Poster art by Patricia Mroczka, poster design by Jane Kellenberger, daffodil sketch at Coffee and Art by Celia Rodee, “Daffodils” in colored pencil by Alice Wych, frame display by Colbert Custom Framing
Some reminders for members of the Nature Artists’ Guild –
Monday, March 20, 2023 is the final day to mail completed prospectuses or register online for this April’s Spring Art Exhibit at The Morton Arboretum. Links for the prospectus and online registration form were emailed to members on February 20.
A paint-out at the Daffodil Glade at The Morton Arboretum is scheduled for the morning of Thursday, April 13, 2023. This would be a great opportunity to complete sketches or gather reference material for the Joy’s Vision exhibit of 8 x 8 inch works scheduled this autumn. Members who would like to be put on the email list for updates about the paint-out can click here.
Members of the Nature Artists’ Guild and their guests are always welcome to stop by the Visitor Center of The Morton Arboretum for Coffee and Artany Wednesday morning after 9 am to sketch, sip, or chat. No registration is required.
Joy’s early plans for the Arboretum included Sargents Glade on the West side of the Thornhill ravine, but most guests today know this beautiful area by a different name, Daffodil Glade. Beneath widely spaced old oaks, spring rolls out a grassy carpet filled with waves of cheerful, varied daffodils. The first daffodils here were planted in 1946.
Joy Morton shared some thoughts about his vision for The Morton Arboretum with his colleague Professor S.C. Sargent of the Arnold Arboretum at Harvard University in 1921 –
The Nature Artists’ Guild is planning to honor Joy’s Vision with a exhibit this autumn of artwork created at or inspired by Daffodil Glade (originally “the Sargent Plot” or “Sargent Glade”), Joy Path, and Lake Marmo. These areas were all part of Mr. Morton’s original vision for the Arboretum, near his house in an area that he predicted would “ultimately become one of the prettiest parts of the Arboretum.”
A paint-out at Daffodil Glade has been scheduled for members of the Nature Artists’ Guild on Thursday, April 13, 2023 from 9 am until noon (rain date April 20 if required). Participants will meet near the Thornhill Education Center of The Morton Arboretum, enjoy some muffins, and wander off to choose a spot among the daffodils. They should bring their sketchbooks and art supplies, a portable chair, their favorite drink, and plans to enjoy a wonderful morning filled with the sights, scents, and sounds of Daffodil Glade.
Members can let Celia Rodee know they plan to attend by email or by completing this registration form. Celia will have some 8 x 8 surfaces available for members to use or bring home for later use if they plan to participate in the Joy’s Vision project.
The 2023 Spring Art Exhibit by members of the Nature Artists’ Guild at The Morton Arboretum will be open throughout the weekend of April 15 – 16, 2023. This exhibit will include over 200 pieces of nature art by more than 50 Guild members and will be open to all visitors to The Morton Arboretum.
Please click here to learn more about Featured Artist Patricia Mroczka. Copies of the poster and postcards will be available at the Thornhill Education Center of The Morton Arboretum on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays between 9 am and 4 pm for members to pick up and share with friends, family, and local businesses (while supplies last).
On Tuesday, March 21, 2023, from 6:30 until 8 pm, members of the Nature Artists’ Guild will have the opportunity to learn about preserving their artwork and presenting it in ways that will enhance, and never detract from, the viewer’s experience.
Colbert Custom Framing & Art Printing has more than thirty years of experience in matting, framing, and preserving fine art. Third generation owner Stephanie Colbert Randall has offered to share professional knowledge about preparing and presenting artwork and a tour of their production and warehouse areas at their facility (click here for a short video) in Naperville, Illinois.
Interested members should contact Terrie McComb by email or by clicking here to complete a registration form before March 19 to reserve a seat. Space is limited and recent Nature Artists’ Guild events have been filling quickly!
Reminders –
Registrations are being accepted by for the Nature Artists’ Guild’s 2023 Spring Art Exhibit through March 20, 2023. Links to the prospectus and an online registration form were emailed to members on February 20.
The Nature Artists’ Guild will be sponsoring a presentation by watercolorist Thomas Trausch next Thursday, March 2, 2023 at 7 pm at the Thornhill Education Center of The Morton Arboretum. This event will be open to the public, free of charge.
Coffee and Art gatherings take place each Wednesday morning between 9 and 12 at the Visitor Center of The Morton Arboretum. Guild members and guests are welcome to stop by to sketch, chat, or sip!
– For the 2023 Spring Art Exhibit by members of the Nature Artists’ Guild at The Morton Arboretum, so we’ve posted above, and on the header, samples of artwork by the Featured Artist, Patricia Mroczka. Patricia, along with more than 50 other members of the Guild, will be displaying over 200 works of nature art on April 14, 15, and 16, 2023. A link for the prospectus will be emailed to members early next week.
– For the spring flowers to bloom, which is why we will have some purchased ones to share and sketch at the next gathering of Coffee and Art on Wednesday morning, February 22, 2023 beginning at 9 am (weather permitting) in the Visitor Center of The Morton Arboretum. Guild members and guests are welcome to stop by and spend a little time chatting, sketching, or enjoying the view.
UPDATE – We will have to wait for the spring flowers after all! The February 22 Art and Coffee gathering has been canceled due to the weather forecast.
– To get moving on the “Joy’s Vision”project, so Celia Rodee has announced a paint-out at Daffodil Glade at The Morton Arboretum in April, 2023, with the exact date and details to be determined (depending on the weather and bloom report.)
There is still time to renew membership or join the Nature Artists’ Guild for 2023 and receive a link to the prospectus for the Spring Art Exhibit.
