Category: My Earthy Painting Process
Follow along through the steps I take to create an earthy painting. My process isn’t pretty, as I tend to make mistakes. But things usually turn out alright in the end 🙂
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Progress on a Painting, or Two
Yesterday at the studio, I worked on two different paintings. One I needed to begin, and the other needed progress towards finished. Painting to Start The first one I worked on is the one I needed to begin. It’s a …
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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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A Pastoral Scene in Progress
There’s something magical about the way it looks on a misty Autumn morning in the Ozarks. Several years ago, I took a photo of my neighbor’s field towards the bridge for Felkins creek that’s near our house. While going through …
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A Skink in Ozark Pigments
Last week in my garden, all of the reptilian (and one amphibious) creatures were out and about. This handsome skink came out to pose for me, so I figured I’d paint his portrait. A Little About My Paint-making Process Since …
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Cooper’s Hawk | a Blue-eyed Juvenile
Currently on my easel is a portrait in progress of a gorgeous blue-eyed juvenile raptor. It’s a painting of a Cooper’s hawk. As he matures, his eyes will change to yellow, orange, or red. Tamalyn Wortham, Photographer “The story behind …
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A Tipi Painting for Karter
My granddaughter Karter’s birthday is coming up soon, and this year she wants a painting of a tipi. I love the evolution of subjects the kids choose as they grow up and I hope they never grow tired of getting …
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Bald Eagle | Ozark Birds of Prey series
Originally posted in 2020. I’m going through some of the older posts on my blog and refreshing them. This one really doesn’t need any changes, but it’s been a while since I’ve showcased my bald eagle painting. One day I …
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Broad-wing Hawk #2 | Dinner Time
I’ve begun broad-wing hawk #2, using the same sized canvas and a similar background as the first one. Since this one has just nabbed a frog, the title is ‘Dinner Time’. My reference is a photo by the excellent …
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Brahman Mama #905 | Cow Art
Today is Wednesday (Jan 17, 2024) and there’s still snow on the ground outside from last week’s arctic blast. The horses and cat are fed, husband and myself already had breakfast, and the hot water lines are still frozen, along …
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Free Will | Broad-winged Hawk #1
While the background is drying on my cow painting, I’m going to start on this 12 x 12″ painting of a broad-winged hawk on canvas. It’s been cold in the studio and that causes oil paints to take even longer …
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Brahman Cow Art | Painting Little Red
Today is start a new painting day. It seems that I’m building a collection of Brahman cow art works. This is Little Red. See the comments to find out how Little Red got her name. Not so little anymore, though. …
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Painting Ghost, another dog portrait progression page
This is Ghost, a puppy I once loved. I painted the background in the first photo a few days ago in preparation for his portrait. The rest of the painting took place today, and it’s the first time I’ve felt …
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Obstacles in my Art Journey | Painting a Portrait
I find it odd that I can paint an animal fairly well, but throw a human into the mix, and if there’s a face, I balk. Human faces are one of the biggest obstacles in my art journey, and I …
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Painting a French Bulldog Pup | Hugo
I’m currently painting a French bulldog pup. This is my youngest son’s fur-baby. He’s not so little as this photo anymore, but Garrison wanted one of him as a puppy, and then another later as an adult. Progression Photo reference …
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Progression Page | Gail’s House | Memorial Painting
Gail’s House This photo taken by my dad is the reference I’m working from. In this memorial gift painting, there’s a lot more bright green than something I’m accustomed to. I’m not sure my pigments will get quite there, but …
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Limelight Hydrangeas in Progress | A commissioned painting
This is a 5 x 7″ commission of Limelight hydrangeas. I’ll use my Ozark pigments in oils plus white made from titanium. For the green, I’ll use a combination of the yellow lake pigment that I made from thyme I …
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Twisted Tree In Ozark Pigment Oils | #1-2023
Sometimes they’re just gnarly, twisted trees. Welcome to my progression page for a Twisted Tree in Ozark pigment oils. My Twisted Tree paintings fall into a category all by themselves. These paintings have no direction, and I just go wherever …
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Kings River in Autumn | Ozark pigments in oil
A week or so ago, I started working over the underpainting I’d made for this scene. This one is different from the other two in a significant way. I didn’t have any reference photos when I started working on it …
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Painting of a Screech Owl | Ozark Birds of Prey
It’s not often that I get decent pictures of wildlife, let alone birds of prey. Slowly, I’ve managed to find some photographers with photos I can use to reference some of my series-in-progress of Ozark Birds of Prey. Several …
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Kings River in Spring | Ozark pigments in oil
Today (Tuesday 4/18/23), I started working over the underpainting I’d previously done. It was meant for the autumn scene, but I decided to use it for the Kings River in Spring because there are still a lot of autumnal colors …
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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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Detour for a Thirsty Raven | Raven Painting
This raven painting is my largest painting yet. The substrate is a birch board with three coats of white gesso. All of the colored pigments are Ozark and locally foraged, but I use purchased titanium white pigment to make a …
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Little Cabin in the Woods | No. 2
While I’m waiting on my white pigment powder to arrive, so I can make an opaque white paint, I figured I’d experiment a little with the paints I have on hand. My white grounds came in a few days ago, …
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Kings River in Winter | Ozark pigments in oil
The new year of 2023 kicked off the first oil paintings in my Kings River Four Seasons series. The one I chose to start with first is the winter scene. I’ll rotate through them to work on one while layers …
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Kings River Paintings | Four Seasons
So many excellent paintings of the Buffalo National river and the surrounding natural areas exist, but I haven’t seen many King’s river paintings. While both rivers begin in our local area, Wild Ozark is in the Kings river watershed. And …