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I think this one is done. I have been making a lot of artwork these past months. A bunch of ink painting, like this one (with willow ink), drawing with charcoal (also made with willow), and pen and inkwork. It's a body of work that will adorn a baddass book that will be born sometime next year! Anyone recognize these cute flowers that smell of early spring? #nickneddoartist #wildartsworkshop #willowink #paintwithink #landcrafted #handmadeart #bornagainferal #makeart #organicartist #illustration #springflowers #drawandpaint #useyoureyes #useyourhands #useyourheart #getyourassoutside

Getting some time with Mama Ocean. The song alone is a renewal, the aromas, a cleansing reset. The plant communities that dwell along the coast offer a family reunion, a homecoming. I look forward to being here again later this August for some teaching! #eartharts #getyourassoutside #acadia #ocean #earthskills #ancientsongs

Meanwhile, closer to home... #getyourassouttside

Do you ever think of languages beyond our words? One of the most compelling themes in my life is the idea of nature fluency. I am in perpetual pursuit of this, and I choose my activities and behaviors in order to stay steeped in this immersion course. As we modern sapiens pass more and more of our days isolated from the living, breathing landscape, the pandemic of nature-deficit-disorder becomes more insidious. Collectively, the modern human family is losing our ability to communicate with nature. To listen, to be touched. So perhaps it should come as no surprise that much of my artwork centers on the everyday simple and sacred encounters with wildlife and modern humanity. When we take time to be present with artwork, it has a power to move something inside us. I want my work to reawaken our own wild resonance. For those of you still reading, does anything come up inside of you as you look upon this image? This is a painting that I made with one of my batches of ink that I crafted with pine trees (see my book, The Organic Artist to make your own). "Boy meets Prairie dog" is available as a fine art print in a wide variety of sizes and substrates. Check out my webshop to see the options for this piece and others. #nickneddo #fineartprint #wildlife #prairiedog #paintwithink #watercolor #blackandwhite #natureart #organicartist #handmadeink #pinetreeink #buyart #wildlifeartist #eartharts #natureisalanguage #naturedeficitdisorder #rewild #getyourassoutside #useyourhands

Anyone here like to camp out in the wintertime?It is a tradition in my life to make, and sleep in a snow shelter each winter. I love to experience snow as an architectural material. Snow comes in many different forms, depending on the seasonal variations and weather patterns in a particular winter. Some snow is crusty and dense, some is light and fluffy, and everything in between. Each manifestation of snow has different building properties and offers unique creative potential and challenges. And as odd as it might sound, snow shelters like this quinzee are very comfortable to hang out in if they are built with the right details and specs. It has been below zero this winter, but when you are inside this shelter the temperature goes up to about 30degrees F. That's not bad when you are bundled up. What do you think? Is this glamping or no? #wintercamping #snowshelter #survival #wintersurvival #getyourassoutside #snowsculpture #landart #earthskills #eartharts #wildartsworkshop #quinzee #northcountry #getitwhileyoucan #wildernesssurvival #bushcraft #bornagainferal #nickneddoartist #useyourhands #respectnature #organicartist

Do you  ever wonder what your life would be like if you were one of your stoneage ancestors? Do you think that you would still be you? This line of inquiry can lead one to try to identify what it is that defines us as "who we are". Whenever i get a chance, i like to remind people that our identity as a species, homo sapiens, extends at least 200,000 years into the past, way before we were participating in that cultural experiment we call civilization (domestication?). This means that our ancestors were also anatomically modern people, with all the same intellectual prowess, all the same artistic potentials, all the same physical abilities as the human family that we know today. One big difference though, is that our ancient ancestors made every piece of their material culture with their bare hands and knowledge of the living landscape and seascape. What would it take for any of us modern people to do that? And you can't use metal, glass, plastic, or electricity either. Ok, go! This is one reason that I am endlessly inspired by my deep ancestry. I seek that creative wisdom. These paintbrushes are one representation of this pursuit in my personal life. They come into manifestation on the wings of a thought experiment: "if i lived as one of my ancient ancestors, would i still identify as an artist?" #handmadelife #makeapaintbrush #organicarts #wildartswoorkshop #bornagainferal #useyourhands #ancestors #learnfromyourancestors #learnfromnature #earthskills #eartharts #primitiveskills #painting #respectyourancestors #rewild

How often do you go through your old stuff? I was digging through some old sketchbooks again and found this little gem. This is one of many of mt little nature journal entries. They're not always this artsy fartsy cute, so I wanted to dust this one off and shine some light on it. There's more where this came from. Anyone wanna see more of these? #naturalistart #birds #naturejournaling #learnaboutnature #drawstuff #getyourassouttside #observereallife #bornagainferal #nickneddoartist #sketchbook #oldart #natureart #useyourskills #useyourhands #useyoureyes #penandink #nuthatch #naturenotes #earthartist #birdlover #drawbirds #drawnature #drawlife

