The weather is torturing me with spells of warm, sunny days followed by days of bitter cold and wind. I’m so ready for spring. But it’s been busy around here and I haven’t had a chance to make a blog …
Category: Musings
This is an index of posts that fall into my “Musings” category. Usually it’s on a topic that has no other defined focus, but sometimes these are also my philosophical-type posts. Subscribe to Wild Ozark™ » Musings by Email
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Re-Creating the Forest Folk | Musings
I woke up yesterday morning with a burning desire to resurrect the Forest Folk I used to make. So I pulled some of my cleaned native clay out and started creating some body parts. I’ve had that clay stored …
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Mistaken Identity | Sassafras or Osage?
I’d assumed the tree was a sassafras, and that bright orange bark peeling off in papery layers was sassafras root bark. But boy, I made a big mistake. I’ve spent a lot of years learning to identify the plants here, …
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Unstoppable | Word of the Year | Goals for 2022
My personal life and business life has no boundaries between each other. So my goals for 2022 are equally blended. My ‘word of the year‘ applies to both, as well: unstoppable.
Blog More Often – be unstoppable
And …
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2021 Year in Review
Rob came home from his overseas gig at the beginning of Dec. 2020, so 2021 was the first full year of him being home we’ve had in a while. It’s been busy! Here’s the Wild Ozark 2021 Year in Review. …
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Jarrod Cluck | Nature Artist Interviews
This post kicks off what I hope to be a regular feature on my blog. Please give a big welcome to Jarrod Cluck, the first subject of my Nature-Influenced Artist Interviews.
Jarrod is a native of small-town Rudy, Arkansas. He …
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Encroachment Goes Both Ways | Striking a Balance
Most of the time nature encroachment refers to human activities encroaching on nature. However, my post today deals with nature encroaching on human activity – specifically, OURS.
The Setting
I like to leave as much of our property open to …
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Traveling With Paints | Roaming Hermit
Usually our trips away from the homestead amount to a weekly errand run. Because going ‘to town’ takes up most of the day, it feels like a cross-country journey. We’ve had and still have out of state travels this month. …
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It’s Time to Plan what to do with 2022
The time to plan is before you need to, and I’m trying to get better at doing that.
This post won’t go live until next weekend, but I’m writing it during a relatively calm day in what has been a …
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Kingston, Arkansas | A Rural Ozark Town
There are some hidden treasures in the Ozarks. The tiny little town of Kingston, Arkansas in Madison county is one of them. It’s been my adopted home-base since 2005, when I moved up here from south Louisiana.
About Kingston
Our …
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The Beauty of Rocks | How I Use Our Most Abundant Resource
If there’s one resource we have an unlimited supply of here in the Ozarks, it’s rocks. There are many reasons I love the rocks here at Wild Ozark. But I think I can narrow it down to the functional beauty …
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It’s a good day to make paint!
As I write this the temperature is dropping from an almost comfortable 50-something with sunshine, to overcast and already less than 40 by around noon. Yesterday it was a very comfortable 70 or so, and sunny. This afternoon, we’re actually …
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2021 April | Wild Ozark Musings | Monthly Newsletter
This is a website version of my monthly newsletter that goes out to subscribers. If you’d like to get this in your mailbox each month, just head on over <click here> to sign up. Sometimes I may post it here …
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Hermit Journal Updates | Early Spring Activities
It’s been a busy past couple of weeks here at Wild Ozark. Early spring and warmer weather brings a flurry of activity here at Wild Ozark. I’ve been working on our garden, grinding more rocks, and generally just enjoying the …
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Are you on Clubhouse?
My daughter called me the other day to tell me about Clubhouse. She had gotten an invitation to join it and after trying it out, thought it would be something I might be interested in. At first I groaned. …
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Winter in the Ozarks | Musings on a Very Cold Day
It was -12F when I woke up this morning at 0500. This is the coldest I think it’s ever been since we moved here in 2005. There hasn’t been many really cold, snowy winters in the past several years, it …
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My 2021 Outlook | A Loosely Defined Path
This is probably the first year that I didn’t go through a reflection of the previous year while making plans for the coming year. In some ways right now, it feels like it doesn’t really matter anyway. No matter how …
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Thanksgiving 2020
May your day be filled with abundance and gratitude. I have a lot to be thankful for, and the love and health of family is at the top of my list. I have a husband who is my anchor, best …
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Artist Statement | Welcome to Wild Ozark
Thank you for dropping by my website. I hope you enjoy your stay! Are you an artist, or patron, nature-lover? Maybe an old friend, or lucky happenstance lander-on-the page? Today I’ve been updating some parts of my site. One of …
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Nature Journal | Still the Mind to See and Hear
Summary: Still the mind to see and hear things you ordinarily wouldn’t notice. My walking meditation helps settle the audio-visual chatter.
9/17/20 Thursday | Today I stopped at the creek to gather a few rocks. Before that I’d spent the …
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A day in the life of a pigment hunting nature artist
Yesterday was a day for running errands. You can come along with me to see what it’s like on a typical errand day in the life of a pigment hunting nature artist.
Heading Out
Once the sun made over the …
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Commissions, Our New Pup, and Other News | Wild Ozark Hermit Journal
I never know what to use for a title on my random musings posts. Most of the time if I don’t have a specific topic in mind, I just start writing and then organize the jumbled mess into some sort …
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Sacred Art
Interacting with Flora and Fauna, Translating Messages from the Muse
Pretty much all of my art is influenced and inspired by my surroundings here at Wild Ozark. Although I listed the flora and fauna in the title, it’s more than …
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Grayscale Art | Painting in Black, Gray and White
I have a new idea mulling around, and it has to do with grayscale…
Sometimes I get really frustrated that I don’t have the colors I’d like to have for a painting I’d like to do. For example, I’d love …