Mission: Connecting people to Nature
Kingston, Arkansas. Where I paint with Ozark pigments … and talk to rocks, creeks, and trees.
Madison Woods for art, Roxann Riedel for real estate (soon!) Two names, same person. Just call me “Mad Rox”.

Contact info: madison@wildozark.com or text/call (479) 409-3429

Category: Musings

  • 2024 Art & Life Plans

    2024 Art & Life Plans

    Sometimes art & life plans work in synchronistic harmony here at Wild Ozark, just because everything here acts as inspiration for my art. But, it always feels like I’m flying by the seat of my pants. No routine, just trying to make art during the eddies in the wake of all the boulders in a…

  • My Real Name: Roxann Riedel

    My Real Name: Roxann Riedel

    Today I went to the Madison County Sheriff’s office to get fingerprinted. I expected to have black finger tips all day, but they don’t do it with ink pads anymore. They use something like a scanner instead, so that was interesting. I’ve never spent that much time so close to jail cells before. Of course,…

  • Art Goals | Baby Steps Towards The Art I Love

    One of my art goals is to be able to paint scenes like the ones I’ve admired in other artworks. Now that I’ve begun using my pigments in oils, I feel as if I might actually be able to reach this goal eventually. I’ve made some progress in learning how the oil paints work with…

  • Picking Up Rocks, Digging up Mountain Mint, & Ordering Art Calendars

    Picking Up Rocks, Digging up Mountain Mint, & Ordering Art Calendars

    There’s something immensely satisfying to share my love for rocks this way. Since we’ve moved here, I’ve found every way I could think of to actually put rocks to use. But painting has by far been one of the most satisfying. However, it’s a lot of fun to package up a few to send a…

  • Obstacles in my Art Journey | Painting a Portrait

    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 want to scale that mountain. In my current painting, I’m pleased with what I’ve learned,…

  • Making a Temporary Fix in the Morning, Painting in the Afternoon

    Making a Temporary Fix in the Morning, Painting in the Afternoon

    I was mending fences with a temporary fix in the morning, painting in the afternoon, and keeping a close eye on Rob in between.

  • Artist’s Log 2023 | Art, Nature & Homestead

    My days are usually filled with a variety of business, art, and home related tasks. This post will serve as my art, nature, & homestead ‘short’ journal entries. More like an artist’s log book, if you will. Some of the entries might warrant a longer entry, so those will become a separate post. Once this…

  • Periodic Clearing

    Periodic Clearing

    A creative person loves to collect ideas and supplies. But now it’s time for my periodic clearing of the mental and physical clutter.

  • Long Dirt Road: Why it Takes me an Hour to Drive 12 Miles

    This is a post from a few years ago that I love, so I’m reposting it. We live down a long dirt road. This little facet of our lives is the main thing that makes or breaks most newcomers to rural life. It takes a long time to go anywhere, if you go slow enough…

  • Journal Entry | 2 August 2023

    My plan with this is to just jot down the little things I do each day that I think will be interesting to someone somewhere. If a Journal Entry is long enough to post by itself, I’ll hit publish. If there’s just not much to say that day, I’ll compile a few days. At least…

  • Changing of the Seasons

    Changing of the Seasons

    It doesn’t feel like it outside, but inside of myself I can feel that autumn is on the way. The changing of the seasons is underway. There’s been a subtle shift, and every year when this point passes, I can tell. I can’t pinpoint what the difference is, but it’s noticeable to those who are…

  • Art Inspiration Moments on a Non-Art-Making Day

    Art Inspiration Moments on a Non-Art-Making Day

    Even in a day full of non-art related tasks, there can be moments of art inspiration.

  • Musings from an Ozark nature artist

    Musings from an Ozark nature artist

    I’m at an ‘in between’ time at the moment. Between rain showers and rainy days, between things scheduled on my calendar. And since I just finished a painting, I’m between paintings, too. But this is a great time for an Ozark nature artist to get out and enjoy some nature.

  • Plant Walk & Nature Journaling at Wild Ozark

    Plant Walk & Nature Journaling at Wild Ozark

    There are other plant walks in Arkansas, but this one is probably a little different. The trails we’ll follow are deer trails and logging roads. The drive to get here is gorgeous. And the biodiversity here at Wild Ozark is incredible. Our 160 acres is far off of the beaten path six miles from pavement.…

  • The Why Behind a Painting

    I got an invitation from Google to test out the new AI chatbot called Bard. So far I’ve tried it out for a few different things, mostly to draw up outlines for potential blog posts. Today I asked it to outline a blog post on the topic of whether a creation story for artworks is…

  • When I’m not Painting, and Something Woo-Woo About Me

    There are days when I’m not painting, usually when I’m between paintings or stepping back from one in progress. On Saturdays when I’m at the studio in Alpena, I always like to at least get something small done or started. And right now I’ve got three almost dry paintings in my cramped home office/studio, so…

  • A Spiral Day

    This morning I walked over to see if there’s grass growing in the horses’ field yet. After crossing over rocks in the creek, as I walked up the hill out of the creek valley, I found this fossil. It looks like the spiral of an ammonite. If that’s what it is, it’s the first one…

  • Art Goals | Life Goals, and my Word of the Year – Wild Ozark 2023

    Art Goals | Life Goals, and my Word of the Year – Wild Ozark 2023

    The image associated with this post is a single screech owl, but two photos taken successively. In one shot the owls’s eyes were closed and in the other they were open. So I put them together because there’s a lot of symbolism in there that applies to my approach for 2023 art goals and life…

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  • 2022 Yule Tidings | Solstice Review

    2022 Yule Tidings | Solstice Review

    Happy Solstice Day! It’s that time of year again, when the longest night of the year is upon us. Which in turn means that today is the shortest day of the year. After this, the days will incrementally grow a little longer until Summer Solstice rolls around. I’m so ready for the days to get…

  • Is Art made through Magic, Intuition, or Knowledge?

    Is Art made through Magic, Intuition, or Knowledge?

    I once heard it spoken in one of the great (virtual) hallways where educated artists gather, that an ‘intuitive artist’ doesn’t exist. That an artist only uses knowledge and conscious decisions to know what to do on their canvas – no mystery involved. The idea, of whether that is true or not, lodged like a…

  • mermaid in a sea of swirling air

    mermaid in a sea of swirling air Gloria drops her leaves litter like silk puddles around her on the ground She’s nearly nude now * The wind rolls in like waves breakers on hilltops It spills, crashes into the valley I feel like  a mermaid In a sea of swirling air

  • Hunting the Wild Ozark Orchids

    This morning I wanted to go to a granddaughter’s Kindergarten graduation, but the bridges were flooded, so that was nixed. Then I decided that I’d wait for it to quit raining and then go out to get some better photos of one of the wild Ozark orchids I’d seen the day before while we were…

  • Yard-Work Day | Hermit Journal

    Maybe this isn’t a very interesting post, lol, but it’s what I’m doing today. It’s yard-work day. All week is supposed to be rain-free, so the whole week is outdoor work-week. With all the rains we’ve had, the grass is growing fast. Mostly weeds, but some grass, too. We have very little flat ground and…

  • Spring Rains in the Ozarks

    Spring Rains in the Ozarks

    It usually gets noisy when it rains in the Ozarks, with the roar of water rushing down hills. Here’s a video of our waterfall and the creek.