“Prairie Chicken Wildlife Management Area, September 13, 2026 II” offers a closer look at the vegetation of North Dakota's Prairie Chicken Wildlife Management Area, where wildflowers and tall grasses create moments of color and intricate detail within the expansive Northern Plains landscape.
Located in Grand Forks County, Prairie Chicken Wildlife Management Area preserves and manages grassland habitat in a region shaped extensively by agriculture. Named for the greater prairie chicken, a bird associated with open grasslands, the area offers a glimpse of the diverse plant life and wildlife habitat found among the cultivated fields of the Red River Valley.
The painting centers on a cluster of thistle-like purple wildflowers rising from the foreground. Their soft lavender and pink blossoms contrast with dark, branching stems and the warm olive and golden tones of the surrounding prairie. Beyond the flowers, a low horizon stretches across the composition beneath a broad, muted blue-green sky.
Through layered color and expressive brushwork, the flowers become a collection of small, animated gestures, while the distant landscape remains comparatively quiet. The contrast between intricate foreground vegetation and expansive open land captures two defining qualities of the Northern Plains: the abundance found at close range and the immense sense of space beyond it.
This second microstudy from Prairie Chicken Wildlife Management Area is part of Prekker's ongoing exploration of the Great Northern Plains, observing how variations in distance, vegetation, atmosphere, and scale shape the experience of a landscape.
Note: Expected availability for this work is November 2026.
2026
Original acrylic on paper
6 × 6 in. (Matted to 5 × 5 in.)
Signed PREKKER on lower right
“Prairie Chicken Wildlife Management Area, September 13, 2026 I” captures a late-summer encounter with the grasslands and wildflowers of North Dakota's Prairie Chicken Wildlife Management Area.
Unlike the cultivated fields that characterize much of the surrounding region, this landscape draws attention to the dense, varied vegetation of an open meadow. White wildflowers rise among tall grasses, while scattered trees and shrubs form an irregular boundary against the sky. The scene reveals a different character of the Northern Plains, one found not only in distant horizons and immense skies, but also in the smaller, intricate relationships between native-looking vegetation, light, and the changing seasons.
In the painting, the wildflowers become loose strokes of white and pale cream, punctuating a foreground of olive green, ochre, and muted violet. Dark, gestural tree forms rise against a subdued gray-green sky, while warmer passages of yellow and rust suggest the grasses beginning to turn with the approach of autumn. The layered brushwork gives the meadow a sense of movement and abundance without relying on precise botanical detail.
Part of Prekker's ongoing exploration of the Great Northern Plains, this microstudy considers how the region's quieter, more intimate landscapes can convey the same atmospheric presence and sense of place as its vast agricultural expanses.
Note: Expected availability for this work is November 2026.
2026
Original acrylic on paper
6 × 6 in. (Matted to 5 × 5 in.)
Signed PREKKER on lower right
“Foggy Morning in Hunter, September 26, 2026” captures a September morning near Hunter, North Dakota, when a blanket of fog softened the agricultural landscape into subtle layers of earth and sky.
The surrounding farmland stretches toward a distant tree line, barely visible through the mist. Fields that might otherwise appear sharply defined become broad, muted expanses of brown and gray, interrupted by the green and gold of roadside grasses and the occasional glimmer of moisture across the soil.
In this painted microstudy, the quiet atmosphere of the morning becomes the central subject. A restrained, gray-green sky occupies much of the composition, while the foreground emerges through layered earth tones, sweeping brushwork, and textured marks. Thin passages of pale blue-gray suggest moisture collecting across the fields, and the distant horizon nearly disappears into the fog.
The painting reflects Prekker's ongoing exploration of the Great Northern Plains, where changing weather can transform familiar agricultural landscapes into something quiet, expansive, and nearly abstract.
Note: Expected availability for this work is November 2026.
2026
Original acrylic on paper
6 × 6 in. (Matted to 5 × 5 in.)
Signed PREKKER on lower right
“East of Gilby, September 13, 2026” began with a view across the agricultural fields east of Gilby, North Dakota. Beneath an expansive September sky, the land stretched toward a low line of distant trees, broken only by subtle shifts in crop, color, and texture.
Gilby is a small agricultural community in Grand Forks County, founded in 1887. Farming has long shaped the surrounding landscape, where crops including wheat, soybeans, corn, sugar beets, and edible beans have been grown in the rich soils of northeastern North Dakota.
In the painting, the observed fields become layered passages of olive green, ochre, rust, and deep earth tones. Small vertical marks interrupt the horizontal sweep of the land, while the distant tree line dissolves into a quiet blue sky. Rather than the sharper divisions visible in the original scene, this microstudy compresses the landscape into color, rhythm, and atmosphere — holding onto the disproportionate presence of sky that first defined the view.
This work is part of Prekker’s ongoing study of the Great Northern Plains and the ways ordinary agricultural landscapes can carry a sense of distance, scale, and quiet monumentality.
Note: Expected availability for this work is November 2026.
2026
Original acrylic on paper
6 × 6 in. (Matted to 5 × 5 in.)
Signed PREKKER on lower right
“North of Thompson, August 1, 2026” is an original acrylic landscape painting by North Dakota artist Paige Prekker, based on a scene observed at noon while driving south of Grand Forks through farmland north of Thompson, North Dakota.
The road was flanked by cultivated fields, but what held the artist’s attention was the horizon: two large bushes framing the distance as their edges softened into the summer sky. That relationship between land, vegetation, distance, and atmosphere became the focus of the painting.
The work reflects Prekker’s broader interest in the Great Northern Plains and the visual character of North Dakota landscapes — low horizons, open fields, shifting vegetation, and expansive skies.
Note: This work is currently committed to an exhibition and is not available for purchase at this time.
2026
Original acrylic on canvas
20 × 20 in.
Signed PREKKER on lower right
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I am drawn to the quiet majesty of the Great Northern Plains, where vegetation stretches toward distant horizons beneath an immense and ever-changing sky. My paintings translate these landscapes through atmosphere, color, gesture and abstraction.
