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 Process
Since my paints are handmade and locally foraged, I have to make sure I have the colors I need before I begin a project. If I’m close to out of one, then I’ll go look for the rock that gives me the color I need. If it’s a plant pigment, then I’ll need to harvest the plant. The only three plant sources I use at this time are indigo, thyme, and the root bark of Osage trees. The rest comes from rocks, soot, bone, or purchased titanium dioxide powder.
So, if it’s a rock, then I’ll break it to smaller pieces, then crush it as finely as I can. The crushed rock is the raw pigment. After that I put the powder into a jar and fill the jar with water. Depending on the source rock, I’ll either pour off the colored water into another jar to let it settle, or pour the rinse water out and keep the sediment for the paint. After the water clarifies and the pigment has settled, then I pour off the clear water and let the sediment dry. That is what I’ll make the paint from.
When it comes to plants, there’s more chemistry involved. I’ll make what is called a ‘lake’ pigment. Here’s a post that gives more information on that process.
The Skink Reference Photo
The (American) five-lined skink (Plestiodon fasciatus) are very common here at Wild Ozark. I thought these were different than the ones I see with blue tails, but as it turns out – the blue tailed skinks are just juveniles.
Photo by Madison Woods
Painting a Skink
I’m not sure how often skinks have made it into the art world as a subject, but here’s my rendition progress.
Hello, Little Friend
5 x 7, oils from Ozark pigments on panel
The first pic shows all that I got done during the market hours on Saturday. I just pushed paint around on the canvas to look busy, and that’s where I ended up. I haven’t been able to work on it again all week long, so today I took five whole minutes and just at least added some shading to parts of the wood.
Tomorrow I hope I’ll have time to get a lot more done. So check back!
Contact Mad Rox: (479) 409-3429 or madison@madisonwoods and let me know which hat I need to put on 🙂 Madison for art, Roxann for real estate, lol. Or call me Mad Rox and have them both covered!
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Author/Artist Info
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Roxann Riedel is a salesperson for Montgomery Whiteley Realty, artist, owner of the only ginseng nursery in Arkansas, and the author of books and this website. Madison Woods is the pen-name she uses for her creative works. She’s a self-taught artist who moved to the Ozarks from south Louisiana in 2005. Her paintings of the Ozark-inspired scenes feature lightfast pigments 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
There’s always a discount for paintings on the easel 😉
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