Fridays - "Archived Works" Day!

 

"Low Water Morning" - oil painting - © Bruce A. Morrison (from a private collection in Maine)

 

I've decided to try and make Fridays an "Archived Works" day. I'll post a painting, drawing or serigraph (silkscreen print) from the "archive" files of years past...and give a little back story on the work. I hope you'll find it interesting! 

 

This first posting will be a summer one - lets warm things up please! It's a small oil painting of the creek across the road from our home and the studio - Waterman Creek. I'll get into a background on the creek's name some other time, but it has a lot of history with "known" Native Americans...as far back as the Mill Creek culture of 1200 A.D. and earlier. The oldest known "remaining" Native American crop field in Iowa is just behind this view depicted...maybe 3-400 yards. 

 

I'm cognizant of these things when I'm out hiking - and I'll add that this is private property that I've been given permission to walk - making it even more special because I am less familiar with the landscape and its much more of a privilege to be there.

 

If you grew up near or on a creek or stream, you can relate to the draw of it all...the sounds of the water rippling over and around rocks, the occasional flash of minnows, a water strider or two in the back pools...a crawdad on a clear bottom, or a frog jumping in ahead of your gaze. They are a magnet to me. 

 

When I walk a creek, it brings back so much that I can be completely distracted from "adult" things and usually that means my mission of finding composition, color, movement and light...something to paint, draw or photograph. It's a shame I've become so serious...I tell myself to just chill and find a rock to sit on...just close my eyes and listen - take it in and hang onto the moment. 

 

This painting was done more as a "study", a term meaning it may or may not be revisited another time as a larger, more in depth work. I was happy with the color usage and play...it was a drought year that summer and the creek was easy to walk while running so low. This little painting now resides in a private collection in Maine.

 

(This painting and other archived artwork can be viewed at - https://morrisons-studio.com/archived-works/ )

 

"Low Water Morning" - oil painting - © Bruce A. Morrison

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!

 

That's More Like It!

 Our Spring Birds! 

(composite - color pencil drawings)

© Bruce A. Morrison

click on image for a larger view

Wow, its just been over a month since my last blog entry and I have to say "That's more like it!"  We had snow every week in April here with a couple blizzards and weeks with more than one storm - we're finally out of the snow!

And once the snow stopped, our favorite birds started pouring in and making an appearance!  Some will be leaving soon on their migration further north but the majority will be staying the summer or are our year-round friends.  Got to LOVE the Birds!

"The Forgotten Bale"

oil panting - © Bruce A. Morrison
click on image for a larger view

I have also been painting in the studio but it has gotten very hard now that the sun is shinning and the birds are singing.  This painting is a little different for me, its a late autumn scene and the leaves are done turning yet the native grasses on the hillside are still quite vibrant yellow with hints of orange.  The lighting is flat and contrasty with the late afternoon fall sun.  The fields have been mowed with stubble still affording the wildlife some cover and forage; and a bale lies forgotten before the winter's first snow arrives.

I need to switch gears and get back to the greens of spring and summer ahead!

Ya this is more like it!

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!

 

From the Drawing Board

"Bald Eagle - Portrait" 

color pencil drawing - © Bruce A. Morrison

Its been...how shall I say this?  Winter!  Ya...snow...cold...ha!  Well you know how it is; winter is a time I used to go sledding, have snowball fights, cross country ski or snowshoe - but that was eons ago! (At least the sledding and snow ball fight part!)

But we've been making the best of it, staying warm and enjoying the critters we usually see more of this time of the year.  The Deer herd in the valley, and the yard...the birds around the feeders here, and the Bald Eagles flying through nearly each day...occasionally even fence post or tree branch sitting here too.  Just a couple weeks back Georgie and I were heading out to visit the area nature center (the Prairie Heritage Center) and as we drove south of here we passed a harmless Bald Eagle melee - 15 or more birds just having a wee old time playing around (and eating)!

I had toyed with the idea of doing a Bird Portrait of a Bald Eagle for some time.  I have a few photos in my files but the pictures I've taken of Bald Eagles are from the ground and I wanted to portray a more "formal" look, up close and more personal.  There is a Bald Eagle on display at the nature center and I look at this beautiful bird every visit.  I just recently finished the drawing seen above here.