Have you ever just sharpened a stick and used it as a pen? I made this doodle with a sharpened red oak twig, with ink that I also made from red oak, just for fun. Using a dip pen is kinda like using a paintbrush, at least in the way that you have to regularly "recharge" it with ink. Dip pens can be made extra fancy and refined, with the bells and whistles, and they can be really extra simple. They are all fun to use and, despite being a bit cumbersome in use compared to modern pens, can open up your drawing practice in unexpected creative ways. So who wants to draw with a stick? Order your signed copies of my Organic Artist books directly from my website (link in bio). #ecoprinting #penandink #organicartist #makeaprint #dippens #makeamark #ecoarts #botanicalarts #eartharts #earthskills #becreative #nickneddo #useyourhands #makeart #makesomething #earthskills #wildarts #bornagainferal #getyourassouttside #oldschoolarts #plantlove #plantpeople #sustainableart #rewildyourart #drawing #drawsomething

This tickled. I don't even know this cat, but he insisted on violating my bubble. I liked it. #catpeopleproblems #felinesofinstagram #croppedoutmynosehairs #animalpeople

I painted "Coyote Talking" with ink that i made from willow bark, and with a paintbrush i crafted with the fur of a coyote. Do you need to bring some new energy into your home? When you hang artwork on your walls you invest in an elevated quality of life. And when you buy from small biz, independent artists, you directly support their creative process and artistic evolution. Prints of this piece are now available from my webshop in a variety of sizes, and on a variety of surfaces. In addition to the fancy giclee fine art prints, you can now order professional quality prints on canvas and metal! Have a look for yourself to see the options. #fineartprints #nickneddo #buyart #coyote #tetons #earthart #wildlifeartist #wildlifeart #coyoteprint #animalart #artofinstagram #natureart #artprints #nickneddoartist #touchtheearth #fineart #hangartonyourwall #supportthearts #earthskills #willowink #paintwithwillow #inkwork #organicartist #buymyart #grandtetons #nationalparks #useyourhands #getyourassoutside #painting #myfavoriteplanet

Sometimes i like to wonder: "how many places and times in the past would this image fit into context?"... How many hands have woven willow into a basket, and then gathered acorns into it? This way of reaching for a bigger picture perspective brings a touch of magic into the act of weaving and foraging. I suppose that it is the awareness of an ancient continuity, an unbroken lineage of hands bending wood, that offers that sense of magic. Magic isn't quite the right word for the idea/feeling that i am trying to convey. But as i grasp for translation and sift through my vocabulary, that is the word that keeps coming back. Magic or not, i find the act of weaving therapeutic on an ancestral level. And, for sure, it is soothing to the discontent that accompanies me in this life when i feel like i was born in the wrong times. I think that this is the value of craft when we hold the earth in our hands. I wonder if you relate? I made this basket a few years back when i was living it up in Ireland. But those stories will have to wait for now... #wildartsworkshop #organicartist #nickneddo #naturalbasketry #willowworld #willowbasketry #weaving #basketry #wildcraft #handmadelife #useyourhands #makeabasket #woven #willowarts #landart #makesomething #beweaveme #unbeweavable #warpandweft #salix #earthart #primitiveskills #oldschoolskills #respect #getyourassoutside

These are the kind of winter days that I grew up with. This feels like comfort food to me. What a feast for the senses and a nostalgic soul! The winters are getting warmer and warmer. And in my habitat this means less fluffy snow and more hard ice. And though i don't embrace this change with open arms, I do recognize an opportunity/necessity to adapt when i see one. The next bit of future will include more days and nights per winter with spikes on my feet. But for now, in this moment, I feast on this kind of seasonal nutrition. #forestpeople #morningpoetry #landscape #protectwildearth #treesarelife #morningmajesty #useyoureyes #nickneddo #grateful #seenature #sunrise #eartharts #awareness #northernforests #winterwonderland #outdoorlife #nature #rewild #freshair #underthesky #livinglandscapes #bornagainferal #wildartsworkshop

Work in progress I have a rad book illustration job underway at the moment. I just launched into, what will be, a pretty epic project that will keep me busy well into the summer. I'll have a lot more to show and tell about this as time goes on, but for now i wanted to share a cropped portion of thebackground of a piece i currently have my hands on. #willowbarkink #stencil #organicartist #nickneddo #illustration #ink #makeart #useyourhands #treelover #forestdweller #becreative #bookillustration #workinprogress

