Christmas in the Gallery!

"Christmas in the Gallery" at Arts on Grand!

December 3, 2012 through January 5, 2013

It is Christmas in the Gallery right now at Arts on Grand in Spencer, Iowa!  There was an informal reception last night during Spencer's Grand Meander, and there was loads of people out enjoying the beautiful fall-like weather in December.  If you didn't get out for the opening night there's still plenty of time to get down to AOG and find some terrific Christmas buys for anyone on your list!  "Christmas in the Gallery" runs through January 5th of next year.

And join me and several area artists for the Holiday open House in Peterson this Saturday at Barb McGee's Gallery!  Another great place to find gifts for the season, and another fun drive through the beautiful countryside in NW Iowa!  We'll be there from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., hope to see you there!!!

December!?

Wow, when did December sneak in??!!  Did it catch you by surprise too?  I knew in the back of my mind it was coming, but I'm somehow behind in my work here and was hoping I could beat its arrival with some jobs I'm working on.

One thing that has snuck up on me is the December 3rd Open House for Peterson area artists...I guess they consider me one of the group!

I'll be at McGee's Gallery on main street in Peterson Iowa tomorrow, December 3rd, from 9a.m through 6p.m.  We'll have lots of treats and things to see and discuss!

Be sure and stop by if you get a chance to enjoy our "almost winter" festivities!

And if you're part of the Noon Kiwanis in Spencer, Iowa, I hope to see you Monday for your monthly program...I'll be introducing the good folks there to the studio and the work I'm involved in throughout the year!

Also I just want to give another plug for your Christmas shopping - I do have a lot of very nice new paintings, drawings, prints and photographs for your hard to buy for significant "other", parent, grand parent, spouse or sibling! Give us a call and stop by anytime!  Buy "made in the USA" this year!

All our best!

From the Tallgrass - the First Exhibition

Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardii) at the Prairie Hill Farm Prairie

Photograph © Bruce A. Morrison

"From the Tallgrass", an exhibit of paintings, drawings and photography of the Tallgrass Prairie opens on Tuesday, August 16th next week!  I'm both excited and nervous but I think that comes from spending all your time in the tallgrass and not enough around other homo sapiens!  OK, thats a bit tongue-in-cheek, but it has been a long time since I went solo in an exhibit.  Most of the last few weeks has been completely devoted to framing, re-framing, and all the other things that figure into something like this...there is so much more to it than meets the eye.

The prairie is the subject matter of course, and the prairie has been going great guns this summer - very hard to keep up!!!  I think once we get the show hung in a few days, I need to step back onto the prairie and see what I've been missing these past weeks!!!

The Exhibit "From the Tallgrass" runs through September 25th.  There will be an artist's reception on August 25th from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.  The exhibit is at Arts on Grand in Spencer, Iowa.  You can always give them a call, should you have any questions, at (712) 262-4307; they're open Tuesday through Saturday!

Hope to get to see and talk with you at the reception on the 25th (last Thursday in August)!  If not, please try and get over to Arts on Grand to see the show!

 

A Prairie Cantabile

"Prairie Cantabile"  Painted Violin 

(casein on applied canvas)

© Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

Not many folks have seen the painted violin I did several years ago, for a fund raiser to benefit the NW Iowa Symphony Orchestra.  I have a solo exhibit coming up at Arts on Grand in Spencer, Iowa, in a couple weeks and this piece will be there.  The buyers have agreed to let me show the piece once again and I will honestly say I am still taken aback by it...I can't believe how nice is looks, I'm extremely proud of this piece!  It was my first attempt with Casein as a painting medium...casein is extremely permanent...I believe it is one of the earliest painting medias in use today.

"Cantabile" is from the Italian meaning "worthy to be sung".  I sing praises of the prairie in all my works; what more aptly fits than this title for this work?!!  The back of the violin depicts the prairie as a landscape, the front of the piece celebrates the prairie "up front" and close-up.

From the Tallgrass" is the title of this solo exhibit.  It opens August 16 and runs through September 25th.  There will be an "Artist's Reception" on Thursday the 25th, from 5:30 - 7:00 p.m.  Please come and enjoy this exhibit devoted to our region's natural and cultural heritage!

I'll be referring to "From the Tallgrass" a few more times this month...hope you can make it to Spencer during the show! 

Work'n the Summer

Late July Mid Afternoon (reworked)

9X12" - oil painting on mounted canvas

© Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)
SOLD

 July has been busy and like I remembered it as a kid - Hot!  Well it may not seem hot to my friends in Arizona or California, but we have some fairly messy dewpoint levels here (humidity)!  I can always take the heat but add a 75 degree dewpoint to it and I think climate change means we are the new Panama!!  :)

I have my first solo exhibit in decades coming up next month and I am really hustling to get everything ready for it.  The exhibit will be at Arts on Grand in Spencer, Iowa.  The show opens on August 16th and runs through September 24th.  There will be an opening evening event (I think they call it a "gallery talk") on August 25th, a Thursday evening...it begins around 5:30 p.m.   This is a good time to talk with me about anything and have refreshments and hors d'oeuvres.  And it would be a really great time getting to meet some of my blog friends if we haven't already done so!

When preparing for something like this, a great deal of time is spent matting and framing, varnishing, and even reworking paintings.  Any artist will tell you that sometimes knowing when something is really finished isn't s easy as you'd think!  The above painting was presented in this blog earlier (Here), but there was something about it that did not look "finished" to me...something was missing and I was fairly sure from the moment I had the thought, as to what it was needing!  A visual threshold; you know, like when you enter a room or space and "step" into it.  This painting was too flat for a visual "entrance"...had no weight to its foundation...I could think of several more metaphors but you may get the drift.  I think it now has that foundation and a threshold to enter over and into the space. 

 Late July Mid Afternoon (unfinished version)

(You can compare with the previous version here and see what I mean.)

I am also still at the easel and working in the field each day I can manage.  The early morning hikes with the camera equipment have been invigorating and I'm finding I'll be a long while editing through all the material I come up with!  Is that what "winters" around here are for??

Valley Plum Thicket Study

6X8" - oil painting on mounted canvas

© Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

Here is a small study I did just recently...the plums and spring are long past but we had some freakish weather here during the Wild Plum bloom...it got very hot and windy for a couple days straight and the bloom was on and over in just 2-3 days.  Pretty disappointing because I look forward to it each year!  I did this study from some photos of past blooms here in the valley, to make up for missing them this year.

Well, back to work here in the studio.  I do hope I'll get to see you at my exhibit opening evening in August!  I'll be posting about it some more in the coming weeks.

Stay cool and enjoy July!