We’re always pretty busy around here, but during market season it’s busier still. There’s products to package, and things to do around the homestead. Well, the task list of things to do around the homestead never ends, but some things move up on the priority list as they get more irritating to deal with. Here’s one of those tasks, and some thoughts of getting ready for the market days of spring and summer.

And YAY, by the way, I was accepted into the Bentonville Art Market again this year. So, one weekend a month, I’ll be out there on a Saturday hawking my art wares. Those are long days, and I leave the house at 4 am, returning about 4. But the venue is excellent, or at least it was last year, and I’m happy to be returning.

Picking Rocks

Something we’ve done in the past that needs doing again now…

This is how it usually goes. He uses the backhoe attachment to pull rocks that stick up and make our driveway extremely hard on the vehicle tires.

They’re spaced fairly closely, but far enough apart to only be able to reach a few from each position. So if he had to do it by himself, he would have had to climb up and down and swap seats a lot. That’s exhausting.

So I can drive the tractor and inch up when he finished working the spot he worked on with the backhoe. It is usually fairly fun work. There’s always the chance of turning over a cool fossil rock, too. I don’t get to drive very often anymore since he’s been home from his overseas job.

Products for Market

Part of our mission with Wild Ozark is self-reliance, and one of the ways we want to embody this is making income with our land and skills.

So I’m always coming up with ideas for things to sell either online or on market days at my booth, or in the studio. The market season is coming soon, and I will be at the Bentonville Art Market on the one Saturday of every month, hopefully until October.

Since 2018 I’ve stayed super-focused on painting. I’m pretty proud of myself for staying focused, actually. There’s so many things I would like to be doing, that it’s hard to focus most of the time.

New Things for Market Days from Clay… Maybe

I still have clay that I’d cleaned a year or two ago, waiting for me to sculpt something or another. My poor little kiln hasn’t fired up in a long while. The head of Aada’s companion is finished. I just need some body parts for him and then he’ll be ready to wire together.

But there are some practical things I’d like to make from my clay. Things I need, like business card and brochure holders and interesting placards for art labels for the paintings on the shelves in my studio. And then of course, there’s the coming solar eclipse. I wanted to make and fire some clay mementos that might be good for souvenirs and take advantage of the crowd that is coming.

Today I painted with my red oil paint on a test piece fired to cone 04. It seems to soak up the oil, though, so I’m not sure it’ll work, though the color does show up still. I’ll give it a few days and see if it’ll seal with a varnish without making a mess. My business card holder might just be plain old stoneware if it doesn’t work out to paint them with my paints. I could use store-bought acrylic paint… but I don’t want to.

Not Enough Time

There is not only not enough time in a day, but not enough time in an entire lifetime. So many things I’d like to do and try to do that maybe even two lifetimes wouldn’t be enough. So I’ll stay focused on the painting and paint-making, which enables the painting. And maybe throw in a couple of new items to try out in the upcoming market days of this season.

ABOUT
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Madison Woods is the pen-name for my creative works. I’m a self-taught artist who moved to the Ozarks from south Louisiana in 2005. My paintings of Ozark-inspired scenes feature lightfast pigments from Madison county, Arkansas. My inspiration is nature – the beauty, and the inherent cycle of life and death, destruction, regeneration, and transformation.

Roxann Riedel is my real name. I’m also salesperson for Montgomery Whiteley Realty. If you’re interested in buying or selling in Madison or Carroll county, AR, let me know! You can see the properties that I blog about at WildOzarkLand.com.

Wild Ozark is also the only licensed ginseng nursery in Arkansas. Here’s the link for more information on the nursery

P.S.

There’s always a discount for paintings on the easel 😉

Here’s my Online Portfolio

And, Click here to join my mailing list.

Contact Mad Rox: (479) 409-3429 or madison@madisonwoods and let me know which hat I need to put on 🙂 Madison for art, Roxann for real estate, lol. Or call me Mad Rox and have them both covered!

https://www.youtube.com/@wildozark