Category: Earth Paint Colors
These are the posts that mention making paint, or these earthy colors that I use. To see all of the paintings I’ve made with Ozark pigments: https://www.wildozark.com/unique-art-by-madison-woods/
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Paintings from Earth Pigments
My path to becoming a painter was sort of traveled in reverse. I found the pigment first, but wasn’t sure how to make use of them. After some experimenting and research, I made a set of watercolor paints. And then …
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An Earthy Palette for Nature Art
Nature and biodiversity reigns supreme at Wild Ozark, and an earthy palette, like the one pictured below, is perfect for capturing it in a painting. It’s only lacking a couple of things… white and blue. I could do without the …
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Slow Art, Back to Nature Art
There are a lot of parallels between the kind of art I make and the Slow Food movment from a decade or so ago. My style is also very much ‘back to nature’. Why is it ‘Slow Art’? Just as …
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What Makes the Art My Own?
I’ve been struggling with a decision about whether to purchase blue pigment or continue using the indigo. While I can source local indigo or grow my own, it isn’t a permanent pigment. Does it matter if I use outsourced pigments? …
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Paint-making in Little Rock | Workshop
I’m excited to be holding a workshop at the Historic Arkansas Museum in Little Rock next month. Living Craft Workshop in Little Rock 10 am to 3 pm200 E. Third St., Little Rock, Arkansas, USPhone: 1-501-324-9351 | Fax: …
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Little Rock Pile on the Counter
When I walk around out here, I’m always finding rocks that I like for some reason or other. Sometimes, it’s a good pigment source. Sometimes, there’s a fossil imprint I like. If it’s small enough, it comes home with me …
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Making Gray Paint from Shale
One of the pigment resources I use from the land around Wild Ozark is a dark gray shale. We’re located where a geological formation called Fayetteville Shale spreads beneath and around. Most people associate it with natural gas and oil. …
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Gearing up to make some paint
Today is the last day of January. Yesterday we had errands in town to run and that took up the whole day. Tomorrow we’ve got to go back out to town again. It’s time for annual physicals, which I don’t …
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Warm Winter Fires & Charred Bones for Pigment
The last time I made charred bones in the woodstove was when Rob was still working overseas. So, when I presented my foil-wrapped tin box to put beneath the fire he was building yesterday morning, it was a new request …
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Today is Oil Paint Making Day
Before I get started on the next art piece, I need to make some tubes of color. So today is oil paint-making day. I’ve already got the rocks crushed and pigments washed, so all I need to do is add …
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Overcoming Video Fear
Today I went out to check and see if the ginseng unfurling had begun. It hasn’t. But if you want to read my update on what is up, head on over to my ginseng website. Then I hiked around …
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Art Made from Natural Materials
For the past few days I’ve had to make a detour from my Detour for a Thirsty Raven painting. Because my art is made from natural materials, it means I have to take the time to replenish my supplies from …
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Empty Paint Tubes for Oil Paints
Eventually, once I’ve made more paints, I’ll write a page on my process with that. In the meantime, for those wishing to know where I get the empty tubes for oil paints, here’s a link. I get them from Amazon, …
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Limited Palette | Working with Only the Local Pigments
When I first started painting with the Ozark pigments, I wasn’t sure yet whether I would be able to make good art with a handful of colors. It’s a very limited palette of earthy tones ranging from white to black, …
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Provenance of a Paint
Most of my paints begin with a rock. Sometimes I remember to record the process it goes through from rock to paint, and sometimes the process isn’t quick. This is the story of a paint made from a reddish sandstone …
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Mistaken Identity | Sassafras or Osage?
I’d assumed the tree was a sassafras, and that bright orange bark peeling off in papery layers was sassafras root bark. But boy, I made a big mistake. I’ve spent a lot of years learning to identify the plants here, …
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Pigment Foraging | Late Summer Means it’s Time for the BLUE!
I’ve been watchfully waiting for this week to begin. All summer, I’ve waited. Watching. And I was beginning to get a little worried that they might not be here this year. But this week the dayflowers bloomed and the pigment …
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Black Pigment | My Favorite Source is the Hardest
There’s a black, gritty stone that lives here at Wild Ozark and I do not know what it is. I *think* it is a form of bitumen, a very poor quality sort of coal. Whatever it is, this is the …
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Paint Making Tools of the Trade
Update 2024: I have a page at my online shop with my affiliate links for the paint making tools of the trade that I use from Amazon, and hopefully soon some of the other places I use, like Dick Blick. …
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Maybe it isn’t sandstone… Bituminous Coal?
I’m often surprised at the colors I end up with when making paints. Sometimes the rock powder looks a lot different than the rock itself led me to think it would. But today I found a new puzzle. I usually …
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A Color Story | Earth Pigments | From Rocks to Paint
When I want a certain color of paint, I’ll go to the creek to look for the rocks I’ll need. In this case, the color is a rich russet – brown with orange influence. What is the color story behind …
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A Stable Blue from Asiatic Dayflower (Commelina communis)
One day I smashed a flower petal from the Asiatic dayflower between my thumb and forefinger. It’s a small plant that grows sparsely in the shady, moist areas along the driveway. While it’s not native to the Ozarks, it is …
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Behind the Scenes | Wildlife Art | From Rocks to Painting
It took me some time to feel comfortable calling myself an artist. But eventually that point arrived. Then as I began to market myself as such, I found I needed to focus sometimes on “what exactly kind of artist am …
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Sacred Art
Interacting with Flora and Fauna, Translating Messages from the Muse Pretty much all of my art is influenced and inspired by my surroundings here at Wild Ozark. Although I listed the flora and fauna in the title, it’s more than …
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Earth Pigments used in Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring
Today I saw a headline about the ‘New Revelations about “Girl with a Pearl Earring”, the painting by Johannes Vermeer. I’m not sure why it is surprising that the pigments of this iconic painting are earth pigments. But then I …