I like to look back on all of the paintings I’ve done since I began this journey with the Ozark pigments. Today I created collages of all of the work I did each year. It’s a visual summary of work from 2018 to 2023.
Seeing all of them like this makes me feel like I’ve made a lot of progress. Five years is long enough to learn a few things, I think. It also makes me eager to keep going! I miss painting my birds of prey, so that’s where I’ll concentrate during 2024. Except for the ones I do as gifts for the kids and grandkids. They don’t usually request birds, lol. Mostly, those will likely be cows.
2018
This is the year it all began, when I first tested the powder from a crushed rock on the driveway. I made a set of rough first paints just before a scheduled trip to Qatar to visit my husband who was working there. I hauled all of the wet paints, brushes, and paper with me and created the very first painting over there. Actually, the first three were painted over there. While Rob was at work, and it was too hot to go outside, I stayed in the apartment learning how to make watercolor paintings.
2019 – 2023
Progress
I can see a definite difference in color saturation and my style in 2023’s collage. In this year’s summary of work, you’ll notice only oil paintings. The reason I wanted to try oils was to attempt to achieve more of the ‘old world’ look in my paintings.
After working in oils for the whole year, with a single set of paints I made at the beginning of the year, I’m going to continue on this journey. It’s time to make a new set of paints for 2024 soon. The tubes I made in January last year are now getting harder to squeeze out the paints from them. And what artist doesn’t love a brand new set of pigments? I know I do!
Making More Oil Paints
It’s a lot messier to make the oil paints than it is to make the watercolors, so I’m glad one set lasts me all year long. The next time I make them, I’m going to try and make enough to also sell a set. If I make enough sales to afford to buy a machine I want, then I’ll be able to make more sets to sell.
The machine I want is a triple-roll mill. It takes the place of extensive mulling on the glass plate. And, it will result in a more creamy texture (I hope). The mulling is the hardest part of making the paint, after crushing the rocks. But I have a nice rock crusher, so I’ll at least have that to carry on with going forward.
Thank You!
To everyone who has supported me as I posted incessantly about my works in progress, and to those who bought my paintings and prints or notecards – Thank you! My husband, family, and friends have all been there rooting me on, and I can’t even measure how much that has meant to me.
Have a WONDERFUL rest of this year. Drop a comment to let me know what kinds of plans you have for 2024.
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
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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
