The past weeks were very creative ones for me with nature art. I tried something new and have found a new passion that’s bound to grow with a little time – milling pigments! Next step in that exploration is making handmade watercolor paints. I also spent some time making a couple new Forest Folk. Here’s June’s nature art recap of endeavors at Wild Ozark.
Nature Art Recap
Pigments Right Outside the Back Door
This has turned out to be an all-consuming passion! It started in my mind years ago when I noticed the beautiful the color inside the cracked sandstone rocks on the driveway. Then when the grand-kids were over the other day I picked up one of the cracked rocks and decided to give grinding it in the mortar and pestle a go.
And it definitely went! Making pigments takes a person very close to the earth and is an immersive sort of nature art. The kids (and the kitchen) were very dirty when we were done.
There will almost certainly be a line of Wild Ozark Earth Pigments arising from this. So far I’ve made a beautiful brown, nice yellow, and am working on a green right now. After my vacation I’ll get right to work on developing a palette of earthy watercolors from local sources of minerals and plants.
Forest Folk
It’s been a while since I’d made any Forest Folk, but wanted to have a few new things to use for show and tell at a workshop I did at the Ozark Folkways for children the other day.
Chapter 27 in 2nd Hit (Book 2 of my Renegade Agents of A.R.S.A. rural fantasy series)
While it’s not nature art in the same sense of the word as a physical work of art, writing is also art and my writing involves a lot of nature-influenced scenes and scenarios.
Plans for July
So next month I’ll be in Doha, Qatar. Look for a change of scenery in my photos posted to Instagram and here on the blog! When I return home I’ll be working on a line of earth and plant pigment watercolor paints. Multi-layered nature art! Also on the list are more of my art mushrooms, just in case I do get accepted to any of the shows I’ve applied to in fall. I’ll definitely need more of them if that happens and I don’t want to wait until the last minute to get started.