With past "Bird Portrait" drawings I've usually concentrated on doing all those little passerines - perching/songbirds in the yard, but decided to change it up a bit; as in my past Bird Portraits, this too is drawn approximately life size. 

"Wenasaga Bald Eagle"
oil painting - © Bruce A. Morrison

Many years ago I did a small oil painting of a Bald Eagle along a Canadian river we used to spend a lot of time vacationing at, but have never done a closeup like this before.  A very majestic and cool bird, whether up close and personal or at a distance!

Hope you're staying well this winter!  Thanks for stopping by!

Again, Some of My Favorite Things...

 "Compass Plant (Silphium laciniatum)" - oil painting - © Bruce A. Morrison

 As I mentioned in my last blog, I've been thinking and focusing on prairie forbs (wildflowers) and grasses a lot lately.  One of these forbs is found in our native pasture, while the other is not, but is "local" to our area.

This time I've been working in oils and I'm trying to keep these close to "life size", so the painting are small (both 5X7").

The first painting is of a Compass Plant (Silphium laciniatum) bloom.  There are many of these plants in our pasture and they are quite the iconic Tallgrass Prairie plant - being anywhere up to 6-7 feet tall!  They also have quite a sturdy stock,  lasting through the winter.  To give you an idea of how sturdy these are, once the snow was out this spring Georgie and I found several of these stocks were used by the local bucks as "rubs" for their antlers!  (Even found a shed out there!)  Its amazing to me that White-tail bucks are using these on their antlers.

 "Michigan Lily (Lilium michiganense)" - oil painting - © Bruce A. Morrison

The next painting is of a Michigan Lily (Lilium michiganense) blossom and I actually did a very small drawing of this same plant a few years back I believe the original color pencil was something like a 1.5X2" miniature drawing.  I went for a life size painting from that tiny sketch.

I used to call these Turk's Cap Lilies but that was not proper as that is an entirely different Lily (although similar in looks).  This is a local native Lily, not found in our pasture though...it requires more of a moist mesic environment than our mostly gravel/well drained soil can provide.  I do believe that another local native Lily would have done just fine in our pasture - the Prairie Lily...sometimes referred to as the Wood Lily (Lilium philadelphicum)...I've found them in both moist and dry soils near our acreage.

We just burned about 1/3 of our pasture a week and a half back, and will be burning another 30% in the next weeks if possible...part of our prairie pasture maintenance; this year leaving 40% for the invertebrates and possible other critters like small reptiles and even amphibians.  We've rotated burning for many years now and its always been our hope we're allowing leeway for species needing a break.  But the paddocks burned are always a showcase for flowering plants and produce great crops of seed - very fun to experience!

Its always nice to have something like the prairie to look forward to each year - giving me some of my favorite things!

Past and Present

"Black-capped Chickadee and Blue Jay Portraits"

from the Favorite Birds Portrait Series

colored pencil drawings - © Bruce A. Morrison

I was recently thinking about where portraits and paintings of birds have gone with me over the years.  I don't believe I still have the "very first" images I drew of birds, but do have some from my teenage years...the very first "commissioned" birds I can remember doing were india ink drawings...I may still have slides of those...I'll have to do some digging and see.  I think they were around 1966-67 when I was around 16-17 years old?

The "portrait " series I've been dabbling with the past couple years, when my time permits, have all been in color pencil.  The earlier ones in Prismacolor and the later with Lyra polycolor.  My very first color pencil of a bird was a rather badly done drawing of a Peregrine Falcon.  I don't remember the year but I'm guessing it was around 1962-3.  I vaguely remember what that drawing looked like and it's not a memory I care to hang onto!  But we all have to start somewhere.

 "Blue Jay" on mat board
colored pencil drawing - © Bruce A. Morrison

I took up color pencils again around the early 1980's...the image above is of the type of work I did at that time...using a colored board to draw upon was a convenient  tool - saving a lot of time in rendering a background color with the pencils themselves.  

