Category: Paint-Outs

Meadow Lake was established in 1959 at The Morton Arboretum when a meadow with boundaries (now shoreline) and plantings dating from the late 1930’s and early 1940’s was excavated and the gravel used to widen a nearby road. The Morton Arboretum’s first director, Clarence Godshalk, wrote in a letter to the Board of Trustees –

The new Meadow Lake has given me more of a thrill in its creation than anything I have done in the Arboretum development… The first thing in the morning and the last thing at night I find great pleasure in looking at this body of water as it grows, now that the lake is being filled.

The Nature Artists’ Guild has scheduled a paint-out at The Morton Arboretum as one way to participate in celebrating their Centennial.

On the morning of Wednesday, March 23, 2022, members of the Nature Artists’ Guild will have early access to the Gingko Restaurant and Cafe in the Visitor Center of The Morton Arboretum to sketch the lovely view of Meadow Lake from 9 until 11 am. Artists are welcome to stay later, but the cafe will open to all visitors at 11. Members can contact Linn Eldred with any questions or to let her know they’d like to attend. To protect the floor of the cafe, oils, acrylics, or other potentially staining art materials are not allowed.

The weather forecast looks promising for the Nature Artists’ Guild paint-out at the Willowbrook Wildlife Center this Friday, October 1, 2021 beginning at 10 am. Interested members of the Nature Artists’ Guild can contact Linn Eldred with questions or to let her know they’d like to attend. Linn’s email address is in the Nature Artists’ Guild’s Yearbook.

This outdoor paint-out at Willowbrook presents a great opportunity to sketch and photograph some of the region’s most wonderful native wildlife or scenes from the more than 40 acres of restored habitat while enjoying a quiet morning in nature. Please click on one of the highlighted links for more photos and information about the center.

Willowbrook Wildlife Center doubles as a wildlife rehab center that treats more than 9,000 birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians annually and as a resource for people to learn more about the natural world and how to live harmoniously with diverse, healthy wildlife populations. 

dupageforest.org

There’s a good chance of crisp autumn weather and active wildlife at 10 am on Friday, October 1, 2021 as members of the Nature Artists’ Guild set up to sketch outdoors at the Willowbrook Wildlife Center in Glen Ellyn, IL. Willowbrook

Willowbrook Wildlife Center at Willowbrook Forest Preserve in Glen Ellyn is a native wildlife rehabilitation facility that provides care and medical treatment to injured and orphaned wild animals. It also serves as a resource to teach DuPage County’s residents about living in harmony with local wildlife.

dupageforest.org/willowbrook-wildlife-center

Although the indoor Visitor Center and exhibits are currently closed to the public, paint-out participants will be able to browse a trail around outdoor habitats of rescued native wildlife or follow a loop through acres of restored woodland, wetland, prairie, and savanna, discovering on their way a resident sandhill crane!

Willowbrook’s permanent outdoor residents include several raptors, other large birds, and medium-sized mammals. Temporary residents have included fox, bobcats, and waterfowl.

Interested members of the Nature Artists’ Guild are asked to contact Linn Eldred (whose email information is in the guild’s Yearbook) to reserve a spot at the paint-out (and receive any necessary weather-related updates.)