Late Spring on the Prairie

 

Porcupine Grass (Hesperosita spartea) - photo ©Bruce A. Morrison

  

When most think "prairies" they think "grass" for the most part. That's kind of stereotypical of course because there is so much more there. But the native cool and warm season grasses are pretty iconic and cool at the same time...one of our early (cool season) grasses that I really like is the Porcupine Grass (Hesperostipa spartea). The visual presentation and form of this grass always catches my eye with the long awns bowing over the grasses in their arch-like form until their release, when the grass becomes pretty much invisible to passersby...

 

I have a favorite thing I like to do with this grass - when the seed/awn is mature I pick them off and throw them around like darts. I like to pick areas we have that are erosion prone, like the county ditch along our fence line. I toss them like a dart and they almost always faithfully stick into the exposed soils, where they soon twist themselves into the ground and there ya go - more erosion control with just a bit of fun effort!

 

I have a "Prairie Moment" video for Porcupine Grass if you want to spend a minute with the grasses and bird songs at the following link -  

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZI0oWmAmFE

 

In the meantime, above is a close-up of the long awns in the late spring morning dew.

 

Golden Alexander (Zizia aurea) - photo ©Bruce A. Morrison

 

Many things are showing up in our two native pastures here in SE O'Brien County - I haven't been able to follow up with the camera...maybe I'll get a chance soon? Been very busy working with our south pasture, doing support work with the winter seeding, plus some Leafy Spurge follow up work in the north pasture and several other things.

 

But as you approach the pastures here, or as you drive by, most obvious are the Golden Alexanders...some parts are blanketed with it , while other parts are spotted with that characteristic yellow. There's a lot more blooming there and I hope I can share those in the days and weeks ahead.

 

In the meantime I'm trying not to let Spring slip by - lots to do!

 

Thank you for visiting my Blog - I do hope you're enjoying Spring!  

 

Be good to one another - Hope to see you on the Tallgrass!

From The Studio Easel

Haven't posted in some time, I have some catching up to do. I'll start with an oil painting I just finished on the easel here in the studio.

"The Squirrel Hunter - Red-tailed Hawk" - oil painting - ©Bruce A. Morrison

As I posted a year or so back, I have a friend who is a licensed Falconer and he had a Red-tailed Hawk he named “Whiskey”. After hunting with the bird out here and nearby for the winter of 2024-25, he released it back into the wild out here a year ago this month. 

It was great fun running around with Whiskey out at our acreage and I got lots of photos...fun poses anyway - they lent a lot of ideas for future paintings or drawings. 

I just completed one of those inspired ideas on the studio easel recently...it was amazing watching this male Red-tail dashing it's way through the upper branches of the trees out here!  

I had seen the famous "Pale Male" of Central Park years back.  If you're unaware of this bird, it was a pale colored Red-tailed Hawk in New York City's Central Park.  This hawk was well documented and quite the celebrity!  I remember watching in awe as this Red-tailed Hawk dove through branches of trees in Central Park, catching squirrels and even pigeons!  

"Pale Male", was a one hour documentary made for WNET on Public Television's "Nature" series back in 2004.  Another documentary was made of this bird in 2009 and at least three children's books were written about him as well.  Again - quite the celebrity!

Having outlived 8 documented female mates, this extraordinary Red-tailed Hawk lived to be 33 years old, passing away on May 16, 2023.  

Anyway, seeing Whiskey darting around through the thick treetop branches, and having witnessed an actual successful Fox Squirrel hunt by a Red-tailed Hawk when I was a teenager in the woods above the Des Moines River near my childhood home in Ft Dodge, Iowa; the scenario of a painting idea struck me...so there's the long version of how "The Squirrel Hunter, Red-tailed Hawk" came about!

 

”Whiskey” here on the acreage a year ago this month, after being released back into the wild! - photograph - ©Bruce A. Morrison

Red-tails are very good at chasing mammals around...usually rabbits and even smaller fare like mice, voles, etc...but if I were a squirrel, this vision of a Red-tailed Hawk, dashing through the branches, would have given me the willies!

