Too Fast!

 "Anvil Across the Valley" 

oil painting - © Bruce A. Morrison

Too Fast!  Time...that's what.  It just turned summer and we're already into August!  Frustrating isn't it.  I'm blaming deadlines, appointments and other inevitable things that make time blow by like it didn't even happen.

I've been trying very hard to balance time in the studio with everything else and although it hasn't been easy, have managed to finish a couple things.

The top image was something with some years behind it...first as a panoramic photograph about 6-7 years ago - then a small oil pastel "study" 2 or 3 years back...now, finally I've done a larger completed oil painting version of the scene!  This is looking due east from our acreage and across the valley in front of us.  A late May/early June evening  with the light casting long shadows and the stubble out front still showing through a new emerging crop.  The anvil of a distant late spring thunderstorm dramatically lit by the late sun...a beautiful sight!

I had a beautiful dark expresso stained plein air style frame custom made and handcarved for it - it's perfect!

"Showy Tick-trefoil (Desmodium canadense)"

color pencil drawing - © Bruce A. Morrison

The color pencil drawing of the Showy Tick-trefoil was inspired this spring when I was out in our pasture photographing new plants coming up - these guys are always a treat to see new and I couldn't resist trying to depict one arching back and supporting new blossoms...the leaf structure teamed with the budding flowers was very attractive!  These flowers are easy to procure seed from later in the summer - just walk through a stand of them with a sweatshirt on and the seeds stick tight to the clothing...then sit and watch TV while you pull them off and save in a paper bag for fall planting!  They are very easy germinators as well and the plants can be very beautiful in mass!  

So much more to get done this summer - but its flying by, literally.  If something doesn't change around here, I'll be staring at the late summer and fall asters soon! 

Hang on before its gone!

 

Still In Our Own Backyard

 "Sun Dogs at Prairie Hill Farm"

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

I thought I'd share this morning's frigid sun dogs here on the acreage, and go with the theme I presented last week with what inspires me here right in our own backyard!  Only this week we'll look at just a sampling of photographs garnered here, without leaving the premises...there is something everyday here...and yet I miss most of it I'm sure!

 "Sun Dogs at Prairie Hill Farm"

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

We've been having sun dogs lately and this morning was no exception as, the top two images testify.  However I've been putting off photographing them because the landscape is fairly bleak and snowless, taking away much of the winter's charm. Well I finally gave in for a "few" brief moments this morning and tried a couple shots anyway...the temp was at 10 below, but the wind was brisk (35 below windchill) and one shot I wanted to try was decided against and a shot from behind the barn was tried instead...the image directly above is from the edge of the crib, looking south east.

 

 "Big Bluestem in the North Pasture"

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

But there are warmer times with hours spent outside here...sometimes just taking it in and other times doing chores in the pasture, yards, gardens or buildings...there's a lot to do here, beside being "inspired"!  But "inspiring" it is, and here's a small sampling of images photographing here on the property, throughout the year!

 

 "Bird Visitors Through the Year"

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 "Cope's Gray Tree Frog in the Grove"

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 "Fawn in the Yard"

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 "Monarchs Roosting in the Back Grove"

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 "Sharp-shinned Hawk in Front of the Studio"

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 "Skunk Paying a Visit"

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 "Male Western Meadow Hawk Dragonfly"

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 "Anvil across the Valley"

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 "Storm in the Valley"

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

The weather images can be impressive here with our prairie's Big Sky, but there is so much more that is small or fleeting...things are certainly missed every day.  But what we do find, watch and marvel at, is amazing...we're very blessed.

Once again, I'm procrastinating!  Back to work at the easel!

Hope you're having a warm place to rest this winter, be good to one another and be inspired!

 

Making Use of Time

"Ocheyedan Evening"

5X7" color pencil rendering

art work © Bruce A. Morrison

 

It's been cold and dreary in this neck of the prairie lately.  If we haven't been shoveling out the lane and around the buildings, we've been working - a lot!  But what can one do with this time; with temps well below zero fahrenheit and a constant biting wind?!  Why, make good use of it of course!  

 

While Georgie's been busy with projects in the house, I've been in the studio non-stop. I've finally finished up all commission work and have been busy starting new things and finishing old ones. 

 

I have a solo exhibit coming up this August at Arts on Grand in Spencer, IA.  The exhibit is to be recent work relating to the habitat and region I hold dear - the Tallgrass Prairie.   So the thrust of my time and aim is the subject matter that fits this goal.  But nothing has changed, that's been my focus for quite some years now anyway!

 

The piece at the blog's beginning is another small color pencil study; this one depicts a prairie stream in our area - the Ocheyedan River.  It was done from some images I took late one day last summer when Georgie and I were on an evening drive through the country side.  The Ocheyedan is a small river, a true prairie stream, and the evening light colors it almost as if it were still wild and unaffected by  the region's agriculture.

 

I like doing work I can get pensive about; that's a state of mind I can get into when traversing through a work.  What is around the next bend?  What was it like when the Native Americans first inhabited this place, or when the first settlers arrived?  

 

I consider this piece a "study" like most of my small works.  It may take on a life of it's own some day as a larger painting, who knows at this point in time?  I really kind of think it would make a nice reference for a painting...we'll see.

Keep busy!

 

High Summer Sky

The Pearson Lakes Art Center notified me they are having their 2008 Plein Air Invitational Painting Exhibition beginning on September 19th. The show runs through November 8th. I have to have up to 4 painting done by September 16th and am feeling a little pressure here with so much going on. The paintings are to be done outside on location and within a 60 mile radius of the lakes area...that's a help for me as I'd like to have more choices as to what to paint.

(Sold)

I've finished my first plein air piece of the summer and am hoping to get to at least one more. Time is a nagging issue this summer and I regret that part...would like to get out and do more!

I call this piece (a 9X12" oil) "High Summer Sky". Its of a low wetland area near Hwy 9 north of here about 30 minutes.The sky is my focal point - the thing that stops me along the road and begs for long looks and admiration for creation itself.

The prairie and wetlands have the sky as their "mountain" backdrop, only they have the advantage for a changing view every hour of each day.

The hayfield across the road from us is being bailed this very moment, so I'm hoping they don't cart them off before I can get down there to take advantage of the landscape possibilities...