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 …
Today (Thursday 2/2/23), I started working over the underpainting I’d previously done for Kings River in Autumn. If you’d like to follow along, I’ll post my update pictures with each day’s work. It might need to dry a few days now, though. I’ll go back to working on one of the other seasons’ scene while …
Progress on my painting of Kings River in winter came to a grinding halt a few days ago when we got our first Ozark winter storm of the season. We’ve had some freezes, and a little snow, but those little incidents don’t compare. In previous years, we’ve had worse storms when not only did the …
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 on others dry. Here’s Kings River in Winter as photographed and here’s the first pass. …
We live in the neighborhood of upper Kings River, in Madison county near the Newton county line (Arkansas). Kings River Falls are not too far away as the crow flies. The landscape here is rocky heart of the Boston Mountain range Ozarks, with very little flat ground away from the river valleys. Our 160 acres …
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 …
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
What does OOAK mean in arts and crafts descriptions and titles? It means one of a kind (ooak), but this might not always be so clear cut as you might think. Pay close attention to item descriptions and ask questions of the seller if you want to be sure you’re getting truly unique items. One …
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 …
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.
The Forager was accepted to the 61st exhibition of Watercolor USA, a national, annual juried exhibition recognizing contemporary American watermedia painting. The juror was Kevin Umaña, co-founder of The Ekru Project, a Kansas City-based artist-run gallery focused on contemporary, emerging, and historically excluded artists. Watercolor USA 2022 Exhibit Details June 4, 2022 – August 28, 2022At the Weisel …
Every morning I feed the horses and chickens. Once it gets close to spring, I also begin my ‘get-in-shape’ program. Come along with me to feed the horses before I head out for a jog and walk early on a March morning. I’ve fed the chickens already. The time is right after sunrise, so light …
Encroachment goes both ways. Sometimes humans go too far into nature, but there are times when nature invades too much on humans, too! Click through to find out what I’ve been working on toward striking that balance.
So far the only firm date on the spring schedule, or all of next year, is the Master Gardener’s Convention in Springdale, AR. It’s time to plan what to do with 2022!
The book is hardcover, 160 pages long, with a single photo per page spread, with the quote on one side and frog on the other. It encourages the reader to marvel, think, and rejoice with each turn of the page. Frog lovers of all ages will love it.
Follow along as I paint a picture of the yellow-billed cuckoo! Featuring earth pigments from Ozark rocks, clay, and bone.
Yesterday evening I heard the first close whippoorwill of the 2021 season. Rob said he’d heard it the night before and wondered that it didn’t wake me up. And this week we “mowed” grass for the first time. But that’s not what you think.
The first time I saw it, the thought that it isn’t sandstone did run through my mind. Other possibilities include bituminous coal. Could that be what this strangely behaving rock is?
There are many reasons I love the rocks here at Wild Ozark. But I think I can narrow it down to the functional beauty of rocks.
It’s been a busy past couple of weeks here at Wild Ozark. Early spring and warmer weather brings a flurry of activity here at Wild Ozark. I’ve been working on our garden, grinding more rocks, and generally just enjoying the warmer weather. The temps are still cool enough for a jacket mornings and evenings, but …
Hermit Journal Updates | Early Spring Activities Read More »
Originally, I had planned to do a series of my favorite woodland plants in grayscale. But that was before I found the stone that gives me a sort of green pigment. So changed up the plans a little. Now I’m doing a series of our orchids in my full palette of pigments. First is this …
Showy Orchis (Galearis spectabilis) in Ozark pigments Read More »
This is probably the first year that I didn’t go through a reflection of the previous year while making plans for the coming year. In some ways right now, it feels like it doesn’t really matter anyway. No matter how much I plan things out, life inevitably has a way of undoing the strands. Then …
Tree Beings, by Raymond Huber and Sandra SevergniniForward by Dr. Jane GoodallExisle Publishing This book is a review copy from the publisher. I chose this book to review because of the title. Right away, I identified with the concept of ‘Tree Beings’. This is a book about the beings that live within the trees, the …
There are so many quick and easy ways to get closer to nature that no one needs to go without the benefits of having that connection to our natural world. Click here for a more in-depth page on building a connection to nature. Quick & Easy Ways to Get Closer to Nature Go barefoot. Even …
Summary: Still the mind to see and hear things you ordinarily wouldn’t notice. My walking meditation helps settle the audio-visual chatter. 9/17/20 Thursday | Today I stopped at the creek to gather a few rocks. Before that I’d spent the mid-morning hours pulling PDF’s of my old blogs so I can keep them in the …