"Snow Laden Cedar - Chickadees"

oil painting - © Bruce A. Morrison

I did many drawings of birds but didn't "paint" a bird until my first year in Community College.  I was in my art teacher's office and saw paintings he was working on.  He had a painting of a Killdeer that I was quite taken with - here was an artist painting birds!  I always wanted to paint birds and this was the catalyst that pushed me forward!  My art teacher "Mr. Halm" (Robert Halm) encouraged all his students to do what "moved" them and that was wonderful encouragement for me.

The "Snow Laden Cedar - Chickadees" was a change from earlier years too, I was now placing birds in their environment.

It is occasionally fun to look back where you were years ago, but that was "then" and this is "now".   Keep moving forward!

 

Racing Summer

"Morning Glow" - © Bruce A. Morrison

oil painting - 9X12"

(click on image for a larger view)

Not only have I been behind on my blogs, but in keeping up with this summer as well!  I have been working in the studio and out trekking the valley below much of the past 3 weeks since my last entry...and racing summer!!!  It is tough staying at task; too many things are tugging at my sleeve nearly every minute of the day.  The sky is drop dead amazing as I type...should I drop what I'm doing and run outside with the cameras??!  Its been that kind of a summer; so much going on and too many distractions otherwise.

The painting featured above was finished a couple hours ago.  It is not a large painting but it required every ounce of my attention. It is, once again, a painting of my favorite little prairie stream Waterman Creek.  But, as I've insisted many times before, it could most certainly be just about any little creek in the area.  This particular painting depicts a walk I took along the creek several weeks ago - this was before this summer's drought brought the little creek down to a small trickle.

I walked the Waterman about a week ago...a different piece than I had in the past, and was hard pressed to come up with even a photograph.  That mile section of the stream was so low that I almost could have walked the whole thing in slip-on rubbers and not have even gotten my socks wet!  That's "Low" for around here!  This is a summer I don't think many of us will miss - I just hope it doesn't revisit next year!!!

Summer paintings can be very difficult.  About 30 years ago I heard one painter I admired very much, say how summer "greens" were the nemesis of many a landscapist.  Summer is a season of green here, and most everywhere...green has to be tamed, or at least work with you, and that's not usually the easiest task.  

This summer morning had an impressive "glow" to it and I wanted to maintain that impression of this early hour walk down the creek. I used the creek itself as the "threshold" to bring the viewer into the scene.  I find reflections in the water as being darker than the place it reflects...that does help in anchoring a composition like this.  The small rapids breaks up the foreground some, helping keep things more interesting, and the darker shrubs in the left middle ground help keep the viewer's eyes from simply straying off the edge of the image.  The path of the composition is basically an oval or circle...about the most simple design possible in a landscape I think...just not always easy to carry out.

Breaking up the middle ground and background with a dirt embankment made it possible, in my mind, to relieve the potential monotony of the palette of greens.  A leaning toward the raw sienna in the exposed dirt created a "near" complimentary relief as well.

I hope you enjoy this painting...that the summer has been kind to you.  My heart goes out to everyone that has been racing summer, particularly if you haven't been exactly winning the race!

Breaking Out

"September Dawn, Little Sioux River"

12X16" oil painting - © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view) 
SOLD

Time to bust outta this place!  The "studio" I mean!  Been working on all sorts of things a person must, but the prairie, birds and the landscape in general are shouting at me out the windows surrounding my chair and I need to start focusing out there!

The last piece I just finished up this afternoon is actually from a plein air study I did not too terribly far from the studio about 3 years back.  The piece was started outside on the site, but had to be finished that day in the studio because the conditions changed so quickly.  The study can be seen here (below) and can be read about from that original blog from September 17, 2009 - http://prairiepainter.blogspot.com/2009/09/summer-still.html

 The original plein air study

"September Dawn, Little Sioux River"
Oil on mounted canvas - 6X8"

(click on image for a larger view)

Plein air studies are a natural step for a painter...first you do small color studies (paintings) on location, and these serve as guides for further work in a larger "finished" painting - done later in the studio.

I sold the original plein air study of this painting just a couple months after I did it in 2009 so I had to work from an image file I scanned of the original 6X8" plein air study.  That still worked just fine...I wasn't trying to laboriously duplicate the small original, but instead work off of the "impression" the original piece offered as far as lighting, color and composition.  The finished piece is unmistakably done from the original, yet is more refined to reflect my interpretation of that morning...the fog or haze rising off of the river as the early morning, late summer sun, breaks through the atmosphere upstream.

