Ordinarily I paint real things that have a photograph backing them up to give me some guidance. But in between those paintings, I like to deviate a bit and paint nature fantasy. I get to indulge in my love of fairies, wizards, elves, unicorns, and Water Priestesses.

Here’s the series so far. I’ll add to this page as I get them done. Scroll down the page to see the process for painting the first one. Links to the process pages for the later ones are included below this gallery.

Here is the link for the process page for Eye of the Storm.

Water Priestess, a Nature Fantasy

This one is a re-do of a scene I did with Prismacolor pencils a while back. The idea was to do all the elemental priestesses, but so far all I’ve done are water and tree (wood). Eventually I’ll get around to earth, fire, wind, and metal, too. No idea how to portray the metal with my earth pigments, but surely there will be a way.

Here’s the one in pencil:

Nature Fantasy Painting in Progress

So here’s the process of the one in Ozark pigments. Except for the form of the priestess herself, it isn’t going to look much like the original. I’ve only used the original one as a model. Since I don’t have blues or greens (yet), it’s all going to be earth tones.

Adding details

I’m adding a lot more details into this painting than I did to the original drawing. Perhaps I’m overdoing it a bit. But it’s also a learning endeavor for me. I’m figuring out what works and what doesn’t work- with my concepts, the paints themselves, and techniques I just want to experiment on. With the birds of prey, I don’t want to experiment so much. With nature fantasy, who’s going to know the difference? I get to create the whole thing, whether or not there’s anything to compare with in reality.

Here’s some leaf and vine detail:

The Horror of Painting Faces

I have never successfully even drawn a face of a human that I thought looked remotely human. So there’s nothing to explain the fiasco that resulted when I decided to put a face on this water priestess. I don’t know what got into me! After a full day of hearty laughter, to the point where my stomach was sore, I put it to bed. The next morning, I finally made the little change that helped a lot. Here’s the progression so you can share in the laughter. I’m happy with it now.

Lots More Work to Do

I’m going to keep working on faces, and it’s a different experience to paint from imagination rather than a photograph. Follow me on Instagram if you want to get the very latest. The links are below. I post not only my nature fantasy art, but whatever art I’m working on it to Instagram and then come here to fill in the gaps when I get the time. I also post photos from around the house. Once a painting is finished, I upload it to my online gallery (this is where you can see all of my art). To see the nature fantasy art I have available currently, the link is below.

https://shop.wildozark.com/product-category/art/nature-fantasy/

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