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!

 

 

 

Print of the Week - "Big Sky - Brief Shower"

"Big Sky - Brief Shower"

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

 

Missed a print of the week last week as my wife and I were celebrating our 45th Wedding Anniversary!  Now we're back to daily life on the prairie and all that it brings.

 

This week's featured print is actually a photograph; I've been featuring so much art work, I thought a photo would be a nice change-up.  This is more befitting at this time of the year, especially now with all the rain we've been experiencing here!  Actually this is depicting just a nice brief shower in the landscape - we just got deluged with 10 inches of rain in 36 hours here the past few days...I think "brief" would be preferred now for a while.

 

The photograph is the landscape we see every day here - the pasture across the road from us usually gets baled mid to late summer and the sky can be just an amazing compliment to add drama or beauty or both!

 

All my photographs are printed here in the studio on archival papers and with archival inks.  I print these as open editions and sign each one in the lower margin.

 

Stop by any time and see more at the studio or take a walk on the prairie pasture here and soak in some of the beauty! 

 

Till next time! 

Our "Mountains"

Anviled Thunderhead in the Valley

Photograph © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

I get to feeling like a broken record around here in the spring, summer and fall.  The view here is very nice, but add the drama of the morning or evening skies and it can be quite amazing!

I've been working on some landscape photography and painting ideas the past couple weeks in the "neighborhood", and was processing several of the image files I'd taken yesterday afternoon and evening.  Georgie had alerted me to the cloud formations forming out across the road, so I took periodic trips out to the pasture and took some photographs...about every time I'd head back into the studio for more work, I'd look out the window and everything had changed and needed shooting again!  Its hard getting anything done here in the summer, especially in the late afternoon!

This thunderstorm (which I guess was actually in northern Kossuth County and into Minnesota) eventually "anviled" out and was very dramatic across the valley, with a blue sky backdrop and the evening sun lighting its facade!

I do say it a lot, but I'm gong to say it again...the clouds are our mountains out here on the prairie, and they are beautiful and awesome!

 

Cloud Chasing

The Vernal Equinox is only about 36 hours away as I write...and I'm looking forward to it! A lot of work seems to crop up for me at this time of year, so I have to be thankful for the opportunities as they arise, but it makes getting in some painting time almost impossible. It is also a wonderful time for photography in the tallgrass environment...I love it, but it's mostly just getting out that I enjoy so much, especially after a winter of contemplating just that.

When I'm out doing freelance work for different projects, I try and take advantage of what's going on in the prairies and prairie potholes of our region. One thing that is always enjoyable for Georgie and I is "cloud chasing". No matter what time of the year it is we can always manage to find interesting skies in the tallgrass. I've always thought of the prairie as a sky dominated landscape, it usually is. The sky is to the prairie like the mountains are to the american west. The prairie has the advantage of an everchanging sky however, the landscape can change quickly and constantly with your tripod still firmly achored to the same spot all day long.

We've had days when the chase begins early in the day and we move with the sky...kind of like storm chasing but not with that kind of earnest flight...more with the light and the shapes and the vantage point. The image above is a good example of one of these days...this started at an event of a friend's spouse. As the event ended we saw the sky and spent the rest of the day following "it"! The cloud chase ended shortly before sunset when this thunderhead began to collapse, yet still leaving an "image worthy" offering to us before the light was gone.

Here's to a great Spring and some good chases to come!