Sometimes they’re just gnarly, twisted trees. Welcome to my progression page for a Twisted Tree in Ozark pigment oils. My Twisted Tree paintings fall into a category all by themselves. These paintings have no direction, and I just go wherever the painting wants to go. They’re really good for helping to re-awaken the imagination, or give a restrained hand a chance to run wild. I like to do these when I’ve done a lot of work that tries to stick to a desired outcome. Since these have no desired outcome whatsoever, it’s a complete break from the expectations I’ve put on myself. And I love them so much for that.
Commissions are Open but with a long wait
Commissions are open for anything that I can do with my Ozark pigments, but I won’t be able to begin any new ones until Jan 2024 now. Commissions are open now for Twisted Trees, too. Right now I have a commission for a painting of Limelight hydrangeas. When I’m finished working on the hydrangea painting, any paint left on my palette goes toward my Wild Ozark Twisted Tree. This is one reason I like to have a second painting in the works when I’m focused on a different one. That way I won’t waste any of the paint leftover from the first.
Progress
Learning Things
I learned something pretty important during the 2nd and 3rd progress shot. There was a technique I wanted to try using a soft-bristled brush that resembles the kind of brush used for applying makeup or blending blush. Since I didn’t have a bonafide ‘paint’ brush, I decided to use my kabuki makeup brush. They look pretty much the same, anyway.
The makeup brush worked great! It did exactly what I wanted it to do. Except that when I was finished, I noticed little hairs all over in the paint. The brush was shedding hairs. And now I had to pluck them all off of the board and repair the work I had done. Of course, I didn’t have another brush like that one, so I used another makeup brush but checked to see if those hairs were shedding before I tried it. It’s a much smaller brush, so not quite right for the job, but still got it done.
Now I need to buy one of these that are actual brushes for artists. And I’ve tried low-cost artist brushes and found they also will shed. So I’ll just save my money until I can afford a good one. In the meantime, a sponge or crumpled towel will also do the trick.
Where is it Going?
I don’t know. That’s the joy of doing Twisted Trees. They go where they want to go. Sometimes there’s anthropomorphic qualities to them when I’m done. Sometimes they’re just gnarly, twisted trees. We’ll just have to wait and see 🙂
In the fourth image above, the foreground evolved while I was working on it. When it looked like something I could work with, that’s when the idea came to make the drop-off. I had no idea that was going to be there, and so it was even a surprise to me. I love working on paintings that bring themselves about, and the ending is always a surprise in these.
On the Easel
While it’s on the easel, there’s a discount. It’s a pre-buy, with a money-back assurance if you don’t like it when I’m done.
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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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