Late Spring

 "Rose-breasted Grosbeak (male)" - photograph © Bruce A. Morrison

Spring is nearing its end and the work is mounting here! I am always pulled in many directions at this time of the year; need to get out and photograph the landscape, need to stay in and finish artwork on the easel, need to pick up work from a closing exhibit and take work to a new one, need to get work framed for customers, get new prints processed and hung in the studio...even finish patching the barn roof! The list goes on; like all of us - too much to do after that long winter and wet/cold spring!
 

The photograph above is part of another exhibit I'm participating in at the moment. This new art exhibit is at the Witter Gallery in Storm Lake, Iowa and runs through most of the month of June.
 

This exhibit is the first Artisans Road Trip showing for the 2013 season - the tenth year of the Artisans Road Trip in NW Iowa! You may recognize the A.R.T. open studio tour held each fall during the first weekend in October; the Artisans Road Trip also puts on exhibits during the year with current artist members and the Witter Gallery showing is the first of the 2013 A.R.T. season!

I have 4 pieces in the exhibit - 3 photographs and 1 oil pastel. But there is so much more to see as well. There will be an artist's reception Thursday - June 13th, from 5 - 7p.m. Hope to see you there!

"June Morning Music" - Nature Audio - © Bruce A. Morrison

Here's a playful respite for all of you out there under the pressure of work that is never quite finished or caught up. The Image above is from the house here and our kitchen home entry and garden...it is from a color pencil drawing done a year or so ago. I have used it here as artwork to go with some of nature's music here on the acreage.
 

I do occasional video and audio work for my own use and for some natural resources client projects on contract. This short "get away" is just for myself and my friends. Just click HERE or on the image above and listen to late spring out on the prairie. Enjoy!  

Hope you enjoy the rest of spring!

Invasion!

Male Baltimore Oriole outside the studio window

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view) 

It's an invasion! Not of body snatchers or any thing bad, but an invasion of "time snatchers" :)

 

We've had waves of Orioles, Warblers, Indigo Buntings, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, and many other types of birds here and they're eating us out of house and home as well as "snatching" all our time - who can resist watching them all day long??!!

 

There are also reports across Iowa of Summer Tanagers in high numbers, since the week of high winds from the south and southeast...maybe they blew in?!  We haven't had a Summer Tanager here yet, but Spencer (Iowa) has and they're just 15-16 miles from us "as the crow flies".

 

Its been an invasion of many things here at the studio acreage...the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are back for the summer and the Monarch Butterflies just showed up last week as well!  Great things to be "invaded" by!  

 

Put you grape jelly out for the orioles, the sunflower seed out for the Grosbeaks, and the thistle seed out for the Siskins and finches, and the sugar water out for the hummingbirds - and be distracted!  It's fun!

 

These Are A "Few" Of My Favorite Things!

"Some" of my spring yard favorites!

color pencil drawings © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view) 

I am seriously behind on everything this spring! Not unlike everything else around here...whether you're farming or migrating or blooming - you are behind schedule!  I guess that goes for studio work as well...

I wanted to share some yard favorites with you before some leave for cooler climates up north...not all of them, but some.

Our yard has been filled with song the past couple weeks or more, with music of (top image clock-wise from the top left corner) White-throated Sparrows, Chipping Sparrows, Linclon's Sparrows and White-crowned Sparrows. And I can't keep up with them!  In the last couple days we've also picked up Baltimore Orioles, Orchard Orioles, Red-headed Woodpeckers, Common Yellow-throats, House Wrens...and this morning Ruby-throated Hummingbirds!  It just does not stop!  Wonderful!

It's a great time of year!  I just can't keep up!

Good luck trying!