Category Archives: Inspired by Nature

My Artist’s Business Plan for Wild Ozark 2019

So, this isn’t a ‘formal’ business plan, but more of an outline of my goals, plans, and strategy for the year regarding my art. To see the outline of intended subjects for the paintings, take a look at my Ozark Birds of Prey page. It’ll give you an idea of the focus and scope of […]

“I make paint from rocks…” A typical day at the market.

It’s a typical day at the market (for someone who makes paint from rocks). I’m most easily found during winter on Saturday’s at the Fayetteville Farmer’s Market. To see what other venues I’ll be at this year, check out my online calendar. And Wild Ozark is always ‘open for business’ at our Etsy shop. At […]

Catching Up & Gearing Up for More Paint-Making and Paintings

For the past couple of months I’ve been busy with festival-going and getting ready for more festival-going for the Burnt Kettle Syrup. Then for the past couple of weeks, I’ve been enjoying time with Rob (Mr. Wild Ozark/Burnt Kettle). Paint-making and painting has been on the sidelines for a while. But it’s time to get […]

A Call for Rocks and a New Page

Saturday I went down to Felkins creek which is near the end of our driveway. It’s not that I needed more rocks. I just wanted to see what the recent rains might have turned up. So I should probably have not gone looking.   I only needed one rock. Or one color of rock. And […]

Fairy Swing Mushrooms – A New Nature Art from Wild Ozark

Update as of 112118- I’m not making these very often anymore but there are still some in stock at Kingston Square Arts in Kingston, AR. These adorable little fairy swing mushrooms are the latest creations from the Wild Ozark studio! Each of the Fairy Swing Mushrooms are handmade and one of a kind (OOAK). Rather […]

Day 14: Nature Journal Series – Sunlight on Distant Hills

Sunlight on distant hills always makes for a pretty picture. It’s just hard to capture, whether by camera or pencil. This time I tried with my Prismacolor pencils. About this journal entry Some autumn seasons bring vivid colors, while others are quick and or less spectacular. Always, though, the sunlight favors certain hillsides while leaving […]

Day 13: Nature Journal Series

Signs of Life About this journal entry The signs of life during the coldest parts of winter always intrigue me. I love seeing the green grass shoots found under a layer of snow or peeking out from the shelter of tumbled rocks. I’m not sure why I left the chickweed uncolored in my drawing. I […]

Namesake of the Dragon – Another Green Dragon Drawing

Here’s the second of the Green Dragon drawings I’ve been working on. I posted the first part of it last week. This part is called the spathe (the hood) and the spadix (the long ‘tongue’) and it is the namesake of the dragon. This part of the plant is what becomes the cluster of red […]

Day 11 – Nature Journal Series

About this journal entry My son says my nature sketching looks like a turkey feather. It is not. It is a leaf half submerged in the water, haha. Can’t have the world at large making the same mistake. About the Wild Ozark Nature Journal Get the index to the other journal entries and read about […]

A Green Dragon Drawing

I’ve been working on a Green Dragon drawing for the cover of NANPS’s summer issue of Blazing Star. There will be another of the spathe and spadix to do next. That one will be used in the article. Here’s the photograph I worked from. I used more than one photo because I didn’t have a […]

Through Ice and Mud We Go – Bringing Hay to Horses

Through Ice and Mud Whether through ice and mud, or snow, or rain or wind, kind of like the postman’s creed to deliver mail, we must deliver hay to the horses. It’s easy to stay in touch with the wheel of time when you repeat a certain activity outdoors throughout the year. I like this facet […]

Making Twig Art: Gumball Folk Bride and Groom

My granddaughter stayed the night with us last night and today I thought we could make some twig art together. She wanted us to make a bride and groom Forest Folk pair, so we went outside to gather some botanicals. We picked up some gumballs from the sweet gum tree out front, along with a […]

Test Firing the Native Clay – Failure and Success

Yesterday I posted about cleaning the native clay and the test firing I planned to do once they dried out enough. I’m too impatient. I should have waited another day, maybe even longer because the clay was pretty wet when I first worked the little ball and circle. They exploded to smithereens almost as soon […]

Nature Drawing in Progress: American ginseng in October

Two years ago I made a nature drawing of American ginseng in October, with yellowing leaves against the dark backdrop of the Wild Ozark forest. Repeating the Same Nature Drawing Since that time I’ve learned a little more about certain techniques I can use with my pencils, specifically blending, and so I wanted to re-draw […]

Custom Drawing – “Slug on Poison Ivy”

This is a custom drawing of a slug on poison ivy. In this post I’ll show you the process I use for drawing a picture with Prismacolor pencils. This particular nature drawing is for a business card client. First, the Slug I needed to do the slug first because it would have been very hard […]

Nature Journal Ebook from Wild Ozark

Art is how I express my relationship with nature, whether it’s sketching, writing, or photography. As a special Valentine’s Day gift to you, my collection of journal entries with nature sketches from Autumn 2015 is FREE at Amazon today through the 16th. If you have a color e-reader or the Kindle for PC app on […]

Nature Workshop with Madison Woods

What happens at a nature workshop? My nature workshop is designed to help you reconnect to nature and express your experience through art, writing, and photography. It can be tailored for whatever environment is available (even cities have nature), but generally we’ll take a nature walk, look at plants and wildlife, listen to the sounds […]

Wild Ozark Nature Journal on Kindle

What is a sketch / nature journal? Sometimes nature writers like to doodle while they’re interpreting nature. My nature journal is a combination of art and written journal entry. It is both nature sketching and nature journal. Here are some sample pages from my first collection. All of my work can be seen at WildOzark.com/naturejournal/as I do […]

Nature Writing at Hobbs State Park

This is a past event. If you’d like to book a workshop like this one, email [email protected] Nature is a treat for the senses but sometimes it takes effort to get past the immediate sensory input and experience a deeper relationship. Madison Woods will lead the class on a voyage of listening, looking, and feeling […]

The original sketch for my Goodreads Giveaway

I have a copy of my sketch journal up for giveaway at Goodreads. It’s titled simply, My Nature Journal. It’s not *my* journal but a blank one designed for others who would like to get into nature sketching. Part of the giveaway is an original sketch and journal entry that I’ll make in it before […]

Coffee Break Reading and some pretty cool Leggings

Get “No Qualms” delivered to your inbox in daily short bites. Perfect for coffee break reading. And check out the cool leggings featuring one of my nature journal entries. One of my passions that I haven’t indulged much in lately is story writing. Until recently I’ve been working exclusively on nonfiction. Added to that I’ve been working […]

Tangerine Sunrise, Goodreads Giveaway, Nature Sketching

When the sun rose high enough to top the trees it washed the hills in a tangerine glow. The trees are changing fast now and I really want to take pictures every day. I have been drawing more often than photographing these days. Here’s the journal entry for the most recent native plant subject. It’s […]