Category: Paint-Outs

You may be sitting within feet of a pride of lions.  You may be looking into the eyes of a leopard.  You could even find yourself staring down a skunk!

Yes, you guessed it!  The Nature Artists’ Guild is going to Jurica.  Jurica-Suchy Nature Museum, located on the second floor of the Birck Hall of Science at Benedictine University, 5700 College Road, Lisle, IL  60532, will be the site of an upcoming expedition (paint-out) for brave Nature Artists’ Guild members.

This year’s paint-out will take place on Tuesday, March 12, 2013.  No RSVP is necessary – you can drop in any  time between 9 am and 12 pm, but you’ll want to get there early to allow yourself enough time to sketch, paint or photograph some of the more than 10,000 specimens in the collection.  The museum has even added a new permanent exhibit featuring rocks and minerals.

The museum curators have confirmed that are expecting us and will be there to let us in, so no safaris in search of the elusive door key will be necessary this year!

For more information, please check out their website, http://benuscience.org/museum/index.php.

 

One of our most popular annual paint-outs is scheduled this year for February 12, 2013 from 9 am until 12:30 pm. Where would we possibly want to hold a paint-out in the middle of February?  Hausermann Orchids’ showroom and greenhouse, of course!

Orchids by Hausermann, Inc.  is the largest orchid grower in the Midwest, and each year, fifteen members of the Nature Artists’ Guild are able to take this trip to the tropics without any of the hassles of traveling!  The showroom and huge greenhouses of Hausermann’s are warm, bright, and filled with gorgeous orchids of every shape, size and color.   One lucky participant will even win a certificate for a free orchid to take home with them!

The spots fill quickly, so please contact Carol Jean Rogalski (you can find her contact information in your Yearbook) to reserve your place in the sun (or at least warmth).   

Orchids by Hausermann, Inc. is located at 2N134 Addison Road, Villa Park, IL  60181.

Please visit their website at www.orchidsbyhausermann.com to view some stunning photos and read more about the art of growing orchids!

Update

The word is that the paint-out was a huge success, so please enjoy these photographs contributed by some of the attendees!   The winner of the orchid was Irene Gintilas, and the photo she has shared with us is included in the slideshow.

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Carol Jean Rogalski shares this update about this morning’s paint-out at The Beard Garden –

The garden was inviting, the weather was perfect, and the sky was clear in spite of warnings of early showers.  Susan Beard could not have been a more generous hostess, even sharing some grasses and pods and vines with the stragglers, the last ones to leave. She commented that we should see the place in the spring.  Well, I take that as an invitation that we were such good guests that we would be able to return in 2013.  So those who missed it this year can put it on their list for the spring.

Great News!  We will be looking forward to it!  We are also looking forward to seeing more photographs of the garden and the event on the website of the Morton Arboretum Photographic Society (MAPS).

An exciting new paint-out opportunity has just been announced!  Landscape designer Susan Beard has invited the Nature Artists’ Guild to her and her husband Kenneth’s 3-acre garden at 3711 Madison, in Oak Brook, for a wonderful day of painting, sketching, and photographing!   Once featured in Chicagoland Gardening magazine, and included in The Garden Conservancy’s “most beautiful gardens in America”, The Beard Garden includes over 300 varieties of hosta, perennial beds, annuals, flagstone paths,  and even shady woodland gardens of mature trees, understory shrubs, and groundcovers. 

Please contact Carol Jean Rogalski (you can find her contact information in your Nature Artists’ Guild Yearbook) if you would like to be included in this wonderful opportunity to enjoy the sights, sounds and fragrances of The Beard Garden.   Don’t wait too long, though, because attendance will be limited to 12 artists from the Nature Artists’ Guild of the Morton Arboretum and 12 photographers from the Morton Arboretum Photographic Society. 

Connie Devendorf describes the location for our upcoming Ball Horticulture Paint-Out as “a beautiful garden with both annuals and perennials, featuring many of Ball Horticulture’s “showcase” plants. It is a private garden for Ball employees. We have been invited as their guests.” 

You can see photos and read more about The Ball Gardens at www.BallHort.com.  We’ll need to limit attendance to about 15 members, so please RSVP to Ku-mie Kim if you would like to attend.  You can find her e-mail address in your Nature Artists’ Guild Yearbook.

Time: Monday, June 18, 2012 (9 am – 12 noon)

Place: Ball Horticulture Co., 622 Town Road, West Chicago, IL 60185

Even if you missed the mastodon at our previous paint-out, as a member of the Nature Artists’ Guild of The Morton Arboretum, you will now have another chance to draw, paint or photograph many, many huge (or tiny, if you prefer) creatures!

The Jurica-Suchy Nature Museum at Benedictine University in Lisle, IL houses over 10,000 mounts, skeletons and other items in its 2500 square foot space, and we will have it all to ourselves the morning of March 12, from 9 am until 1 pm.

Please click here to view the museum’s new online catalog of photographs and information!

There are a few benches, but for the best view and your own comfort, bring a folding chair along with your art supplies.  Many attendees choose to go out for lunch following this yearly paint-out.

Please RSVP to Suzanne Wegener if you’d like to attend, but even if you decide to drop-in at the last minute, please feel free to.  There’s plenty of room, and you can even show up late if you’d like!