This raven painting is my largest yet. It’s larger than my largest watercolor of the Brahman cow at 37″ x 29″. The substrate is a birch board with three coats of white gesso. All of the colored pigments are Ozark and locally foraged, but I use purchased white pigment to make adjustments and highlights.
Detour for a Thirsty Raven
It’s happenstance that I’m working on this painting. Wendy from Gotahold Brewery in Eureka Springs contacted me about a raven-themed show they wanted to do for their third anniversary. Well, I really wanted to enter that show, but have nothing on hand to fit the theme. But I did have a board and an idea. So I put my Kings River series on hold while I work on this thirsty raven painting.
Happy Accidents
The title itself is an accident, because I didn’t come up with that until writing this blog post. Once I put the title of the post down, I thought that would make a great title for the painting, too. Until then, I had plain old ‘Thirsty Raven’ in mind.
While I was blocking in color for the background, which I intended to just be a blurred blend of color with no form, I saw a form taking shape. It was a very very rough sort of form, but nonetheless enough to give me an idea. And so I refined the lines a little, dabbed more color, and suddenly a beer cellar appeared! I love happy accidents like that.
But after looking at them for a little while, and calling hubs in to give his opinion, I decided to turn the barrels around so the ends are out instead. I like it a lot better now. He also pointed out that I’d forgotten to put a tap on the spigot. Definitely needed to add one of those.
Raven Painting in progress
Some details
When’s the exhibit?
The exhibit will be at Gotahold Brewery for the month of July.
If you are interested in a set of my paints for yourself, check out my online shop to see what’s available. I usually make extra when I make my own.
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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.
Her online portfolio is at www.PaleoPaints.com.
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