I'm spending what time the Good Lord is granting me, celebrating the landscape surrounding our valley and area of the tallgrass prairie here...celebrating in my paintings, drawings and photography - but its high time to break out of here and get into the summer outside!

Hope you can get out and enjoy this summer!

Early Morning Along the Creek

"Riffles - First Light"

© Bruce A. Morrison
6X12" oil painting - SOLD

(click on image for a larger view) 

Its trying to look and feel like winter here for a change...just a skiff of snow this morning but the temps are more winter-like.  I'll admit I have "some" misgivings about the weather being so mild and unwinter-like lately - but not many!!!

Being just "brown" outside hasn't charmed a "current" landscape out of me yet, so I've been working on ideas from my image bank of last summer...if it can't be a gorgeous winter outside, I'll enjoy summer inside on the easel instead! (Or maybe make believe its winter on the easel sometime this winter yet?)

I just finished a small study along the Waterman in the valley here.  This scene is actually only about a mile and a half downstream from the studio here.  If you were to float the creek during decent water levels, you'd probably reach this spot in an easy 10 minutes.  If you were to walk to it, it'd take about 45 minutes or more.  But as the crow flies, this is just next door!  What a beautiful little stream and valley here - don't pinch me please, I do not want to wake up!!!

I've been doing so many small studies the past 2-3 years; I wonder if I'll ever do some larger works from them?!  Guess that's a fair question I'll ponder some more.

Hope your winter's been nice - enjoy the nice ones if you get 'em!

Wishes!

"Along Red Mountain Pass" - oil on canvas

© Bruce A. Morrison

(Sold)

I have been buried, literally, in work this month - as I'm sure many of you are experiencing as well!  But being extremely busy can be a positive thing - at least that's the way I'm going to take it!

Today is the winter solstice!  And here we are...brown, only a smidge of snow left here and there in the shadows!  I had a client come over the other evening to pick up a framed piece; they said, "Brown Christmas - White Easter."  I can live with that.  However it does seem out of character for a brown Christmas here...I only remember one brown Christmas in NW Iowa in 61 years...its just not normal!

I had used the painting above in a blog last winter sometime...Its what I used this Christmas on my cards sent out to family, friends and clients, so I'll use it here as a "wish" for you.

I would like to wish you the very best this Christmas - and the best possible new year in 2012.  God Bless and thank you for your support over the years for my work...I hope to keep it up!

See you next year!

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!

Summer Green...Thinking Ahead!

Late July Mid Afternoon 

9X12" - oil painting on mounted canvas

© Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view) 
 SOLD 
 

I just finished a small painting in the studio this afternoon; it was of a summer day Georgie and I went exploring along the Little Sioux River down in Cherokee County, south of us.  I remember it being a fairly hot and humid day...a typical "dog days of summer" kind of day.  Those were the days I remember most as a kid out of school for the summer.  Loved those times!

The area depicted was down near the Silver Sioux Recreation Area...a pretty neat place.  This exact location was nearby in the Stiles Woodland ...I believe it is a private preserve overseen by a nonprofit group...could be mistaken about that but it is open to casual visitors at times...there is signage there at its entrance giving information about it. 

What I remember about the preserve is the high sun of the day creating stark contrast and shadow...the distant hillside looked hazy in the mid day humidity.  These impressions give me fodder later on when working from the memory of the place and photos I took. I have heard the saying from many sources that the greens of spring and summer are the most difficult to paint.  Since these are the times of year I really enjoy, I have to tackle these issues head on.  Keeping interest and movement or flow through a painting can be challenging with so much green!  There was a small barn along a small creek there that I painted red (it was no longer showing paint) to add a complimentary color, giving relief and a focal point.  I knew the barn would help visually when I spotted it there that afternoon.

Studio work is getting difficult!  It is finally trying to be spring out there and all that comes with it make for more time outside.  Hope you're enjoying some outside time as well!

