This is a new 5 x 7″ painting. It’s a commission for someone out of state who’d contacted me about something other than art months ago. We got to talking, and she asked if I could do a painting of this cute little calf for her. At the time, I hadn’t developed my blue and green pigments, though, so she asked me to let her know whenever I’d be able to do it with at least some green grass. I’ve used them now and tested them, and feel confident I will keep these colors in my repertoire now.
Since so much time had passed, I worried she might have forgotten about it. I emailed her last month to let her know I now had blue AND green, and asked if she was still interested. She was!
Blue and Green
Lightfast plant pigments
Over the months, I been making a blue from indigo and tested it for light and oxidation stability. That worked great, so I now have blue on my palette. I can grow indigo but woad will grow better here. Both produce the same blue pigment, so I’ll start some woad next year and blue will forever be on my palette.
The thyme that is already growing in my garden yields a good yellow, another color I lacked. Combined with the indigo, it gives me a wonderful green.
Progression
All colors are lightfast handmade oil paints. The white comes from outsourced titanium, but the rest of the colors are all from stones and plants locally sourced.
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Author/Artist Info
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Madison Woods is a self-taught artist who moved to the Ozarks from south Louisiana in 2005. In 2018 she began experimenting with watercolor painting, using her local pigments. She calls them Paleo Paints. In 2023 she began her journey into the world of oil painting with those same pigments. Her paintings of the Ozark-inspired scenes feature exclusively the lightfast pigments foraged from Madison county, Arkansas. Her inspiration is nature – the beauty, and the inherent cycle of life and death, destruction and regeneration. Wild Ozark is also the only licensed ginseng nursery in Arkansas. Here’s the link for more information on the nursery end of life out here.
Online Portfolio
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First and foremost, apart from being an artist and author, Madison is a nature enthusiast. She enjoys using local resources in every aspect of her life and considers the land she and her husband live on as partners in life. They care for the land and the land cares for them. She’s an herbalist, gardener, and wildcrafter of medicinal plants.
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