Sometimes we look at something, but do not see it. Sometimes we see something that we have looked at many times, and only see in 2D. Sometimes we see something without taking in the magic, like this rediculously lucky miracle-of-chance and precisely-auspiciously-located-in-the-cosmos-to-foster-this-insanely-rare-phenomena-called-life...wet rock that we call planet earth. So i invite you to take a moment to look at this image and see mother earth with your eyes, heart, and mind wide open. Then get your ass off your smartphone and go outside to touch the earth for real. That's what I'm gonna do. Happy Earthday y'all! #earthdayeveryday #mother #myfavoriteplanet #getyourassoutside #loveyourmother #respect #eartharts #landarts #takecare #gratitude #useyourheart #useyoureyes #bornagainferal #feralfyoocher #wildartsworkshop #earthskills #primitivearts #survival #touchtheearth #weareearth #organicartist https://unsplash.com/@nypl

Well, it took some persistence (and a bit of head scratching) but I finally got my instagram account set up to sell my books! Up until now when people wanted to buy direct from me (to send their money to me instead of You-know-who), my website shop was the only option. I'm hoping that the digital hurtles that I have chosen to jump through in order to get this new commerse platform up and running will help more folks get their hands on my work. Of course, that would benefit my financial reality, but I also sincerely think that my books are doing what I intended them to do in the world. I want the human family to dust off our inherent superpowers and remember how to thrive again among our fellow sibling creatures. Based on the feedback that I have received since publishing these books, I think it's working. At least in thier own little ways. If my books have brought some warmth to your life and if you are inclined to say so, please feel free in the comments. I love hearing from you all and getting sweet little glimpses of how my work is moving into wider circles. And as always, thank you for you for spending your time with my offerings here. #makepaint #pigments #earthpigments #paintfromstones #begeology #sustainablearts #mineralpigments #organicartist #nickneddo #eartharts #primitiveskills #primitivearts #earthskills #oldschoolcolor #wildcolor #wildcraft #wildartsworkshop #diypaint #bornagainferal #getyourassouttside #makecolor #useyourhands #respecttheearth #touchtheearth #becreative #givethanks #colorculture

We had a right of passage ceremony for one of my friends recently. I planted this darling tree about 7 years ago. She was one of ten swamp white oaks (quercus bicolor) that i welcomed to the land that i am in care of (this stewardship is symbiotic: the land takes care of me).  Yesterday, as i was visiting with the trees of my habitat, i noticed the remnants of this cutie's first acorn! This called for a celebration and specifically a coming-of-age ceremony. This tree now has a new name. Everyone, meet Oakeefe. Oakeefe has provided good companioship all along, and it is exciting to imagine her growth and pressence in the generations to come. She will feed and shelter so many critters from so many walks of life. Maybe it's funny, but I'm really proud of this little tree! Many more hugs and kisses to come. #treepeople #plantsometrees #hugatree #kissatree #plantatree #reforest #permaculture #acornsarefood #getyourassoutside #bornagainferal #wildartsworkshop #smellatree #useyourheart #gratitude #forestpeople #forestfood #earthskills #eartharts #touchtheearth

Humans have always been a minor force of geology. By default, our impulse to pick up rocks from one place and move them to another place makes us participants in the geologic process. That is basically as human as breathing. In these super industrialized, high tech times, the modern human family has taken this to an ecocidal degree (welcome to the"anthropocene"). Our recent behavior as a collective species has such great impact that our legacy will include a layer of toxic strata in the geological record. Its so crazy because that layer will only represent the most recent 1 percent representation of homo sapiens life and culture, when you consider the timeline. Okay, this is an easy tangent to indulge...but this photo is about the kind of relationships human animals have been having with the earth since the begining, since before thr industrial revolution. People have been processing stones and soil into pigments for at least 400,000 years (Blombos Cave, South Africa). Those pigments have been transformed into paint, our stoneage ancestors as partners in a primal metamorphosis, to then adorn the material surface area of their/our lives. The more I learn about paleo archaeology, and with each opportunity I get to grace my eyes upon ancient artworks, the more I find important relevance and, yes,  spiritual  insight into this phenomena. This practice of making rocks into pigments with my hands. #makepaint #pigments #earthpigments #paintfromstones #begeology #sustainablearts #mineralpigments #organicartist #nickneddo #eartharts #primitiveskills #primitivearts #earthskills #oldschoolcolor #wildcolor #wildcraft #wildartsworkshop #diypaint #bornagainferal #getyourassouttside #makecolor #useyourhands #respecttheearth #touchtheearth #becreative #givethanks #colorculture

Musings on ancestral creativity…

This image of paint made from earth pigments in mussel shells is ancient and timeless.

Making Ink from Inky Cap Mushroom (Coprinopsis atramentaria)

It was a beautiful Fall afternoon, with crisp Autumn sunshine and an occasional lazy breeze.  There it was, pushing the sugar maple leaves aside as it reached up out of the soil: an Inky Cap! Some people hunt these critters to eat them, but this encounter was exciting to me for a different reason.

"Where are the other ones?"