Winter Work at the Studio

"Tallgrass Songster"

8X18" color pencil rendering

© Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view) 

I'm still here plugging away in the studio!  I finally finished a piece that is about the third attempt to an idea I first got 6-7 years ago.  The "star" of the show is a male Dickcissel belting out it's name, in song form, among the Tallgrass Prairie in bloom.  The bird is taken from a study I did, which is now in the permanent "drawing collection" of the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, Wisconsin.  I have been trying to find a "home" for my study and this is my first "finished" attempt to see if I have!  The foreground is a mix of forbs in a prairie remnant near us that Georgie and I often explore.  The Echinacea (purple coneflowers) are of our county's true native population - Echinacea angustifolia, or "Narrow-leaved Purple Coneflower".  The male Dickcissel is proudly belting out it's name, the call from which the bird was named (virtually sounds like Dick, Dick, cissel).  This is a larger piece for me with color pencil...I find the medium can be exasperating at times and generally stick with small studies instead...but I persevered and finished it this week.  

"The Ritter Elevator"

11X19" oil painting

© Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

Another work finished earlier, was an oil painting that was "kind of" different for me; it was a commissioned work done for a client commemorating (if-you-will) her trips to the grain elevator with her father, back when she was a child.  The elevator is one I'm very familiar with, have driven past and around it for 30+ years.  What I didn't know were some of the history and stories behind the "Ritter Elevator" - was fun to research and depict the elevator during the early 1950's!  The red IH box truck was my client's father's truck.  I took the rest of the vehicles from the area and other sources...the red tractor is my neighbor's father's Farmall "M" and their flarebox wagon (did repaint that a different color though).  I do like doing work depicting the agricultural environment/landscape and felt this was actually a good fit.  I've said it before and will likely again - the Tallgrass Prairie made this state what it is today and without that natural heritage, we would not have that "black gold" the prairie gave us - the soil.  After handing the painting over to it's new owner, I asked her if I could have permission to share it with you here - she was very happy to!

My first "Morrison's Studio Newsletter" (Vol.1, No.1) went out today!  If you'd like to sign up for it, there's a link to the form right along the sidebar to this blog...if you get this blog via e-mail you can go directly to the form by way of this link -

http://www.morrisons-studio.com/Newsletter%20page.htm

Hope your work has been going well this winter!  Stay safe!

Holiday Open Studios and a Blizzard!

"Prairie Skies" © Bruce A. Morrison

9X12" - Oil on panel - available at McGee's Gallery in downtown Peterson, Iowa

"Holiday Open Studios" and a blizzard...all on the same day!!!  How's that for mother nature cooperating with us!

Yes - you too can enjoy a good old NW Iowa blizzard while attending Holiday Open Studios in NW Iowa!  :)

I'm actually showing at a friend's studio and gallery tomorrow...Saturday the 11th - McGee's Gallery in downtown Peterson, Iowa.  But the weather...best laid plans ya know...oh well, Barb has promised me homemade beef vegetable soup for lunch and you should see the things Georgie had fixed for me to take down there!  Also, I made (ya me!) my favorite treat for this time of year, coconut joys...dark chocolate in coconut.  

We may not see a lot of shoppers in our "Holiday Open Studios", but I think there's enough to stoke up on to keep warm while the snow's flying!   :)

It's raining pretty good right now, just got back from Hartley a few minutes ago...the forecast is this rain will start freezing sometime tonight and then the snow begins.  Then while it snows tomorrow the wind is supposed to kick up to 30-40 mph.  High winds, snow, ice underneath...I think I'll be eating more than selling paintings.

By Sunday morning I'm hearing we'll be below zero Fahrenheit, so I guess winter is starting before the solstice as usual.  Winter on the Tallgrass, gotta love it!  (What else can you do?)

Stay safe - see ya on the Tallgrass!

Ever Have One?

Late Afternoon Bales"

(6X8" oil on mounted canvas)

Ever have one of those days where you almost lose it?  I'm sure we all have...yesterday was my turn I guess.  Near panic struck when it appeared both backup hard drives had gone south on me.  What are the chances of that?  I didn't care to entertain the thought...just kept trouble shooting the studio system until I figured out that apparently my firewire board was toast instead.  

Whew...that was close!  But after that I had to backup files via USB...and we're talking Gigs of backup...my whole last 2 weeks of field and studio work.  Long story short, I spent over 10 hours doing nothing but transferring ones and zeros.

