On Sunday we took a field trip out to the $2 hole at War Eagle Creek near the Mill where some of my paintings and prints are offered for sale. Rob wanted to look for arrowheads while I planned on doing a bit of pigment hunting. Of course, I wouldn’t pass up an arrowhead if I found one, though 🙂
The gravel bar at the $2 hole at War Eagle Creek.
Most of the rocks I found were too hard to be very good for making pigment. But there was a lot of red flint, which I will try anyway. I know the gray flint makes a very light gray and is a fine paint. It’s just not rich in pigment and is very hard to crush fine enough.
The pigment hunting trip was successful, though. Nothing really new or different in the colors, though. The rocks I found that would be easy to make pigment from were very similar to the rocks I find around home.
Pigment Hunting in Different Terrains
Close to home in our own hills, the makeup is mostly sandstone. Just a few mountains over from us, the makeup is mostly limestone. So it changes from area to area around here.
War Eagle is about 40 miles north and west of Wild Ozark, as the crow files. The rocks there are more chert and flint and other things too hard to make paint from, with a few softer stones like sand or silt stone in between.
Pigment Hunting- Good Rocks for Pigment
Let’s crack open a few of the rocks I found that I thought might work.
Let’s see what color is inside of this rock 🙂
Some nice color inside.
This one looks like it’s going to be a really good pigment source.
Oh yeah. This one will make really good pigment!
This one, too, will make a nice handmade watercolor paint.
So I found enough rocks to make a small ‘War Eagle Collection’ or three. It’ll be later on toward the end of June before I get a chance to make paint again, though. I’m always in some mode of pigment hunting, even when I won’t be able to use the rocks in the near future. It’s just too hard to pass them by when I see them if I have a pocket handy.
Website Woes
I would have posted about this earlier, but my website has been down for several days. Somehow I managed to delete the whole thing from my server and I have no idea what I did. Let’s just hope I don’t do it again!
Madison Woods is an author, artist, and Paleo Paint maker living
with her husband in northwest Arkansas far off the beaten path. She uses Ozark pigments to create her paintings.
To see her paintings click here.
Contact Info:
Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @wildozark
Facebook: @wildozark
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