Strolling up and down the dirt road, lined with sentinel sugar maple trees, I searched the ground within the leaves for more Inky Caps. As I walked I imagined the underground web of the Inky Cap's body, the silky tendrils of mycelium that live under our feet and allow life to be what it is. As I held this image in my mind's eye I silently expressed my intentions to it:

"I want to make ink with your fruit" (mushrooms are the fruiting bodies of the much much larger organism).

That is when I found several more at various stages of development. Some of them were just peeking up out of the leaf litter, while others had been standing there long enough for the rims of there caps to exude and even drip with an inky black liquid. After taking a bunch of pictures and leaving a simple offering of gratitude, I carefully harvested six of the most degraded Inky Caps (cutting them at the base with my knife, rather than pulling them out of the ground) and brought them home.

Spore prints of six different Inky Caps.

First, I made a spore print with each of them, because spore prints are cool and are art in their own right. Then, I simply put them into a glass jar and let them hang out there for a week or so. Each day I would check on them to see what was happening. Over time the solid, whitish-gray parts of the mushroom transformed into a black, almost oily liquid. As time passed the smell of my little experiment also took on a greater presence. What started out as a pleasant earthy aroma gradually morphed into something that resembles rotten fish! I was curios to find out if that smell would mellow as the ink 'brewed', It didn't.

When it seemed that all the solids had converted to liquids I strained the ink solution through a fine-mesh filter into another jar and decided to try it out without adding any ingredients as a binder. The six mushrooms were now a bit more than a half-cup of stinky ink.

The ink that these mushrooms made was a deep, dark black-brown and was impressive in its workability and responsiveness. It worked well with my turkey quill pens, bamboo and reed pens, as well as my paint brushes for doing ink washes. I would even go as far as saying it was a pleasure working with it, despite the strong smell. I look forward to playing with it some more.

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Inky Cap and Sugar Maple, Nick Neddo, 2014, ink painting with wild-crafted ink made from Inky Cap (Coprinopsis atramentaria) mushroom.

Why do we stop drawing?

I love children's art. I find it refreshing and honest, pure and profound. I learn a lot from observing and hanging out with young children. They have a way of showing us things that we once knew, but have somehow forgotten or left behind.

Do you remember the first time you picked up a crayon or marker, pen or pencil and discovered that you could make marks on paper (or other surfaces) with them? Well I don't, but I do remember enjoying myself and being very content to scribble pictures, laying belly-down on the floor with a stack of paper and scribbling sticks. I would draw for minutes or hours, making visual narratives as documentation of my exploration of both my inner and outer worlds. Even at such a young age, I felt the power of creativity, as the master of my imagination. It was fun to draw and it felt good.

I was about to write that "I'm grateful that my parents encouraged us kids to draw", but they didn't really do that; they didn't have to. Instead, what I am truly grateful for is that my parents never discouraged us from drawing. They never once said anything that made us question if what we were doing was worthwhile. Not once did my Mom or Dad say anything that made us feel like we were not good enough to draw or paint. They didn't critique our drawings, or persuade us to do something 'more productive' with our time. For this I feel thankful, for I was one of the lucky ones who made it beyond the age of six, or seven or eight without the seed of artistic self doubt planted and germinated in my mind.

I think that all of us are innately creative and enjoy drawing and painting for the first several years of our lives. But at some point in our development, as we become more self-aware, many of us experience a shift in regards to how it feels to draw. For one reason or another, we get the idea that if our drawings don't look 'perfect', than we shouldn't even bother to try. We start to tell ourselves the story that "I'm not good at this" or "this is not my thing". For a lot of people this marks the premature end of a critical part of their creative and cognitive development. Ending the practice or activity of drawing not only stops a certain kind of perceptual searching and exploring, but it also removes a powerfully therapeutic tool from our human tool box.

What a shame, to make something so beautiful and primal tainted with expectation and nasty judgment! Its fascinating to me how self-critical we can become around our drawing, as if we were supposed to be born with the skill of a renaissance master! Some kids have such an aversion to drawing it seems like it has been used on them as a punishment. Why should something that once offered us lighthearted joy be corrupted into an uncomfortable, even embarrassing experience? And what's up with the obsession of drawing something perfect or not at all? Why are some of us so terribly afraid to fail? Where does that come from?

Regardless of how this fear of drawing has come to be an epidemic, there are some simple things we all can do to reclaim our relationship with drawing. I would like to offer you what I think is one of the most important ways to fight artistic atrophy: relax. For real, don't take yourself so seriously. Lighten up and put things into context for a moment. So what if you mess up? What, are you not allowed to make mistakes? If you don't give yourself permission to make mistakes than you are cutting yourself off from the most powerful learning tool there is. Mistakes give us the best feedback. If you take yourself too seriously you will 'miss' the opportunity to 'take' the lesson. Cut yourself some slack and enjoy your blunders; you're only human.

Now go grab a piece of paper and something to scribble with.