet dramatic geological feature showing where the LIttle Sioux Sioux River once flowed before the end of the last glacial episode here.

I started the painting idea for this a couple years back with a small  "preliminary study"...a 5X7" oil painting done to "test the ground" so-to-speak, before committing a larger effort in a more finished painting.

 "Autumn Near Dog Creek's Mouth - preliminary study"

oil painting - © Bruce A. Morrison

Now that spring is breaking out all over around the studio I can get out and hopefully enjoy it!  Studio time is great but its been a long winter...I need some fresh air!

Hope you get some time to enjoy being outside again soon!

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Happy Winter Solstice and a Very Merry and Blessed Christmas!

Wishing everyone out there a great winter ahead and a Very Merry and Blessed Christmas to you and All those you Love!

See you next year!!!

 

Egads - July!!!

Behind on my blog posts - the Prairie Pasture out in front of the studio has been drop dead gorgeous the past couple weeks...even though the rains have been overly plentiful and troublesome to many in the area - the prairie pasture loved every drop! 

There has been a great deal of flooding these past weeks and many crops have drown, towns flooded and even a derailment in a flooded river valley 45 minutes northwest of us of a train pulling heavy crude from the fracking areas of the north.  If there were more prairies and less cropping of every nook, cranny and fence line imaginable - there would be less flooding, run-off and erosion of our precious soils. 

Here's a few photos, drawings and paintings of the many plants blooming here in our pastures right now!

 Wild Bergamot (monarda fistulosa) 

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 Echinacea angustifolia and Prairie Coreopsis (Coreopsis palmata)

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 Hoary Vervain - (Verbena stricta) 

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) 

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 Canada Milkvetch (Astragalus canadensis)

color pencil drawing - © Bruce A. Morrison

 Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)

 photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 Compass Plant (Silphium laciniatum) 

oil painting - © Bruce A. Morrison

 False Gromwell (Onosmodium molle) and Prairie Phlox (Phlox pilosa) 

color pencil drawing - © Bruce A. Morrison

 Heliopsis helianthoides with Orange Sulphur butterfly and Soldier beetle

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 Heliopsis helianthoides

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 Lead Plant (Amorpha canescens)

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 Monarch caterpillar feeding on Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) 

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 Showy Tick Trefoil (Desmodium canadense)

color pencil drawing - © Bruce A. Morrison

Wild Four O'clock (Mirabillis nyctaginea)

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

Enjoy the summer - as things change real fast out on the prairie; they'll be something different blooming tomorrow for sure! 

 

7 Days!

"Mid Day Summer on Diamond Lake"

oil painting - © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view) 

Yup - 7 days!!!  7 days till Spring!   It seems like this winter won't end but really it hasn't been all that bad.  BUT - I am ready for Spring!  Now!  Am I being too unclear about all this?  Ha!  

I can't rush time (and we really shouldn't wish time away), but I can visit warmer days on canvas and that's exactly what I did this past week here in the studio.  The painting above is a small landscape study depicting a hot/humid summer day along a marshy area about 45 minutes north of the studio.

This was a little challenging as I'm attempting to show a bright back-lit landscape - looking right into the sun as it diffuses through clouds building in the mid-day sky.  It was painted with a slightly limited palette compared to most of my paintings...trying to help support a sense of a humid afternoon.

Ya just a week of winter left!  I can get real used to the idea as we are still in the snow pack here - bring it on Please!

 

Thinking and Working Warm

"Wooded Lane, No.3"

oil painting - © Bruce A. Morrison 

My first post of 2018...where does time go?  A perpetual question I know I'll have on my mind until my last breath...

It's been drier than usual and fairly cold the last couple weeks, but all-in-all not really so bad for winter here...oops should not say this out loud!  I have been trying to start work once again in the studio, I guess you could say I've been goofing off - too many things to distract me, but I have been earnestly trying to decide where to begin and what to start.

I have a yet "unofficial" solo exhibit coming up in 2019...to make this work I will need to be productive this year and into the next!  I say unofficial because the invitation was given me and a date has yet to be set or even officially agreed upon. But right now I am proceeding with beginning the process that this requires.  I last had two solo exhibits in 2012 so haven't been pressed with this responsibility for a while.

I began my work toward this process with the above oil painting, still drying on the easel as I write.  "Wooded Lane, No.3" is a small oil landscape painting of a location about 10 miles south of us, as the crow flies.  It is the same location I painted at for a plein air show last August.  This was done from some photo studies I took at that time.  

My wife asked me a very pertinent question when I talked of posting the image on social media, one I had already contemplated.  That was "Should you be showing your work before your solo exhibit?"  Good question and as I mentioned, given a good deal of thought.

I guess I replied something like this (don't remember my exact response) - "If I show no work on social media for the next 18 months it would be like dropping out of art...if I am an artist, I think I need people to know I am still working; although I am taking an 18 month hiatus I shouldn't give former collectors and clients (and  friends) the idea I have "quit" working all together.  I really feel that once all the work I endeavor to produce over the next 18 months hangs together in a gallery/museum setting, the work should take on a new life.  Besides - seeing work "in person and in the flesh" is much more interesting than the paintings, drawings and photographs "teased out" online over the next year and a half!"

