Painting, Photography and the Tallgrass Prairie are passions of mine.
Finding time for all can be a challenge! Stop by from
time to time and join me in the process.
One thing I look forward to so much in the spring is the dawn chorus. And it is also the first thing I feel a bit sad to hear come to an end.
I once did a piece to celebrate the dawn chorus, it was an American Robin singing from an old neighbor's tree. I did the image first as a pencil rendering, then transfered it to several (25 actually) screens and printed a small edition of 60 prints as a serigraph.
We have been so happy that the evenings have finally warmed enough to sleep with the bedroom windows open. Last night we went to sleep serenaded by Chorus Frogs and American Toads, We haven't slept so well in months! The morning's "dawn chorus" was equally as wonderful of a tonic! Some people complain about all the birds singing so early but we find it soothing, a wonderful comfort, and just great music that lulls one deeper into a restful slumber.
The first birds we usually notice singing are American Robins. They usually start around an hour before sunrise. They are my favorite dawn chorus bird but Mourning Doves can be equally pleasant to listen to.
I've stated more than once in the past that I like using what I've experienced in my work and this piece is no exception. It is something I look forward to throughout a long hard winter and is something we'll cherish here at Prairie Hill Farm until late July/early August when the chorus subsides again to not return till next spring.
Pencils were the study piece for my serigraphs in the past but the pencils could stand on their own merit and sometimes I felt like I shouldn't need to go further. All these pieces are in private collections now, and this particular serigraph edition is nearly sold out now (with only 4 prints left). If anyone was interested in this hand pulled print, it can be purchased online at - http://www.morrisons-studio.com/Springsong.htm or from the new Studio/Gallery here.
The deck is completely finished now and we're working on the really fun and important things for a change!
Georgie and I brought the deck very close to completion on Saturday. It's surprising that the rails would take so much time for a small deck like this but all the leveling and support work were very time consuming.
We still have the rail for the stairs, the door threshold for wheel chair accessibility and some grading, landscaping and planting work to do, but all in all it's ready!
In keeping with the building theme (ag-related) we've enclosed the deck with hog wire. Ya, sounds weird but it works great; I'm not a hog loving person but it definitely fits the theme of agriculture. We've also placed an old watering unit in the corner past the steps...we'll be working on plantings around the deck that will be drought tolerant.
The ramp is on the traffic side of the building and we made it as long as the property's access requirements would allow. We have access and egress requirements for farm machinery to pass by and into the field behind us so had to keep the required clearance between this building and the barn.
We sat out on the deck around 8pm last night to enjoy the late view. It'll be real nice this summer when people stop by for a chat or whatever... hint, hint :)
A project I've worked on since last summer has finally come to completion...well not entirely, but at least it is now ready for public use. The project isn't about art per say, but has a lot of photography relating to my favorite subject (natural heritage). I was very fortunate to be asked to create this web site for watchable wildlife in NW Iowa, it got Georgie and I out into the field quite a bit during late summer and early fall and also got me back into video work, which I enjoy doing very much.
The site has 3 themes...it takes each category and discusses it enough to help get your feet wet, then gives you a trail loop to follow to each of the "sites" along that category's loop. The 3 categories are: a "Glacial Trail" loop, a "Prairie Pothole Birding" loop and a "Prairie History" loop.
If you like, you can download a county map of each loop, or you can continue on to the pages giving all the specific sites in each loop and using an embedded Google Map to show you where each site is. Keywords are embedded on the pages that give you photos of certain flora or fauna when you select them. Videos are also embedded on the pages so you can actually visit a particular site for a short stay, or you can download these videos to your mobile device on the trip itself.
Want to take a short trip to Steele Prairie in Cherokee County for example? Here's a glimpse at what you will see and hear -
There are 34 sites included in 9 NW Iowa counties so far, and the web site is designed to show you all the great places to go and things to experience - get you and the family out for an adventure this summer "or" this weekend!
There is a photo gallery page with the intent to include site participant's images in the future. There is a page with helpful wildlife viewing tips, and a link page leading to more videos as well as great sources of information and a little humor if you like.
No it's not about "art" per say, but it did give this artist some material and ideas to work with for some time to come.
Take a trip with Watchable Wildlife in NW Iowa, and enjoy the surprises along the way!
I'm spoiled...Georgie's spoiled too because I've been in the studio working and out of her hair the past several weeks. But the frost is out of the ground and the "workout" has to begin once more.
We're putting a deck entry in front of the building. The ground slopes away pretty fast and it's not an easy walk up into the studio without a better entry.
Right now we're just forming the main platform, then we'll put in the steps, and then work on the ramp.
We just got the ledger, Girder and rafters up and are just beginning the deck boards.
It was a little cold starting this morning, had a slight skiff of snow on the ground and the temps were below freezing...but was out of the wind and pleasant enough in the sun.
Need a new body though. Too creaky and stiff after only a day of carpentry work again!
We promise to at least have the place accessible this week, so feel free to drop by!
It finally warmed and dried enough for Georgie to get into the garden yesterday. She always plants the cool season crops early but was behind schedule this year because we still had frost in the ground a week or so earlier.
Georgie likes to get spinach and lettuce planted first and while preparing the ground, came up with a couple toads. This wasn't surprising - it happens every year. In fact she said to me as she headed for the garden, "I'll tell you when the toads show up". I have a long tie to toads, raised many from tadpoles when I was a kid. My mother let me raise them in the basement and tolerated my little friends hopping all around the basement floor. I always told Mom they'd "eat the bugs"...and I think she latched on to that promise in order to not discourage me. My first "remembered" wild critter when I was around 2-3 years old was a big fat toad staring back at me from it's hole in the grass in the backyard.
I like to draw and photograph the things that mean something to me; that are close to my heart...that covers an awful lot of "things" but these things aren't always embraced by the art loving public. But no-matter...I do it because I enjoy it!
Watch your step outside this spring and summer - you might make new friends if you do!
It is officially spring on the Tallgrass Prairie now. It is never official until the Pasque Flower blooms, and our first official sighting was Monday evening (the 7th)!
This is also when my itch begins to photograph or paint and follow the native forbs (wildflowers) through the season. I must try harder this year to make the most of what time I can come up with! Sort of a delayed new year's resolution I guess.
Pasque Flowers are like the "Robin" of prairie flowers. All through the winter, when the short daylight and gray cold days get to you, something to look forward to keeps one hopeful and sane. We've been looking forward to the first Pasque Flowers! Now I have to wait for the next snowfall (tomorrow) to come and melt before I can go back and embrace their return with my lens.
The Vernal Equinox finally made it yesterday! I've been telling Georgie for weeks and weeks that it was coming!
Yesterday wasn't just the first day of spring, it was also the first "operative" day in the new studio building. The service provider came out and hooked me up wireless to the system in the studio, so now I'm at work once again.
I kiddingly like to regard "signs" as things of importance. Once we had the internet up in the studio yesterday I checked my business email and found I'd just sold a couple big prints...now is that a good sign or what!? I thought so. The day we moved all the furniture into the building a few weeks back we had good signs too...our first Robin of the year was spotted out the gallery windows and a mature Bald Eagle out the front windows! I thought that was a good sign too!
Its fairly gray and chilly out today but I'm still feeling pretty good about whats going on around us here; the birds are singing and geese are flying up the valley in large flocks, and the Great Blue Herons have returned to the rookery in the valley across the creek from us.
The "Immature American Robin" pencil study above is indicative of a new year of life beginning. I haven't carried that study any further yet but maybe it'll see new life this spring or summer?
