Autumn Drought = Autumn Color!

 

Autumn Road - photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 

I really believe we are seeing the best autumn colors this fall than I've seen since we moved here 20 years ago...its been just beautiful!  We just weren't expecting it...3rd drought year in a row...listed in the "Extreme" category now, with the worst (5 out of 5) "Exceptional" creeping even closer.

According to a state arborist, we are getting great color due to the warm/mild weather preceding our first hard frost.  We haven't had any rain since then so the wind has been the only thing dropping leaves now...and its been monotonously windy since the colors came on!

 

Hale Slough - photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 

I'll leave you with some nice Fall color in NW Iowa near and not so far from our acreage.  (Click on each image for a larger view).

 

Receding Pool  and Cottonwoods - photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 

Garlock Slough - photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

Arching Autumn Colors - photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

Autumn in the Waterman Valley - photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

Happy Fall out there!   Be good to one another...

 

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!

 

Part of the Process

"Little Sioux River Valley Autumn Bales No.1"

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

I have been stuck in the studio "processing" all the image files from a week and a half ago; that was a busy and productive week for autumn in our "area".  Most folks don't realize all the post production work there is when working from "Raw" files...most of us shoot RAW, not JPG or TIFF...doing so preserves all the information that a file has to offer.  But a RAW file doesn't usually present the image as you would print it or use for a blog such as this or for publication, so some computer "darkroom" work is in order.

I spent many years in the darkroom professionally, way before digital imaging was even a flicker on the horizon; actually working mostly in B&W, then doing color printing and transparency film processing for roughly 30 years before I took the leap early into the digital fray. 

"Back in the day" darkroom work was inevitable - no way around it!  But even now, with digital imaging on the professional level, image processing is a necessary part of the process from exposing the image to print or publication. 

It's been overcast, damp and windy here the past 4 days, so its perfect "darkroom" time.  I would prefer to see a blue sky again soon though as I'm feeling couped up!   

A good side effect during this inside time is I get many ideas for future artwork while going through image files...paintings and drawing ideas come to me and get me even more excited!  Lets hope I can get some Autumn artwork ideas to get me through part of the Winter ahead!  

Oooh, did I just say the "W" word??!!!  Oh well, it's all part of the process! 
 

Autumn Is Good!

 "Autumn on Yellow Avenue in SE O'Brien County, IA"

(photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison)

The days are shortening and the color is good...the air is crisp, yet the sun is warm; this is a neat time of year and as with the harvest, there is much to be thankful for.  

 "High Water Color on the Des Moines in northern Webster County, IA"

(photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison)

We don't live in New England or where colors are breathtaking with reds, yellows and oranges shared among hardwoods like hard maples, but we can occasionally get lucky with autumn when all the cards fall just right, and this was such a year!

 "Electric Blues on the North Raccoon in southern Sac County, IA"

(photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison)

 Georgie and I drove the back roads here and in this corner of the state. taking in the transient scenery - a chance to get away from the daily tasks and reflect.

 "Below the Rapids on the North Raccoon in northern Sac County, IA"

(photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison)

We miss the river roads and streams of past journeys - they were dressed in colorful attire, preparing for a good rest from the past year.

 "Quiet Color near the Washta Access in southern Cherokee County, IA"

(photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison)

Some places were bright and noisily passing the day away, while others more somber and reflective.  It's been another year of new experiences, of life's sorrows and joy; it's now a time to rest and regain one's bearings, and to be grateful for those blessings that have come our way

Have a great Autumn season and be good to one another!

Coming This Weekend!

We're gearing up - its coming!  The Artisans Road Trip weekend studio tour event will be here this weekend - Saturday October 8th and Sunday October 9th!

 (Morrison's Studio at Prairie Hill Farm)

This is the 13th annual weekend A.R.T. event and it should be a great Autumn weekend! Saturday (October 8) kicks off at 9 a.m. and runs through 5 p.m., and Sunday (October 9) starts at 12 Noon and runs through 5 p.m.  

We've been working toward this weekend all year with many new original works of art such as drawings and paintings, many new open edition/signed photographs and several new Note Card boxed collections as well as new Greeting Cards - did you know we have the largest variety and collection of boxed note cards and greeting cards of NW Iowa found anywhere?!!!  Come and see for yourself!

But don't neglect the view from the studio deck and even take in a walk on our mowed native pasture trails...or just relax with some refreshments here in the studio!  Have any questions - please ask, we'd love to talk with you...this is a great place for conversation as well as browsing or purchasing artwork, or just taking in some of the valley's crisp Autumn air!

Hope to see you this weekend!

Indian Summer - Gotta Love It!