Also I need to let people know that these works are for sale, as always...I don't collect my work, I do it because this is my profession.  But obviously things have to be worked out in sales of this painting or any other works produced for an exhibit 18 months from now - so please do not hesitate to express your interest in any artwork I am creating at this time and into the future!

I hope you enjoy seeing what I'm up to...that means the world to me!  Please stop back and visit this blog when you have a moment, and better yet - don't ever hesitate to visit the studio and check in on me!  I love to visit with folks who soon become my friends, its a blessing.

I hope this painting helps warms you now in mid January!!!  Take Care.

 

Plein Air Exhibition at The Pearson Lakes Art Center in Okoboji

 "Lone Bale at First Light"

oil painting - © Bruce A. Morrison

(Given the "PA Brown Best In Show" Award)

I guess I'd better update the results of the plein air painting exhibition I participated in during the last week - I will admit that I was extremely nervous about doing this and a bit overwhelmed with the results at the exhibition opening reception last night!

 "Wooded Lane No.1"

oil painting - © Bruce A. Morrison

(Given the "Judge's Choice Award")

 

I was very pleased/surprised to be awarded "Best of Show" and also one of the three "Judge's Choice" Awards.  My favorite painting of the two had already been purchased when Georgie and I arrived about 10 minutes after the start of the evening!  A double bonus right!!!  Can't complain about that :)

 

My favorite of the two was the "Wooded Lane No.1", this is a newer Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation area purchase not too far from the studio...maybe about 10 miles as-the-crow-flies.  When I made the decision to enter the exhibit I knew where my first destination would be!  This was a first for me...I usually do farmscapes or at least somewhat more open or expansive landscapes.  This was really an intimate piece - I can still hear the birds while I was there; no people to distract me - very calm and beautiful.

The second painting was a morning work (the first an afternoon time frame) and surprise, surprise - a hay bale!! Ha!  OK, about 20 percent pf my paintings and photos seem to have hay bales in them...I can't help myself! :)  I created this early morning - as soon as the fog lifted and the sun appeared - then the work began.

These are not easy for me.  I once was at a dinner with world class artists and an old "hero" bird artist of mine, Roger Tory Peterson was speaking.  One statement he said surprised me...I was young and naive...he said he always felt like he was sweating blood - stressed when creating a painting.  I couldn't see it but I've come to understand now.

I can't work magic but if I plan and work hard, I can at least be satisfied...well "some of the time"!  Hey, life's a crap shoot at best some times, right?!  Just do the best you can...if you don't care about what you're doing - drop it and move on to something you can get passionate about.

Thank you for stopping by - have a great total eclipse!!!

 

 

 

 

Fun to Watch and Do!

"Father's Day Rainbow"

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on images for a larger view) 

 Its been a fairly dramatic late spring here with the sky and weather; the clouds across the valley from the studio are beginning to take over my efforts with the camera and the easel.  

"Breaking Clouds Over the Rookery"

oil painting - © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on images for a larger view) 

 I've been working with the sky out front on the easel as well - this painting was my first plein air work in quite some time...it is easy to just sit out on the studio deck and paint away...oh I still get distracted constantly but it sure is convenient just outside the studio door!

On the studio deck!

 

I've looked at the rookery across the valley each spring and summer and always wanted to see if I could paint it in some way.  The breaking clouds one day this spring was the answer and I was lucky enough to be able to take advantage of it! 

 

"Valley Rain"

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on images for a larger view) 

But its really amazing what the weather will create for the "eyes"!  Whether it was the rainbow I barely caught in time, or the "Valley Rain" system that knocked the rainbow out of the sky and drenched me as I was trying to hide under the eaves of the corn crib!  Whatever and whichever - they were all fun to watch and do!

 

 

 

All Hail November!

 "Autumn Near Dog Creek's Mouth - preliminary study"

oil painting - © Bruce A. Morrison

You just can't beat this November's weather...I am hard pressed to remember a November this mild or warm!  Now word is out that we may get some wet/slightly white weather in a day or two...well that's bound to happen - it is November after all!

After this nice Autumn color and weather, I've been working on ideas for art work and printing some images as open edition photographic prints.  I finished a small oil painting a few days back - this small painting was worked up as a guide to work from for a larger painting that I'll hopefully get to yet this fall before winter sets in. The location is on some county land in SE O'Brien County...its of Dog Creek just a few yards before it dumps into the Little Sioux River.  This little creeks runs through some pretty territory for a very small stream - a neat unassuming little stream.

With the Holiday season now approaching, there are a couple art exhibits and shows coming up that I'm taking part in!  One is currently at Arts on Grand in Spencer, Iowa - their "Christmas in the Gallery", which is currently running and goes through December 27th; a lot of really nice Christmas related gifts and seasonal artwork!

Also, there is the "Holiday Open House" coming up in Peterson, Iowa!  This yearly event will be taking place at Barb McGee's Gallery in downtown Peterson.  A great little town in a picturesque setting - a great gallery and a top notch assortment of artists!  Enjoy some good treats and good conversation and great art!  That's on Saturday December 3rd from 9am - 5pm!

Happy Thanksgiving coming up next week - enjoy November!