When Georgie came home for lunch she knew something was wrong...I don't like talking about the computers because it makes both of us crazy!  After I told her (I hadn't figured the firewire issue out yet), she suggested I just go back to bed or lock myself safely away so I wouldn't destroy anything else...was tempted but knew I had to face the music.  Boy that's a sick feeling!

Happy ending though; all was saved.

After the tribulation was over Georgie mentioned to me that one of the neighbors was baling hay across the road.  Been waiting to see that...bales are a favorite farm subject of mine.  

Today was a beautiful day...the short heat spell had broken during the night and the humidity was perfect.  After doing chores and other correspondence on jobs and such I figured it'd be a great day to paint some bales!

A small piece, but you never know - they might come and get them before I finish!!!

Today was more like it. Hope you had a good one as well!

Summer Rambling

"Summer Memories"

(12X16" - oil on mounted canvas)

click image for larger view

I've been waffling from the studio to the prairie to "on the road to nearby prairies", the past couple weeks.  I'm being tugged where ever I look.  I'm convinced I had an attention deficit way back in the 1950's and 60's before there was a name for it!  But I'm trying hard to keep up with it all...finally finished a "farm/summer" landscape.  I'm throwing the word "memories" in the piece title because it was not all painted from life and also because the more I worked on the piece the more I remembered the summer weeks my brother and I would spend together on my grand parent's (my mother's folks) farm in central Iowa way back in the 50's and early 60's.  I have to stop thinking so much about these things as I'm getting way too melancholy for my own good!

"Jack's Bales"
(2 1/2"X3 1/2"color pencil)

click image for larger view

I was also toying with just something fun...something to do with my idle hands when I had no "great" idea boiling in my brain :)  I did this small 2.5X3.5" color pencil rendering from a photograph I took across the road from us about 3 years back.  Just to have a little more fun with it I've put it onto a miniature easel for displaying...no great fodder for thought but ya gotta keep things less serious sometimes.

 

Out in our native pasture, the succession of forbs (wildflowers) is moving right along.  We've experienced quite a bit of rain in June here. 14.35" here at our Prairie Hill farm...I don't believe we even had 1 inch here last year during the same period...it was extremely dry then.  Feast or famine!  The mosquitoes have now arrived with all this standing water and a walk through the prairie brings other logistical problems...I've taken to wearing my bug hat and a cotton sweatshirt!  Like a mini sauna...great for a weight loss aid!

Showy tick trefoil

(Desmodium canadense)

click image for larger view

One forb I like collecting seed from is the Showy tick trefoil...I used to collect it's seed when I was a kid - but never knew it...well, I knew it but didn't know what it was and didn't appreciate it!  The seed, sometimes called "beggars tick", sticks to anything...kinda like a predecessor to velcro!  I love it now because you don't need a bag or sack to collect it...just walk through it and it sticks to your clothes!  Then pick it off when you get home...in front of the TV works for me  :)

Hope you can get out, avoid the skeeters, and enjoy the prairie!

December!

"Frigid Morning Bales"
Oil on canvas - 9X12"
Purchase the original work Here

Whoa! It's December already! I'm definitely past the ability to normally perceive the passage of time. It seems I'd think of it as still being October, except I remember October and this seems a lot nicer so far.

I was able to finish another piece in the studio this week. This is a small oil painting and is indicative of the season approaching. I rarely ever do more than one winter piece a year and when I do, that piece ends up being the illustration for my Christmas card.

I blogged about my Christmas cards last year. As I think I mentioned, this exercise in yuletide regalia started when I was 16 and in art class in high school. I think I remember doing a woodcut in class that was winter or Christmas themed, and took it even further when my mother took an interest in it...she thought it would be a nice Christmas card for the family to send out. I haven't missed a year since.

It is a bit of a stretch and stress some years, especially when our card list amounts to well over a hundred fifty...that's a lot of ink, paper, envelopes (never a standard size of course) and especially postage! I do enjoy it though...I've always liked to write old friends and relatives, it's just a bit of a rush when I end up waiting until 3 weeks before the big day!

I apologize if you get a card from me each year, I guess I just took part of the surprise out of the event for you...my bad!

Here's wishing you a nice December!