In honor of “Whiskey” the Red-tail male - “The Squirrel Hunter - Red-tailed Hawk” - oil painting on mounted canvas - 12X24” - ©Bruce A. Morrison.

Thanks for stopping by! Please be good to one another - we’re all in this together.

Hope to see you on the Tallgrass! 

(Artwork and Photography from Morrison’s Studio on Prairie Hill Farm - morrisons-studio.com)

 

Old Memories Retrieved - Easel Tripping

 

"Summer Morning, Approaching Jemmerson" - oil painting - ©Bruce A. Morrison

I often wring memories out of that brain I claim ownership to; I believe its those that have remained closest to the surface that spill out at the easel. These paintings have seen daylight most recently, and both are of times and places that I think we all identify and seek sometimes. That piece of solitude…a refuge perhaps.

I’ve begun a quest to pry these away from that “I really should someday” quagmire I’ve saddled this host with for decades. I’m keeping them small. They are a more intimate part of me after all. The earth didn’t shake, but it felt like it was cradling me…like I was there before in another time - it was familiar and gave a sense of calm and joy at the same moment.

The above painting "Summer Morning, Approaching Jemmerson" depicts Jemmerson Slough in Dickinson County, Iowa just west of Spirit Lake.  Its a beautiful wetland complex made up of several potholes and marshes.

I used to spend many weekend mornings at Jemmerson when I was younger and full of myself and energy...I had thoughts of someday living on a marsh and wading around in my home-made floating blind...taking photographs of the many birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians, going about their daily lives there.  It was a great dream.  And it was a priviledge to have experienced what I did there.  I can still smell the decaying earth under the marshy waters as I crawled along in my blind - stirring up the muck from the bottom...it was like an elixir!  The sounds there were raucous, and then even sublime.  Some years later I took up recording the sounds of nature...I wish I had done so from that marsh blind!

"Waterman, Below the Slides" - oil painting - ©Bruce A.Morrison

I've actually been working on the painting above, "Waterman, Below the Slides", a while...maybe 20+ years!? I first visited the Litka Wildlife Area after we moved here to SE O'Brien County, Iowa 23 years back. I took a little trip down there (just 2 miles as the Crow flies), and was really taken with it...a great descent to the creek - which I had made my way down and saw the extreme bank drop off! It reminded me of the "Slides" I knew, growing up along the Des Moines River in Ft Dodge, Iowa.

Waterman Creek makes a quick turn south here and the bank had sluffed off steeply over the years. I'd just be guessing the height of the drop off at some point, but maybe 75+ feet would be close?

Anyway, it was an ideal day there nestled in the bottom of the ravine, just the birds and I...a beautiful flowing pool of reflections eventualy passing into a small rock filled rapids, as the stream turned the corner.

Sadly...at least my thoughts, Waterman flooded not long after that and carved a new channel behind the trees in the background of the painting...and as far as I was concerned - not as nearly serene and peacefull as it once was - at least in my memory.

I wanted to remember it at I saw and felt it...this is an attempt to do so.

I found the elements of the landscape very interesting and symbolic here.  The decline and destruction taking place on the right side, and the serene woodland embrace on the opposite side of the creek.  The pleasant calm-like pool of water in the foreground, with the more chaotic, and yet-to-be-seen of what lies ahead downstream, as the creek dissapears around the bend.

Isn't that so succinctly describing this moment we are living through right now as a nation?  Even as a world?

I hope you can take a moment to refresh or recharge from that pressure we all feel throughout our busy, or maybe even troubling lives. Take a moment to look and listen, where the quiet presides. Keep that memory. But whatever we do, embrace the “good” - its something we all need.

Thanks for stopping by! Please be good to one another - we’re all in this together.

I hope to see You on the Tallgrass!

Winter!

 

"Hunting Moon, Great Horned Owl" - Serigraph

 

Winter really isn't officially here for another week or so but we've been deep into it now for the past three at least! About 14" of snow on the ground here so far, and snowing out the studio window right now as I type!

The serigraph "Hunting Moon - Great Horned Owl" represents this winter well so far - these owls have been looking for rabbits here on the acreage many predawn mornings lately!

