Welcome to my blog about Nature, Art with Ozark pigments, Rural Real Estate, & my Hermit Homesteading Life. Oh, and sometimes I write about my philosophical observations.
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Fence Lizard | Starting a New Painting
I’m working on a painting of a fence lizard using my Ozark pigments in oils. This is the page that shows my progression from start to finish. During the hot days of summer, there are lots of fence lizards skittering …
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Prints of Madison Woods Originals
Technically, it’s misleading to call reproductions ‘prints’, but that’s how most people refer to them. In actuality, what I offer (aside from originals) are giclée’s. And a giclée is a reproduction made using a commercial inkjet printer with archival inks …
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Narrow Sized Imaginary Mountain Scene
While working on my fence lizard painting, I had leftover paint on the palette when finished for the day. So I decided to use it to start a new painting on the same size board, a small narrow 8″ x …
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How to Add Nature to Your Life
Research shows that having a connection to nature is beneficial to mental health, and those who spend time outdoors are likely also enjoying physical benefits. But, those who either live in cities, don’t like the usual ways people experience …
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Often Heard, But Seldom Seen
I have a short list of critters that are often heard, but seldom seen. The spring peeper in the featured image for this post is on that list. I was thrilled to finally get to see one so I could …
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Random Nature Connection – Resistance to Change
This is an older post, from 2015 about resistance to change. With so much change in the air these days, it felt like a good time to repost an old post. When I see the ice lifting tiny rocks and …
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What Constitutes Nature?
When you think of ‘nature’, you’re probably thinking of green spaces, trees, creeks, rivers, etc. But what else could that word encompass? This post is about questions pertaining to perspective and perception; about what constitutes nature. Gloria is probably more …
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White Passionflower
There’s a patch of white passionflower (Passiflora incarnata) in my garden that consistently blooms pure white blossoms. The ‘pops’ also look a little different, with a rounder shape than the usual egg-shaped pods. The other passionflowers around our place all …
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Seeing the Milky Way & Scorpio Constellations
After dark last night, we sat on our balcony and waited for our eyes to adjust. Seeing the Milky Way is always special, even here where we can see it often. The night was perfect for viewing – the moon …
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The August Issue of Wild Ozark Musings
It’s been a while since I’ve posted one of my newsletter issues here. These go out as an email to subscribers, usually once a month. If you’re also a member of the special groups, then you’d also get an email …
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Art in Fort Smith, AR
It’s time for Art on the Border! I’ll be at 1000 Fianna Way, Ft. Smith, AR this evening and all day tomorrow with original watercolor and oil paintings featuring the Ozark pigments. Lots of 8 x 10″ giclée prints, and …
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Mindfulness | Hermit Diary
While the world was in Covid shutdowns, I’d begun making blog posts I called ‘Hermit Journals‘. While I’m glad we’re not still in lockdown, I miss making those entries. So I’m going to start them up again as …
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Paintings Made From Rocks and Rock Art in Arkansas
If you’re a friend of mine in real life or through social media, you likely know by now that I’ve been making paint from rocks. And by extension, that means, paintings made from rocks. It’s not painting ON rocks. Paint …
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Art on the Border, only TWO WEEKS away 🙂
Click here to go to the AOB website We’ll be Ft. Smith Bound Rob’s coming too and we’ll make it an overnight trip so I’m not going out in the wee hours of Saturday morning to get back over there …
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Ozark Autumn Morning
I managed to get this painting’s final touches put on Saturday while at the art market, before the wind became problematic. It’s a landscape on a 10 x 10″ cradle board of an Ozark autumn morning with mist on the …
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My mind is on art, even while digging ditches, it seems
Even while doing sweat-inducing work totally unrelated to being creative, my mind is on art. Look at the color I found while I was digging a ditch 🙂 Needless to say, I had a pocket full of rocks by the …
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Selective weed-eating, moth, and painting
Yesterday morning, while it was still cool, I did more weed-eating. This morning, I moved to a different section and weedeated some more. I don’t clear cut everything because there are some things that grow in the edges that I …
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Ooops! I Accidentally Hit Publish.
Earlier today while working on a draft for a project I am thinking of doing, I accidentally hit the Publish button when I meant to hit Save Draft. So, if you’re a blog subscriber, you got a notice of a …
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Progress on a Painting, or Two
Yesterday at the studio, I worked on two different paintings. One I needed to begin, and the other needed progress towards finished. Painting to Start The first one I worked on is the one I needed to begin. It’s a …
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An Earthy Palette for Nature Art
Nature and biodiversity reigns supreme at Wild Ozark, and an earthy palette, like the one pictured below, is perfect for capturing it in a painting. It’s only lacking a couple of things… white and blue. I could do without the …
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Slow Art, Back to Nature Art
There are a lot of parallels between the kind of art I make and the Slow Food movment from a decade or so ago. My style is also very much ‘back to nature’. Why is it ‘Slow Art’? Just as …
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Wearing Many Hats & Vacuuming the Cat
First of all, let me say that vacuuming the cat went way better than I expected it would. This post is a departure from my recent types of posts. This is me practicing getting a blog post written, about whatever …
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What Makes the Art My Own?
I’ve been struggling with a decision about whether to purchase blue pigment or continue using the indigo. While I can source local indigo or grow my own, it isn’t a permanent pigment. Does it matter if I use outsourced pigments? …
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A Pastoral Scene in Progress
There’s something magical about the way it looks on a misty Autumn morning in the Ozarks. Several years ago, I took a photo of my neighbor’s field towards the bridge for Felkins creek that’s near our house. While going through …
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Seeking Nature and Biodiversity?
Everything about my life is influenced by the nature and biodiversity out here. When it comes to real estate, properties with soaked with both are my favorite ones to show. I’m probably the biggest tree-hugging nature lover in our office.…