Selection of watercolors by Thomas Trausch. Copyright Thomas Trausch.
Award-winning watercolorist, illustrator, and instructor Thomas Trausch will be sharing some of his inspirations and techniques with members of the Nature Artists’ Guild and visitors on Thursday, March 2, 2023 from 7 until 9pm at the Thornhill Education Center of The Morton Arboretum.
Thomas’s work is included in numerous private, corporate, and public collections, and he has been exhibiting his work for more than 3o years. Often completed en plein air during his travels, Thomas’s watercolors are “driven by the use of both light and color … driving forces that add energy to the work.”
Guests and visitors are welcome to attend this presentation. Visitors can let the gate attendant at The Morton Arboretum know they are there for the Nature Artists’ Guild program to be admitted to The Morton Arboretum and directed to Thornhill. There will be no charge for admission to the Arboretum, admission to the program, or parking for this event. No registration is required.
No need to book a flight or pack (except for a few art supplies and possibly a folding chair) for the Nature Artists’ Guild’s annual trip to the Jurica-Suchy Nature Museum.
Members of the Guild will have the opportunity to visit the museum at Benedictine University in Lisle, IL on Thursday, March 9, 2023 between 9 am and noon to sketch, paint, or photograph specimens from the museum’s vast collection. Exotic predators abound, but there are also thousands of less ferocious mammals, birds, insects, and aquatic species to study or sketch.
Nature Artists’ Guild members who would like to attend the paint-out can reserve a spot and receive detailed directions for parking and visiting the museum by contacting Celia Rodee by email or by completing this registration form. Attendance is limited to fifteen members and previous paint-outs have filled quickly!
The Nature Artists’ Guild is determined to add a little warmth and color to the cold and dreary days of late winter and early spring in Chicagoland.
This Thursday, February 2, 2023, members and guests of the Nature Artists’ Guild will have the opportunity to attend an online presentation by artist and author Amy Lindenberger beginning at 7 pm.
From the tropics to the jungle! A paint-out is scheduled for Thursday, March 9, 2023 at the Jurica-Suchy Nature Museum at Benedictine University. More details to come soon.
Nature Artists’ Guild members (and guests) can sketch nature while sipping a warm beverage inside the Visitor Center of The Morton Arboretum each Wednesday between 9 and 11:30 am at the Art and Coffee gatherings.
Also coming up soon for the Nature Artists’ Guild –
The “Joy’s Vision” project of creating 8 x 8 pieces of artwork for display at the guild’s autumn exhibit has begun. Participants who would like to include a snowy scene in any of their works still have time to visit The Morton Arboretum for inspiration and reference material! 8 x 8 surfaces (watercolor paper, pastel paper, and others) will be available at no charge at the March paint-out and future events. (Artists’ may also use their own surfaces, but the finished size must be 8 x 8 inches.)
Members who would be willing to share images of their spring artwork in the upcoming issue of theQuarterly (a members-only publication) should email them to Jane Kellenberger by February 3.
The workshop co-sponsored by the Nature Artists’ Guild featuring Heeyoung Kim is full, but artists who would like to see Heeyoung’s work along with the work of numerous other accomplished botanical artists, are invited to attend an “Artist Walkthrough” at the Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods on February 5, 2023 from 1 to 3 pm.
An in-person presentation by watercolor artist Thomas Trausch will be held at the Thornhill Education Center of The Morton Arboretum on Thursday, March 2, 2023 from 7 until 9 pm. Guests and visitors are welcome and more details will be coming soon.
There is still time tojoin the Nature Artists’ Guild and receive a prospectus for the upcoming 2023 Spring Art Exhibit at The Morton Arboretum. The prospectus will be emailed to members on February 20, 2023.
Anyone living in the Chicago region could certainly use some color about now, and the Nature Artists’ Guild’s guest speaker for February, Amy Lindenberger, who literally wrote the books (and magazines) on it, will bring it!
Many of Amy’s popular books give instruction on using colored pencils on different surfaces – black paper, clayboard, pastelmat, and watercolor paper. Her latest, Colors: A Workbook and Even More Colors: Workbook 2, provide guidance on using color in almost any medium (focusing on colored pencil) and cover “a range of skills for handling color, beginning with color perception – the ability see color accurately – and color analysis – the ability to classify a color according to its hue, value and intensity.”
The Nature Artists’ Guild is proud to present a live online meeting with Amy Lindenberger on Thursday, February 2, 2023 beginning at 7 pm. After her presentation, attendees will have the opportunity to ask Amy questions about color (and colored pencils) from the comfort of their own home. Guild members will receive a link for attending and instructions by email. Guests and visitors are also welcome to attend this online presentation and may request a link by using the contact form on our About page.
Note – The previously scheduled presenter, Lynne Railsback, asked to be rescheduled and the Guild looks forward to seeing Lynne and her wonderful work soon.
On Thursday, February 9, 2023, from 7 until 10 am, members of the Nature Artists’ Guild can experience some of the warmth, sights, and scents of the tropics at the annual paint-out at Orchids by Hausermann, one of the world’s oldest and largest growers of orchids.
Paint-out participants will be able to sit and paint or wander and photograph numerous varieties inside the display area of the vast greenhouse before it opens to the public. One participant will be chosen at random to receive a gift certificate for an orchid to take home!
Attendance at the paint-out is limited to the first twelve members to register with Celia Rodee by email or by completing this form. Celia will contact participants with further details and instructions.
Also please note –
The weekly Coffee and Art gathering will not take place this Wednesday, January 18, but will return on January 25.
Nature Artists' Guild 