 

"Autumn Along the Kadunce" - Oil Painting

I've been painting small the past few weeks...I find I am so much better at keeping my attention span focused doing smaller paintings these days, rather than dragging out weeks for larger canvases. Besides - many folks find the smaller paintings and drawings easier to find spots for on their walls! There is something about these small jewels that really grab you and pull you in closer. I chose my subjects by what has been burning a space in the back of my mind for...in some cases - years! The two above paintings are actual locations along the Lake Superior Hiking Trail system that my wife Georgie and I hiked when we used to spend time at a small cabin we built on the north shore of Lake Superior over 40 years ago. I really loved the Kadunce and the Woods Creek Trail...the Kadunce could be very dramatic; an all up hill trek with so many cool overlooks and narrow canyon walls. One really dry season we hiked the river's canyon from it's top end reaches, down to Lake Superior. There were no trails, we walked the river's bed and waded the shallow rapids...often had to crawl down the now nearly dry falls and dropping rapids; handing down my camera gear and tripod to one another as we went. A rugged wonderland up close and personal! The painting above is rather bittersweet as it was our last visit to the Kadunce 8 years ago during the fall. The night before, a damaging windstorm had hit portions of the shore and when we arrived at the Kadunce trail entrance, we found many, many large trees has blown down, burying most of the trail and accesses to it. We climbed over, under and around as much as we could until we had to finally give up, it was impassible for the most part...but we were able to access the river in 2-3 spots for familiar views that I still cherish...we may never see our old friend again and it meant a lot to still say goodbye.   "Upper Kadunce River, Poplar Clump" - Photograph    (Photograph of the Kadunce River from many years past!)   "Woods Creek, Cedar Break" - Oil Painting   The Woods Creek painting was from memories of hiking that part of the Superior Hiking Trail from back in the 90's. I remember photographing this neat little cedar log dam and having a large Basset Hound come down from the trail and check me out! It was BIG!!! Two ladies up on the path above the creek were walking their dogs and apparently let them off their leashes so they could stretch their legs. Very beautiful and friendly dogs. This stretch of the trail there was a pleasure to hike. The small placid pool created below the cedar log just stuck with me...visions of Brookies were also playing with my imagination!   "New England Asters" - Oil Painting   I haven't drawn or painted my favorite prairie wildflowers for a while and this fall was really a banner year for the asters here...the largest and showiest being the New England Asters. This was a fun small study celebrating this fall's pasture bounty! I really love the prairie pastures here at the studio and would have to live to be a 100+ to cover even a portion of our beautiful native prairie plants and wildlife here.   "Monarchs Nectaring on New England Asters" - Photograph   Never tire of the beauty here around us - Monarch Butterflies here in the pasture this summer and fall...nectaring on the New England Asters - fueling up for their trek south to Mexico for the winter ahead! "Cedar Waxwing - Portrait" - Color Pencil Drawing   With the holiday season we're offering new works to clients...the small paintings just finished will hopefully find homes and many more works here in the studio as well! Along with these come some customer requests and one I just finished for a bird art collector here, is another of my life-size bird portraits - this one a Cedar Waxwing! Gorgeous little birds that we cherish anytime they show up on one or more of our berry bearing trees or bushes here! And we do have other life-size bird portraits available for your holiday giving or even your own personal collection! If any artworks here in this newsletter, or on the current works or prints pages of my website, strike your fancy, just contact me or purchase from the page via the shopping cart available there ("add to cart" link). (Artworks available are all listed under the header "WORKS"...under that header, two sections have artwork for sale - "Current Works" and "Studio Printmaking".) Linked here - https://www.morrisons-studio.com/works For prints or photographs, my Fine Art America (pixels.com) pages present both my available Photography and Artwork (Paintings and Drawings) - all available in many forms of prints and merchandise...everything from posters, prints, canvases, fabrics, bags, puzzles, throw pillows, iPhone cases, cups...ya, you name it! Linked here - https://bruce-morrison.pixels.com/ This is where I now refer clients for prints or reproductions of my work. I have ordered many items from FAA (Fine Art America) for different galleries and venues, and have found FAA's offering to be very satisfactory! After more than a couple of decades of printing my works for the purposes of prints and canvas sales, I have decided to give this process over to the Fine Art America "Print on Demand" (POD) service they offer...I have actually been represented by FAA for nearly 20 years, and would recommend them to anyone wanting a print or canvas or whatever item of my Artwork and Photography! My Studio web site morrisons-studio.com has been my Studio web site for over 2 decades now and will remain so into the future. It is through my Studio web site that I can introduce new and past works, discuss how I work and my subject matter, and make my original paintings and other original artwork available to my clients. It is also the platform from which I will continue to offer you a more personal insight to my work here in my Blog!   And thank you for that - for visiting through the studio's Blog! I hope you'll continue following along! And if there's anything you'd like me to talk about or share - please feel free to contact me! (info@morrisons-studio.com)    Until next time - be good to one another, we're all in this together!    Hope to see you on the Tallgrass!