 

Prairie Hill Farm and the Studio - photograph

© Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

I did a post some time back about Indian Summer; I wish Indian Summer were a true season - if it were, it would be my all-time favorite!  As it is, I love Indian Summer - regardless!

I always loved the fall season, but it is frustratingly short; specifically the color transitions that take place in autumn.  Unless you live in New England, your fall colors are somewhat more of a crap shoot.  I've been told by more than one person that if I ever experienced autumn in Vermont, I would be spoiled for life.  

Autumn Stream - photograph

© Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view) 

I'm sure there's a element of truth there in the assumption that fall colors are just spectacular beyond explanation in parts of the country - some regions more so than others, and some years better than others as well...but I still take great pleasure in the small pockets of beauty around us. 

Autumn Streamside - photograph

© Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view) 

I was finally able to get away with the camera yesterday morning.  I get permission from different folks in the area, to walk their properties - and appreciate these offers and opportunities more than I can ever completely express!  The color here on the acreage started suddenly last week - the pasture always comes through for us but the acreage hasn't looked this good in years, really!

Autumn Woodland Sunrise - photograph

© Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view) 

The place I walked yesterday morning still had some nice pockets but I could tell I was late - never-the-less it was not disappointing!  I do hope to get back there through the seasons now that I have a better idea as to where to walk.

Just a short 2014 Artisans Road Trip follow-up.  Thank you to everyone who stopped by the studio and made our weekend here a success - I could not do it without your support!  Thank you so much!

Have a great autumn and may Indian Summer days bring a glow to your hearts.

Autumn!

"Valley Autumn"

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

(Click on image for a larger view) 

 

I suddenly came to the realization that I haven't done a Studio blog in 8 or 9 weeks!  Yikes!

 

Well I have been blogging, just not for myself I guess.  And its Autumn!  Did it sneak up on you as well?  I did see it coming, it just doesn't seem like it should be here already.

 

I've been blogging for the 2014 Artisans Road Trip and getting ready for it as well!  It's coming up soon - just a couple more weeks and it'll be here!  This year the A.R.T. event is the 2nd weekend of October - that's Saturday October 11th (9AM-5PM) and Sunday October 12 (Noon-5PM)!  

 

The Artisans Road Trip has been running for 11 years now...the art studio tour is a great get-away or destination day trip, with even more to look forward to than just a fun fall drive through the countryside!

 

If you have time to get away during the weekend of the 11th and 12th, I hope you can make it out for great atmosphere, delicious treats, conversation and great scenery!

 

First time for the Artisans Road Trip?  Check out the web site at - 

http://www.artisansroadtrip.com/

 

Hope to see you then!

 

Tough Job but...

 "Autumn Along Jordan Creek"

8.5X12" - color pencil drawing - art work © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

Autumn was different here this year.  We had early, but not complete leaf drop.  Poor color, mostly brown due to the warm and dry weather.  Then by the last week of October, what was left around here did turn color.  Never been colors to this extent, this late...not that I can remember any way.  Now the leaves are passing and dropping.

I'm not sure I'm ready for this!  The bare landscape I mean...well, also the cold weather.  It does keep me inside and working though, maybe that's a good thing.

I just finished another color pencil piece, this one a little larger than usual for me.  I was discussing work time with someone on color pencil pieces like this yesterday and they asked me how long this piece was taking.  I'm not on the clock so much except in my head and I just guessed 7-9 weeks.  Well, I was off some, it took 6 instead. It just seemed so long!

"Autumn Along Jordan Creek" is from the "neighborhood" again.  This scene is actually about 4 miles southwest of the studio.  Jordan creek is very small in stature and eventually runs into the Waterman about 4-5 miles from this spot.  Its the kind of creek you could jump across in spots when you were a kid, and maybe just get your shoes muddy in trying to do so.  Its also the kind of creek you could still enjoy exploring, wading and catching frogs.  Its a cool little creek.

They weren't doing so the day I stopped by, but the small stunted Ash trees are assuredly the preferred shade for the local grazing herd of cattle during the hot oppressive days of summer.  In fact I took shelter in shade much like this and waded little creeks like this for hot summer afternoon relief many, many years ago and that's the kind of artwork I like to spend long hours on.  Hey, its a tough job but somebody has gotta do it!

Come by the studio some time this winter when you long for some cooling shade and a wade down the creek!

Work'n It!

Song Sparrow's are once again singing here!

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

I was working in the studio this afternoon...it'd been snowing today but the temps rose enough to melt the lightly blanketed landscape.  As I plugged along I heard this beautiful bird song just outside the front door...got up and peered out the window and there sat a Song Sparrow in blissful song!  Wow what an optimist!  And what a singer; he may not know a lot of songs but he sings this one beautifully!

