Category: Paint-Outs

Our Program and Paint-Out Chairperson, Carol Jean Rogalski, has surpassed even last year’s busy paint-out schedule for Nature Artists’ Guild members!

April 8, 2014 – Joel Oppenheimer Inc., Chicago Illinois

May 13, 2014 – Graue Mill, Oak Brook, Illiinois, 9 am until noon

June 10, 2014 – Mayslake Peabody Estate, Oak Brook, Illinois, 9 am until noon

July 8, 2014 – Garden of Susan and Kenneth Beard, Oak Brook, Illinois, 9 am until noon

August 12, 2014 – Garden of Catherine Donovan, La Grange, Illinois, 9 am until noon

September 9, 2014 –  Garden of Tanner Musso, Hinsdale, Illlinois, 9 am until noon

October 14, 2014 – Lake Marmo, The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, Illinois, 9 am until noon

Details will be forthcoming as each event approaches.  Nature Artists’ Guild members should check their e-mail for more information.

The Lake County Art League Plein Air Group invites members of the Nature Artists’ Guild to join them at the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe, Illinois for a plein air session on Saturday, April 12, 2014 from 9 am until noon. 

The session coincides with the Chicago Botanic Garden’s annual Antiques & Garden Fair ($10 admission) and the Garden Photographic Society’s  Nature in View exhibit, so even if the weather doesn’t lend itself to plein air painting, there will still be much to see and do!  Please click on the above links for more information about these two events.

 Nature Artists’ Guild members should check their e-mail for all the details and directions.  

On Tuesday, March 11, 2014, Nature Artists’ Guild members will make their annual outing to the Jurica-Suchy Nature Museum at Benedictine University for a morning of sketching, drawing or painting among the thousands of specimens in the museum’s collection.  

The Nature Artists’ Guild has reserved the museum from 9 am until noon, but artists are welcome to stay later if they wish.  Some participants may choose to meet at a local restaurant for lunch afterwards.

The museum is located at 5700 College Road, Lisle, IL.  Please contact Carol Jean Rogalski at if you would like to attend.  You can find her contact information in your Yearbook.

Every year, one of the most anticipated and well-attended paint-outs for members of the Nature Artists’ Guild is the trip to Orchids by Hausermann, 2N134 North Addison Road, in Villa Park, IL.

On Tuesday, February 11, 2014, attendees will meet at about 8 am and spend the next few hours among thousands of blooming orchids that are looking their best just in time to be sketched, drawn, painted or photographed (or even purchased if you’d like to take your model home with you).  One lucky participant will even win a certificate for a free orchid to take home with them.

Attendance is limited to about 15, so please contact Carol Jean Rogalski to save your spot (if you are a new member and do not yet have your Yearbook with Carol Jean’s contact information, please let us know in the comments section below, and we will send you the information).

It’s a wonderful way to spend a cold winter day!  You may want to click on this link to Hausermann’s website for a preview of what you can look forward to.  If you’d like to see more photos of last year’s artists at work, please click here.  All photos from last year are courtesy of Evelyn Grala.

Just in case you were undecided about attending the paint-out at The Morton Arboretum tomorrow, we checked the weather forecast for you.  “Sunny and 70” is what it said, so we will see you tomorrow morning!

The Nature Artists’ Guild has had some very special paint-outs this year.  From tropical Orchids by Hausermann’s in the winter, to some of the prettiest gardens in the area and the best weather you could ask for in the summer, this year has held some wonderful opportunities for our members.

There is one more paint-out planned for this year, and we have truly saved the best for last.  On October 8, please join us near Parking Lot P27 near Lake Marmo at, where else, The Morton Arboretum.  

Visitors  or “leaf-peepers” will be coming in from all over to see one of the best displays of Autumn color in the area.  Our group will be away from the crowds, tucked beneath the trees surrounding Lake Marmo, doing our best to portray the beautiful scene.

We will meet at 9 am and stay until about noon.  Interested members could also stay for lunch at the Ginkgo Restaurant & Café.  This paint-out is informal, so there is no need to RSVP, and please feel free to come any time between 9 and noon.  

From the website of Graue Mill and Museum,

One summer morning in 1852, Fred Graue entered his mill and turned the wheel that opened the sluice gates outside. Water from Salt Creek rushed into the millrace and the wooden waterwheel began to turn for the first time. It would turn the machinery that would grind grain for the next seventy years.

Today, Graue Mill is the only operating waterwheel gristmill in the Chicago area.

Carol Jean Rogalski has secured a date for a Nature Artists’ Guild paint-out at this historic and lovely site, which is owned and maintained by the Forest Preserve District of Dupage County. Our paint-out is scheduled for the morning of Tuesday, September 17, 2013 from 9 am until 1 pm.  Please contact Carol Jean if you would like to attend.  You can find her contact information in your Yearbook.  The address for Graue Mill is 3800 York Road, Oak Brook, Illinois 60523.

We’d like to extend a special “thank you” to two members of the Morton Arboretum Photographic Society (MAPS), Bill Schauert and Bob Webster, for the wonderful photos.

We’ve had some beautiful weather lately, and apparently we are not the only species enjoying it!  According to Nina Koziol, who will be hosting Nature Artists’ Guild paint-outs this Saturday and next Tuesday, she has spotted Giant Swallowtails, Pipevine Swallowtails, a few Monarchs, and Red-Spotted Purples, as well as Hummingbirds.

Nina is looking forward to hosting our paint-out, and will even be offering us some light refreshments!  She also wants to let us know that there is plenty of parking along the road across the street from her home and gardens.   Scroll down this page to see more information and some photographs of Wildwood.

If you would like to attend, please contact Carol Jean Rogalski, whose contact information you will find in your Yearbook.