Organic Artist - by Nick Neddo (Paperback)

About the Book

Make your art primal! Go back to a time when birch bark, charcoal, clay, wood, and everything in nature were your materials, and be inspired doing so.

Book Synopsis

It's time to go back to basics! If you're interested in art, but find that it's becoming an increasingly expensive hobby, The Organic Artist is just the book for you! It encourages us all to return to those days when art was made with all-natural materials, such as charcoal and birch bark. Immersing you in the natural world, The Organic Artist seeks to inspire creativity by connecting you to your organic roots. In addition to offering a wide variety of suggestions for using nature as supplies for art, this book also introduces the concepts of awareness and perception that are foundational to the creative process. Readers will refine drawing skills, as well as increase their appreciation for the visual arts and the natural landscape. Some of the projects and skills covered include the following: making paper and wild ink, working with soapstone, clay, wood, and rawhide, printmaking and stenciling, natural pigments and dyes, camouflage and body painting, and nature journaling.

"In his new book "The Organic Artist", Nick masterfully leads the reader on his own magical journey into nature as he collects and crafts organic materials for creating art. The book is not only filled with beautiful images, but easy to understand step-by-step instructions for the reader to follow, ensuring their success. I highly recommend "The Organic Artist" for anyone who wants to discover the joy of creating with nature." - Matt Tommey, Sculptural Basketry Artist

Review Quotes

"His landmark contribution, The Organic Artist, is your Rosetta Stone, if you will, and will unlock your creativity, whether you are an artist or an earth living skills student or instructor. Seriously. This is it. Your Golden Ticket, to a whole new world and relationship to the wild around you. It opens the doors to a level of exploration that most people haven't even tried to pass through, because they 'didn't know how' to make their own paints, inks, paper, or pigments. Until now, that's been a valid point. It's a how-to book, through and through, but it's more than that. It's a showcase of Nick's art, made from oak ink, or grapevine charcoal, or beeswax crayons and hand made paper." - Ricardo Sierra, Hawk Circle Wilderness Education Executive Director

"I highly recommend this book! Clear and concise, it has a place in every art studio, every home, every school, and every summer camp. Clear, concise and easy to follow makes this book a pleasure to both use as a how-to book and read through for pleasure." - Michael Pewtherer, author of the Wilderness Survival Handbook

"I think this book will be very popular among our readers, with good reason. It's so well done, and written very purely, in close touch with the earth. It's kind of a love story, because you can feel how appreciated all of the earth's offerings are to the artist." - The Essential Herbal Magazine

About the Author

Nick Neddo has been teaching people primitive skills since 2000. His interests span from Stone Age skills and technology, to nature observation and art. Drawing, however, is his first and greatest interest. His skill set also includes wilderness survival, tracking and awareness, basketry, and hide tanning. He currently teaches at the Roots School in Vermont, where he runs classes and workshops for both adults and children on primitive arts, Stone-Age living skills, wilderness survival, and nature awareness. He is the author of The Organic Artist: Make Your Own Paint, Paper, Pigments, Prints and More from Nature as well as The Organic Artist for Kids: A DIY Guide to Making Your Own Eco-Friendly Art Supplies from Nature. He lives in Montpelier, VT.