Drop in for an hour, or stay all morning. Sketch, paint, draw, sculpt, or snap a few photos. Sit with other artists, or find a quiet corner. Choose a giant mammal or a tiny bird.
Nature Artists’ Guild at Jurica-Suchy 2015
It’s all up to you at the Nature Artists’ Guild paint-out this Tuesday, March 22, 2016 from 9 until around noon at the Jurica-Suchy Nature Museum, located in the Birck Hall of Science at Benedictine University, 5700 College Road, Lisle, IL.
For photos and a link to the campus map, please click here or on the highlighted link above. RSVP’s are not necessary for this paint-out. Participants may wish to bring a portable chair along with their art supplies.
The Morton Arboretum will be presenting a “Wine and Art Walk” on the weekend of August 27th and 28th, 2016. This juried art festival will feature the works of approximately 80 nature artists “in a wooded and open area along a paved trail around Meadow Lake located near the Visitor Center”.
The Nature Artists’ Guild of The Morton Arboretum is honored to introduce the 2016 Spring Exhibit Featured Artist, Patty Koenigsaecker. Please click on the tab at the top of this website, or onthis link to learn more about Patty and to see a few examples of her beautiful nature art.
Spring 2016 Exhibition Postcard for Nature Artists’ Guild of The Morton Arboretum. Artwork by Patty Koenigsaecker, postcard design by Evelyn Grala.
Please feel free to download and share the above postcard with friends, family and fellow nature and art lovers by right-clicking on the image. Copies of the exhibition postcard and poster are also available for distribution, and can be picked up at the Thornhill Education Center of The Morton Arboretum. We appreciate everyone’s assistance in spreading the word about this wonderful exhibit of approximately 150 works of nature art, by nearly 50 talented artists!
1. Rhonda Nass and her award-winning colored-pencil artwork
2. Rhonda’s new book, Scratchings of a Madwoman
3. For interested Nature Artists’ Guild members, an opportunity to pick up their mini-canvas
4. Visitors and guests are welcome, and the program, admission to The Morton Arboretum, and parking are free-of-charge
5. The special beauty of The Morton Arboretum after dark, especially with a dusting of snow
For more information about Rhonda, please scroll down to a our previous post, or visit her website,www.rnass.com. Visitors do not need to be a member of the Nature Artists’ Guild or The Morton Arboretum to attend this program from 7 until 9 pm on Thursday, March 3, 2016, and the gate attendant at The Morton Arboretum will direct them to the Thornhill Education Center building. More information about the Arboretum is available at www.mortonarb.org.
Grab your gear and go – no plane tickets or passports needed! On Tuesday, March 22, 2016, between 9 am and noon, members of the Nature Artists’ Guild will once again have the chance to sketch, draw, paint, and photograph specimens from every corner of the earth by visiting the Jurica-Suchy Nature Museum in the Birck Hall of Science at Benedictine University, 5700 College Road,in Lisle, IL. Please click on this link for a map of the campus.
For the first time, the museum has offered to bring specific specimens out of storage by request. Paint-out participants can request specimens by contacting Jane Kellenberger (whose contact information can be found in the Nature Artists’ Guild Yearbook) before Tuesday, March 15, 2016. Jane will forward the requests to the museum staff. A searchable online specimen catalog of the museum’s collection is available by clicking here.
Members can RSVP to Jane,but there is plenty of room for everyone, so last minute drop-ins are absolutely welcome!
Some seating is available, but participants are encouraged to bring a folding chair along with their art supplies and camera.
There are only a few more weeks to enjoy the Nature Artists’ Guild exhibit at Gallery 200, 200 Main Street, West Chicago, IL. Thanks to all the participating artists, to Sharon Malec, Laurie Alvear and Gary Chipman for doing such a great job hanging the exhibit, and to Gail Diedrichsen for these photos!
The exhibit will continue until March 3, 2016, and gallery hours are Thursdays and Fridays from noon until 8 pm, and Saturdays and Sundays from noon until 4 pm.
God’s Will, colored pencil, copyright Rhonda Nass. Used with permission. Text not part of original image.
Rhonda Nassis an internationally acclaimed, award-winning artist, who also teaches workshops in both colored pencil and acrylic techniques at The Morton Arboretum as part of the Visiting Artists Series. The Nature Artists’ Guild of The Morton Arboretum is honored to sponsor a presentation on colored pencil and a book signing by Rhonda on Thursday, March 3, 2016, and to co-sponsor a workshop with the Arboretum the following Friday, Saturday and Sunday, March 4th through 6th, 2016, in which Rhonda will share her techniques for painting in acrylic.
At Thursday evening’s presentation between 7 and 9 pm at Thornhill, Rhonda will discuss some of her colored-pencil artwork, including God’s Will, shown above (yes that is colored pencil, and a recent winner in the Colored Pencil Society of America’s 23rd Annual International Exhibit!), and sign copies of her new book, Scratchings of a Madwoman. This gorgeous book is filled with Rhonda’s colored pencil drawings, as well as her beautifully written inspirational stories, and an entire section is devoted to Rhonda’s techniques for working with colored pencils. Rhonda’s kind and generous nature certainly comes through in this book as she shares her thoughts and artwork with her readers.
