Category: Paint-Outs

700 lilacs, 35,000 tulips, coffee, and Celia’s homemade muffins will welcome artists arriving at the Nature Artists’ Guild’s paint-out at Lilacia Park on Thursday, May 8, 2025, at 9:30 am.

In addition to the scents and scenery, Lombard’s annual Lilac Time festival honors and celebrates the park’s long and fascinating history featuring Col. William Plum and his wife, Helen Maria Williams Plum, Joy Morton, and renowned landscape architect Jens Jensen.

The Guild’s paint-out is scheduled to end at noon, when other festival events, such as local garden club and park district lilac and perennial plant sales, begin.

Interested artists are encouraged to register here to be added to an email list for details and possible weather cancellations or other updates.

The Nature Artists’ Guild’s Daffodil Glade paint-out at The Morton Arboretum is just a few days away! Who knows what the weather will bring, but two things are for certain—the daffodils will be in full bloom, and Celia’s homemade muffins will be delicious.

The paint-out will begin at 9:30 am on April 17 as participants meet at the Fragrance Garden entrance, near the Thornhill Education Center of The Morton Arboretum, to grab a cup of hot coffee and a homemade muffin before heading out to find a scenic spot among the daffodils. Registration is recommended to receive more details and possible updates about rescheduling due to inclement weather. Non-members are also invited to stop by (Arboretum gate fees will apply).

The Daffodil Glade paint-out will also be a great opportunity for members to begin working on the Guild’s annual project honoring The Morton Arboretum. This year’s theme will be “Flora.” Each artist can create up to three 8 x 8 inch works, completed at or inspired by the Arboretum, to be included in a special display at the annual Autumn Exhibit. More details to come soon!

A little cold and snow won’t stop the daffodils! The green shoots now appearing throughout the area will become flowers in full bloom by next month, and members of the Nature Artists’ Guild will be gathering at The Morton Arboretum to enjoy the show.

On Thursday, April 17, 2025, beginning at 9:30 am, Guild artists will meet near the Thornhill Education Center of The Morton Arboretum for a paint-out at one of the Arboretum’s treasures, Daffodil Glade.

Coffee and Celia’s homemade muffins will be on hand to welcome participants, who can then wander off with their portable chairs and art supplies to find picturesque spots for enjoying the morning.

While everyone is invited to drop by the paint-out, registration is recommended (even for non-members) in order to receive email updates and details. A rain date may be announced later if necessary.

Members of the Nature Artists’ Guild of The Morton Arboretum will find so much more than these fierce predators at the Jurica-Suchy Nature Museum of Benedictine University paint-out on March 6, 2025.

Participants will find approximately 10,0000 specimens on display at Jurica-Suchy, including birds, mammals, reptiles, insects, fish, and much more to sketch, draw, or photograph between 9:30 and noon.

Coffee and Celia Rodee’s delicious homemade muffins will be shared with all. Drop-ins are welcome, but registration, either online by clicking here, or by emailing Celia, is recommended to receive further instructions and updates (and will help her estimate how many muffins to bake).

Some seating is available at the museum, but artists are also welcome to bring their own portable chairs. The museum is located inside of Benedictine University, but the paint-out is scheduled during their spring break, so plenty of parking should be available. The museum will be closed to other visitors during the Guild’s paint-out.

Members of the Nature Artists’ Guild of The Morton Arboretum will be making their yearly visit to Orchids by Hausermann on the morning of February 7, 2025.

Each year, Guild artists pack their bags, not with clothes, but with art supplies, as they head north, not to the airport, but to Villa Park, Illinois, to enjoy the warmth, scents, and gorgeous flora, not of a tropical island, but of Orchids by Hausermann, one of the oldest and largest growers of orchids in the midwest.

Nature Artists’ Guild members are invited to sketch, paint, and photograph orchids inside the display area of Hausermann’s 3-acre greenhouse (before it opens to the public) from 7:30 until 10 am on Friday, February 7, 2025. Registration is required for this event by clicking here, or emailing Celia Rodee.

The year’s first paint-out (or paint-in) for the Nature Artists’ Guild of The Morton Arboretum will be held at Chicago’s world-renowned Field Museum next Saturday, January 18.

Members of the Nature Artists’ Guild, along with members of Artists at the field (a group that meets there regularly), will begin the morning at the Hall of Birds, where “more than 1,000 winged specimens await,” before dispersing to discover and sketch some of the Museum’s wonders of the natural world.

Interested participants will meet to share their discoveries and artwork in the early afternoon, leaving plenty of time to stop by other exhibits or to visit SUE, the world’s most famous T. rex. Artists who are not members of either group are also welcome!

January 18 also happens to be the final day for one of the Museum’s special exhibitions, Audubon’s Birds of America. The exhibit, included with basic Museum admission, invites visitors to “behold Audubon’s vivid, life-size bird illustrations” and “soar through the 12-year process of creating these masterpieces of printmaking.”

Artists (including non-members) can register here to receive an email with all the details, including times, places, and transportation (including possible carpooling groups) and parking tips. Participants are responsible for their own transportation and parking costs and admission to the museum.