"Sunrise on Negus's Bales"

12x20" - oil painting on mounted canvas

© Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

I just finished my latest painting.  It was based on a landscape in the neighborhood that I photographed last fall.  I thought at the time I found the landscape in question, that it'd like to paint the scene.  I finally was able to make it come to pass; I enjoy taking a moment that speaks to me, and turn it into a translation through paint and brushes.  You can certainly see the influence of the original photograph on the painting, but f you look closer, you'll also see my translation picks and chooses what I like and leave out what I don't...that's really something all artists do when painting or drawing anything.

The "Sunrise on Negus's Bales" is a "neighborhood" painting - I truly love doing these works closer to home.  Our home is where our hearts are and isn't it normal for someone to celebrate what touches them in an uplifting way?!!!

Speaking of "uplifting", the Song Sparrow has been joined by the Junco and Harris Sparrow music throughout the acreage...and you can't ignore the more raucous "music" of the hundreds of Red-winged Blackbirds that have been filling the acreage's tree tops!

As I mentioned in the last blog - spring is here, and we're work'n it!!!

Out and About

 Negus's Bales

photograph © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

This time of year here in NW Iowa tends to transition from the appearance of a landscape having come to fruition, to one becoming increasingly barren and monochromatic.  But one thing I always find is it's the light that speaks through any landscape...and it's also the perspective or personal interest, if-you-will, that keeps things interesting or fresh in your self awareness and appreciation.

I recently ventured out into the "neighborhood" before sunrise, on a quest to fulfill a commission to photograph an agricultural landscape.  I passed by the image you see at the top of this blog and thought "Wow", I have to come back here on my way home!

Thankfully the light was still great, and the wind hadn't come roaring up as it seems to have this year each time sunrise comes around.  I stopped and took a few images until the sun climbed higher and the color changed slightly.

The mornings are getting crisp; it was around 20 degrees Fahrenheit and my attire wasn't quite up to snuff, so I was happy to climb back into the pickup where it was cozy.  Soon the frost and snow will become the landscape's veil!

I like this piece...it makes me happy; isn't that important??!!  I'm very tempted to try a painting of this scene sometime this winter when the frigid wind keeps me in the studio.

Times flies when you're having fun!

Processing, Processing, Processing...

"M12 Fall Bales"

(photograph - click on to view a larger image)

I Love the Fall!  It's wonderful out after a few frosts have calmed the summer's mosquitoes and other biting bugs.  But it's really the sky, the air and the sun I enjoy...along with fall colors, the crops being harvested, even the early evening light.

But sometimes things catch up with me...I am trying to work on the many image files I downloaded onto the hard drives.  I have processing to do.  A lot of processing to do.

Years back I would always look so forward to going through batches of film, either after I processed it or had it sent out instead.  I shot transparency film, so spent a lot of time over the light table peering through a loupe , checking for film scratches, sharpness and what were "keepers".  When this film returned from a processor, it was almost like Christmas...I'd eagerly open each box in anticipation!  When I processed it myself (E-3, then E4, then E-6 processing), I still got excited about what I was seeing but the work load would temper this enthusiasm somewhat. 

I still look forward to going through images on the computer monitor, the old feeling of anticipation is still there but one thing I have noticed the past 10 years (I've been shooting digital since 2000) is the work load actually gets more cumbersome!  Why?  Well, when I shot film there was a "finite" number of exposures I could make...you'd have to be made of money for that not to be true! With digital I found I was freed up a great deal and did much more experimentation...also I took many more photos of what I'd call "idea" shots...these "ideas" pile up fast!  Soon I have more "ideas" than I can manage - on my hard drive or in my own head!  But I keep recording these ideas...and they need "Processing"...they have to be sorted and filed somehow so I don't forget them or loose track of where they're at.  

Georgie knows how "organized" I am...uh...OK - "disorganized"  :)  But I still plug away.

The "M12 Fall Bales" photo at the top of this post was forgotten...but I only took it 5 days ago!!!  Uh...I also saw numerous...too many to count images that I forgot about, and they've only been taken the past 2-3 weeks!  I think I need to do a dump on my hard drive most people call a "head"!  I seem to be hobbled as to how much can actually go up there and still be retrieved without too much difficulty!

The "M12 Fall Bales" image is something I like to do; panorama shots are becoming more common...I've been doing them since around the time I shifted to digital film, and they were less common then.  There is now a myriad of software and cameras out there that automatically pull these shots together (stitch them) but I am still stubbornly plodding away - doing them the "old" way...stitching frames "by hand"...well, still with the computer, but without the automated programs.  (This shot is made from 4 individual frames.) This takes a while, but it still feels right to me.  Maybe someday the "processing" will get to me and I'll relent and go "auto" (?)...we'll see.