Nature Artists’ Guild members, visitors and guests are welcome to attend this program at the Thornhill Education Center of The Morton Arboretum. There is no charge for admission or parking, either to the Arboretum or to this program. Visitors should let the gate attendant at the Arboretum know they are there for the program and they will be directed to Thornhill.
Mimosa Fireworks, acrylic, copyright Rhonda Nass. Used with permission. Text not part of original image.
On the following Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, the Nature Artists’ Guild and The Morton Arboretum are excited to co-sponsor an acrylic workshop by Rhonda. To enroll in this workshop, please visit the class listings at The Morton Arboretum’s website, or click on this direct link to the workshop. This workshop is limited to 15 participants, and is expected to fill quickly! Rhonda describes it as follows –
Acrylic Stroke-Free, A New Watercolor– If visions of harshly-colored gobs of paint come to mind when you hear the work acrylic, you are not alone. This class will blow that perspective out the window. Through a simple, step-by-step exercise, you’ll learn a unique acrylic technique that involves diluting paint from the tube and applying layers of translucent color with a feathering stroke that results in a stroke-free final appearance with unlimited potential for extremely tight detail and dramatic coloring and lighting. We’ll take a fresh (and brief) look at composition and proceed with each artist beginning a simple painting of a tomato and leaf to learn the technique enough to move on to a painting using the subject of her/his choice. There will be time to gain enough skills through demonstrations, one-on-one time, and practice in the workshop to leave the class confident to complete with with excellence the personalized acrylic artwork.
Please click on any of the highlighted links above to learn more. For more about Rhonda and her artwork, please click on this link to her website, www.rnass.com.
The images above are copyrighted by Rhonda Nass. As always, the use of any image on this website is prohibited without the written consent of the artist.
Don’t forget that the first Nature Artists’ Guild program of the year takes place this evening, Thursday, February 4, 2016. JoAnne Laudolff’s upcoming class at The Morton Arboretum may already be sold out, but Guild members, guests, and visitors will still have a chance to see how she creates her oil and cold wax collages.
JoAnne Laudolff with one of her Oil and Cold Wax works
The presentation is from 7 until 9 pm at the Thornhill Education Center. There is no charge for admission or parking for this event, and visitors can just let the gate attendant at The Morton Arboretum know they are there for the Nature Artists’ Guild program.
Tomorrow evening, Friday, February 5, 2016 is the opening reception for the Nature Artists’ Guild at Gallery 200 in West Chicago, IL from 6 until 9 pm. It is a wonderful opportunity to view some beautiful nature art, enjoy a few refreshments, and support local artists.
Please scroll down to previous posts to read more about these upcoming events.
Just a few weeks from now, the first exhibit of 2016 for members of the Nature Artists’ Guild of The Morton Arboretum will be opening at Gallery 200, 200 Main Street, West Chicago IL, with an artists’ reception on Friday, February 5, 2016 from 6 until 9 pm at the gallery. All members, friends, family, and art lovers are invited to attend! The exhibit will continue until March 3, 2016, and gallery hours are Thursdays and Fridays from noon until 8 pm, and Saturdays and Sundays from noon until 4 pm.
Sunset, copyright Patty Koenigsaecker
Gallery 200 is an artists’ collective, a division of People Made Visible, Inc., which features locally created artwork in numerous media. The Nature Artists’ Guild is pleased to be invited to the gallery for this special exhibit of nature art.
There are so many reasons to celebrate in February! Some of our greatest presidents had birthdays in February, and St. Valentines day is celebrated in February. Outdoors in February, high up in the trees, cute little balls of feathers that will grow up to be Great Horned Owls are hatching, and down on the ground, the first flowers of spring, skunk cabbage, (whose flowers give off enough heat to be able to melt the snow immediately around themselves) will be blooming.
One more reason to celebrate February is that it is the month of the annual Nature Artists’ Guild paint-out at Orchids by Hausermannin Villa Park, IL. This year, members of the Nature Artists’ Guild will meet from 8 am until 11 am on Tuesday, February 9, 2016 to sketch, draw, paint and photograph some of the thousands of orchids that will be blooming in February in the vast greenhouse of Orchids by Hausermann, the oldest and largest orchid grower in the Midwest. Apart from booking a trip to some exotic location, it may be the best opportunity in the Chicagoland area this February to spend a relaxing morning in a warm, tropical environment, surrounded by gorgeous orchids.
Photo credit Orchids by Hausermann
Nature Artists’ Guild members should contact Jane Kellenberger (whose contact information can be found in their Yearbook) to reserve a spot at this popular event, since space is very limited. Please click on this link to Orchids by Hausermann’s website for directions, and to view an online catalog of stunning orchids.
Nature Artists' Guild 