Autumn Notes

 

"Stream-side Autumn Ashes" - color pencil drawing - ©Bruce A. Morrison

Autumn rates way up there on my favorite season scale…its a memory bank of pleasant days outdoors with a warm sun in your face, and the crisp air a pleasant mediator.

 

Unless…ya there’s always a disclaimer. Unless the neighbors have just harvested their soybeans and corn! In that case, if its a warm humid day (as we’ve been experiencing this fall), outside work or leisure can find a person tormented by seen and unseen assailants…that like to bite! Youch, what a bummer those little “no-seeums” (minute pirate bugs) and Asian Ladybird Beetles can be!

 

But hope rests eternal in a future killing frost, and a return to the pleasant 60 degree days we used to refer to as Indian Summer. 

 

 

Golden-crowned Kinglet - photograph - ©Bruce A. Morrison

Right now we’re really enjoying those familiar visitors returning this fall - bird migration brings our warblers and sparrows back to the acreage and pastures…a myriad of small birds darting about catching small bugs or stripping the seeds from the past summer’s flowers.

 

 

"Autumn Along Dog Creek" - oil painting - ©Bruce A. Morrison

 

Our leaves aren’t spectacular this year, but we had good summer rains and a dry fall for harvesting. I’ve often found a dry fall to make for a great “leaf looker” season - maybe it was the wet summer that set things up the way we’re seeing it this year? I’m just leaving this one to chance - what else can you do? Enjoying it never the less! 

 

I’ll just paint or draw autumn to suit the season’s spirit I guess…come on Indian Summer!!!

 

Thanks for stopping by! Please be good to one another - we’re all in this together.

 

Hope to see you on the Tallgrass! 

 

(Artwork and Photography from Morrison’s Studio on Prairie Hill Farm - morrisons-studio.com)

 

Bombus spp. Discovery! (OK - Bumble Bees in the Partridge Peas)

Female Common Eastern Bumble Bee (Bombus impatiens)

 

Early mornings are about the only time I can get out into the pastures here and find good wildflower and insect images in August…plants are heavy with dew and (if you’re lucky) the wind isn’t blowing things around so badly. Recently, after photographing the native forbs (wildflowers) for a couple hours, I was about to head back to the studio because the breeze was now picking up, making the wildflower shots not so interesting. But I had one final self-assignment in mind - the Partridge Pea.

We have an amazing stand of Partridge Pea (Chamaecrista fasciculata) this summer, and I stopped to see what I could get before turning in for the morning. The mound I stopped at was alive with sound! Bumble Bees everywhere, on a feeding frenzy! The morning sun had cut through much of the dew so the blossoms were no longer drenched; the bees were taking advantage of the trove of pollen, now unlocked for the taking. 

Female Brownbelted Bumble Bee (Bombus griseocollis)

The genus Bombus - Bumble Bees. “Bombus” sounds so cool, and what bee is more cool than our native Bumble Bees?! 

Female Brownbelted Bumble Bee (Bombus griseocollis)

 

 

I have gotten better about delving in a bit more in recent years - identifying different insects as they present themselves here in the native prairie pastures. But I still have a long way to go.

