Every so often over the years I’ve written about the times when I’ve had to do a sort of mental housecleaning… a periodic clearing of the metaphorical clutter in my life. Sometimes that also involves clearing out a bunch of …
Blog
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Long Dirt Road: Why it Takes me an Hour to Drive 12 Miles
This is a post from a few years ago that I love, so I’m reposting it. We live down a long dirt road. This little facet of our lives is the main thing that makes or breaks most newcomers to …
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Journal Entry | 2 August 2023
My plan with this is to just jot down the little things I do each day that I think will be interesting to someone somewhere. If a Journal Entry is long enough to post by itself, I’ll hit publish. If …
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Nature Art Inspiration at Kings River
I recently finished a painting set at the Kings river which is down our road. Wild Ozark is a few more miles down the dirt road away from pavement than the bridge, but we cross it every time we go …
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Art Book | Soul of the Ozarks 2023
A while back I decided to make an art book to send to my collectors. They’re not big door-stopper books, just a catalog of the current art available, with some prose. Every year I’ll make one but will start with …
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Art Layaways? | Available Anytime, for Any Orders $100 +
Wild Ozark is now offering art layaways, open to any orders over $100. Shop in person at the Wild Ozark Studio & Gallery, or online at Shop Wild Ozark. It doesn’t have to be just original art, any cart total …
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Studio Update July 29
We’ll be braving the heat this weekend, so if you’re out there, too, drop in to see us!
Wild Ozark Studio & Gallery
102 Main Street
Alpena, AR
10 am to 4 pmThe update this week is in the …
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Kings River in Autumn | Ozark pigments in oil
A week or so ago, I started working over the underpainting I’d made for this scene. This one is different from the other two in a significant way. I didn’t have any reference photos when I started working on it …
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July 22 | Saturday is Studio Day!
The studio will be open this weekend. July 22 Saturday is open studio day! I really enjoy my days at the studio and I hope you’ll drop in to say hello if you’re in the area. The other artists will …
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Changing of the Seasons
It doesn’t feel like it outside, but inside of myself I can feel that autumn is on the way. The changing of the seasons is underway. There’s been a subtle shift, and every year when this point passes, I can …
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Lightfast yellow color, Harvesting Thyme, Planting Weld & Indigo
In my quest for lightfast yellow color, I usually use earth pigments. Those are notoriously long-lasting. They’re also earthy, beautiful in their own way and I love them. But sometimes I crave brighter, clear colors. Those are usually only found …
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A Yellow Paint Experiment | Lake pigment from thyme
Back when I made my very first set of paints, I had a really nice yellow. I’d made several yellows from various plants and did lightfast tests on them. All failed except for the one, gorgeous yellow. Not only did …
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The Wild Ozark Art Studio is Permanently Closed 🙁
Sorry to say it, but my sweet little studio just wasn’t paying the bills enough to make it feasible to continue. The original post below remains for memories.
Original Post
I’m so happy to have the ‘studio portion’ of the …
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3 Creative Ways to Use Rocks
If there’s one thing I do well, it is that I am a master of finding creative ways to use rocks. Since we moved to these rocky Ozark mountains in 2005, I’ve loved our rocks even if they do present …
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Painting the Choo Choo Trail
I decided a few weeks ago to try painting some scenes that might appeal to the mountain bikers who enjoy the trails of northwest Arkansas. Since I’m not a biker, I searched online for ideas and found a photo of …
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Repurposed Frames for New Artwork
My thirsty raven painting is framed finally, and it looks great! Often when I intend to use repurposed frames for new artwork, I’ll repaint or add color to make it work. But for this one, I didn’t have to change …
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Art Inspiration Moments on a Non-Art-Making Day
Even in a day full of non-art related tasks, there can be moments of art inspiration.
Equine Escapees
In the mornings after I get out of bed, I go outside on the porch to have my coffee and listen to …
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A Nature Artist’s Task list
When you hear someone say they’re an artist, you might think all they do is paint. I guess there are some who can do that, but I don’t get to paint every day. There’s a host of other things to …
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Musings from an Ozark nature artist
I’m at an ‘in between’ time at the moment. Between rain showers and rainy days, between things scheduled on my calendar. And since I just finished a painting, I’m between paintings, too. But this is a great time for …
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Painting of a Screech Owl | Ozark Birds of Prey
It’s not often that I get decent pictures of wildlife, let alone birds of prey. Slowly, I’ve managed to find some photographers with photos I can use to reference some of my series-in-progress of Ozark Birds of Prey. Several …
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Cottagecore Art is Down to Earth
My paintings in earthy colors fit into this style. This was a new phrase to me. I’d never heard of it before and didn’t know that was even a thing. It reminds me of when I first discovered the term …
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Rustic Kitchen Paintings
While I’m at the studio I paint when there’s no one visiting or shopping my art, or other tasks to do, I spend the time painting. This past Saturday I didn’t have any reference images on hand. Usually when I …
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The Why Behind a Painting
I got an invitation from Google to test out the new AI chatbot called Bard. So far I’ve tried it out for a few different things, mostly to draw up outlines for potential blog posts. Today I asked it to …
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Wild Ozark YouTube Channel
Yay! Today we passed the 100 subscriber mark on our Wild Ozark YouTube channel. What? You didn’t know we had a channel?
A Slow Build
We’ve had one for a while but it’s been idle for a while, too. I’m …
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When I’m not Painting, and Something Woo-Woo About Me
There are days when I’m not painting, usually when I’m between paintings or stepping back from one in progress. On Saturdays when I’m at the studio in Alpena, I always like to at least get something small done or …