Redbuds and plum blossoms decorate the Ozark hills right now, filling the air with a purple light and a heavenly scent. This painting, as usual, Ozark pigments in oil. Sometimes the dogwoods bloom when the redbuds do, but this year it is the wild plum trees.
The path leading off to the pass between the hills is intriguing to me. I’ve always felt compelled to see where such trails lead. My guess is that this one encounters a creek somewhere beyond the tree line in the distance.
Redbuds and Plum Blossoms Progression
My intention with this one was to start and finish a small painting while at the studio yesterday. I also wanted to use some of the very nice red paint I made in the last batch. That’s where the plum-colored skies came from, with a little help from outsourced titanium pigment. All of the color in this painting came from the rocks, except for the white I use to adjust values. Once I reached point where I wanted to use my rigger brush to add some details, that’s when I found I had left it at home. So the finishing touches were added the next day. Almost alla prima, but not quite.
The Pigments
All of the color-color is from rocks I’ve foraged right here at Wild Ozark. Those sources include:
- Red sandstone
- Russet sandstone
- Black stone (magnetite)
- Creek shale
- Yellow sandstone
- Green siltstone
- Soot black
The white is from titanium, and it is a pigment I purchase in powder form and use to make a white paint. Unfortunately, I haven’t found anything locally to make an opaque color light enough to use for blending or adjusting values. Limestone is nearly transparent in oil, and the lightest neutral color is still too dark to lighten the other colors.