 

Female American Bumble Bee (Bombus pensylvanicus)

I got a few “fair” images of some Bumble Bees in the Partridge Peas, and decided to see if I could identify their specific names. I found some great information on the Xerces.org web site for Bumble Bees in our region of NW Iowa - they’d have information of any other regions as well. Iowa’s Bumble Bees can be found at - https://xerces.org/sites/default/files/publications/18-028_01_BB-of-Iowa_3FOLDbrochure_web.pdf

 

Female American Bumble Bee (Bombus pensylvanicus) - honing in on it’s next Partridge Pea target!

Yet even with the pdf chart provided by the Xerces Society, I was still hesitant to claim identities of each one I photographed successfully. I then came across a great Face Book site that is open for public participation, and I highly recommend it…they encourage interested folks like me to reach out and learn more.

Female American Bumble Bee (Bombus pensylvanicus) - target acquired!

 

Thank you to Judy Cardin - Admin of the Wisconsin/Midwest Bumble Bee Observers Face Book page, for her help and encouragement. I got a boost in Bombus spp. knowledge, and look forward to begin learning about all our Bumble Bee friends out here on the prairie!

Thanks for stopping by! Please be good to one another…we’re all in this together.

Time???!

 

A wet humid morning in the valley here.

 

Time is everyone's biggest nemesis, whether we realize it or not.  It has been going through my fingers like sand this summer...maybe part of that is because of the weather, but then there has been a lot going on in the family as well.

 

Evening Rainbows, showers and lightning out front.

We've had a wet late spring and now summer...just 4" this week alone, and I believe our June had around 9 inches.  That is very wet for us, especially seeing we were in a severe drought here from 2020 through 2023 (4 years)...then after a record flood in early 2024 last June, it stopped raining...for months.  Its really screwed up I'd say!

The weather has been great for a change though, but with it comes more work to keep up with things...Georgie in the gardens, me in the pastures and ditches.  Keeping up with weeds on steroids is something we haven't seen for awhile...at least "some" pull more easily, others still need the fork.

 I haven't gotten off the place in some time; my artwork has taken a hiatus.  Too much to get into here, but actually most summers have too much outside time to get in any amount of "easel" time...that works better in the winter when the snow and ice put an end to outdoor chores (other than shoveling or plowing anyway).  But I love the prairie pasture when it wakes up, and wouldn't have it any other way!

 

Baltimore Oriole at its nest here on the acreage!

And the birds!  My greatest love since childhood!  They have not disappointed either...I think I just opened our 50th 32 ounce jar of grape jelly since spring for the Orioles!  We have lots and they serenade us and flash their exuberance and colors...we have both Baltimores and Orchard Orioles here - multiple pairs.

 

Red-headed Woodpecker adult peeking around the corner at me.

One of the Red-headed Woodpecker juveniles here.

I kind of bombed out trying to find the Red-headed Woodpecker's nest this summer, but they're sharing a lot of viewing time for us while they're out and about...even recently got a photo of one of the juveniles that was reared here this summer!

 

Dawn - early light in SE O'Brien County.

I did get a nice request for another article for the Wildflower Wednesday offering through "Bleeding Heartland".  I finally had an excuse to get off the acreage, probably a good thing since its hard for me to do these past few years...getting old has some side effects I'm afraid. 

 

McCormack Area in SE O'Brien County.

I was asked to do an article on Hairy Four O'Clocks (Mirabilis albida) and needed some more images to write the article so ran down to the McCormack Area south of us, where I photographed some back in 2023.  The morning did not disappoint - it was drop dead gorgeous!

The article for Wildflower Wednesday was published a couple days ago at the following link...be sure and watch the video at the end...take in some sounds and sights of the morning there!

https://www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/07/23/iowa-wildflower-wednesday-hairy-four-oclock/?fbclid=IwY2xjawLwxclleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFwTXVlNEU4U0JJdWJMSG9FAR6Bln-NZ9q3cLLDzQhHdyo4DYooQ2tzfTD4Vfthwec04_dsI6A4WmiZneyvVQ_aem_8fAQUVwRmVQPm0v4CKTZmA 

Time???!  Although the context was a bit different, I do believe that the Rolling Stones got it terribly wrong - "Oh, time, time, time is on my side, yes it is"...I wish it were true for all of us!

Take care out there and please be good to one another - we are all in this together. 

Hope to see you on the Tallgrass!