For now I'll still go through all these images that I shot just last week and had forgotten, or will uncover that great moment I remembered from last summer or spring - but tucked away so well I forgot where it was!  

Never a dull moment here...now back to processing...

Still...

Prairie Autumn Stream No.27X14" Prismacolor (color pencil drawing)

I finally finished another autumn color pencil piece I started way back before Christmas. I'm glad it's over; it wrestled me most of the way. I will offer this piece for sale as all originals I do...just have to set up a page on my business website for it first...in the meantime, if you are interested just email me and I can give you the particulars.

As in my mid November post, this image also came from the same trip Georgie and I made down into Sac County, Iowa while working on the Watchable Wildlife project. The day was horribly windy and very little came out of the trip as publishable photographs but it was beautiful and I used the image files to draw from to try and recapture that valley along the Raccoon River.

Back lit scenes are a favorite of mine, but I'm going to take a rest from them for a bit and try to get onto some other images burned into some lost corner of my brain.

This is what it currently looks like in the back grove today, we're in a blizzard warning and all county plows have been pulled off the roads till later tonight. We can't even see the mail box down the hill as I write.


So, this is where I'm staying at the time being...where I should be I guess! Looking for warm weather images to conjure up!

Stay safe...stay inside!!!

Till Next Year

Monarch on Stiff Goldenrod at the Prairie Hill Farm prairie remnant

Tomorrow is the Autumnal Equinox...it's amazing how fast summer went by.

One sign of this around Prairie Hill Farm is the Monarch migration and roosting. This is one insect that really gets me excited each year - in the spring and the fall. The fall population now feeding and roosting here is called the "Super Generation"...they're different than the ones that arrived last May or stayed during the summer months. This Super Generation of Monarchs has the ability to switch off the aging mechanism of previous generations (whose life cycle could be measured in just "weeks"). This Super Generation will go on to complete an amazing migration of 3 thousand miles - and then live for more than another 8 months! (8 months for a Monarch is the equivalent of a human living for 600 years!)

We've been having smaller "roosts" here on the acreage this summer. Last year we had between 400 and 500 Monarchs roosting in the trees here on one night. "Roosts" is the term for numbers of Monarchs staying overnight together in a group; why they do that I'm not sure but it's really a sight to see. To view part of the Prairie Hill Farm Monarch roost of 2008, go to the Watchable Wildlife website link at the bottom of this page (http://www.watchablewildlifenwia.org/links-Videos.htm) and click on "Monarch Migration".

Roosting has been lower here this year and I have been reading that the population is at it's lowest since 2004, so that may have some bearing. Life recently has not been kind to our continent's most fascinating insect...with some recent hard freezes during the winter in their mountainous Mexican sanctuaries, and illegal logging in those sanctuaries as well, things are getting tough. Here's to a pretty cool bug - hope to see you next year, and forever after that!

Happy Autumn!

Back to Fall

(The Medford Avenue Bridge, oil on mounted canvas, 12X16)

Smack in the middle of winter should bring inspiration for winter landscapes shouldn't it? Well I have had the urge for doing some winter landscape photography work but not painting...I'm not really sure why but maybe because I'm mentally stuck in "nicer" weather (sorry snow lovers).

One season I have never painted is Fall. Well, with one disclaimer, I painted a picture of my Grandfather picking corn back when I was 17...that was an autumn seasonal painting, but I really can't remember ever painting an autumn landscape. Thinking of that even seems odd to me because autumn was my favorite season for most of my life.

I finally finished my first fall landscape painting, it's of an old iron suspension bridge down in the Loess Hills...a location Georgie and I passed through this past fall on a photo excursion of sorts. I like old things and old bridges are kinda cool I think. This bridge has the nicest patina, an almost iron oxide red color to it and the contrast of the bridge with the autumn sky and the landscape just shouted "stop!" to us. I thought immediately that this had to be painted, so here we go.

I enjoyed this painting process...finally got to do an autumn scene and I love the color of that season so much. But I found I don't care a lot for the process of depicting man made objects with detail like this bridge; it was just too confining or restrictive...the shadow and the bridge planks were about the only liberating features. But sometimes you have to take the good with the not so fun to make something work.

*I'm not totally sure how to get back to the Medford Avenue bridge...I believe we were in Monona County at the time, but maybe our Loess Hills friends would help clue us in. Georgie and I usually keep pretty close tabs on where we are during these trips, but we were having so much fun we maybe weren't as careful that time?! (* I just located notes that Georgie wrote during that trip...see she knows what's goin' on! Medford Ave bridge is just north off of F50 4mi N and 1/2 mi E of Missouri Valley in Harrison County.)

With 30 mph NW winds howling through Prairie Hill Farm this winter afternoon at 10 degrees, I'm keeping warm thinking of sunny autumn days...