Tag Archive for: Field Trip

Botanical Sketching at Roger Williams Park Botanical Center

Botanical Sketching and Painting

 

Lilium superbum Turk's cap lily

Lilium superbum Turk’s cap lily watercolor by Frances Topping

What better way to escape the winter blahs than to spend time in the lovely Botanical Center soaking in the warmth, humidity, and smells of flowers and soil? Bring your sketchbooks, pencils, pens, or watercolors and spend the day surrounded by a wide variety of plants, a lovely koi pond, and like-minded artists.

Botanical sketching is a great exercise for artists. Challenging your observation skills, developing form, fine-tuning eye-hand coordination, and providing all sorts of textures and colors for you to render.

The Botanical Center is open from 10 AM until 4 PM so feel free to come anytime and join us. Bring a brown bag lunch and we will gather and share our sketches with each other between noon and 1 PM. Preregistration is strongly suggested.

The snow date for this event will be Sunday, February 19th.

Under the Sea Field Sketching | New England Aquarium

Under the Sea Field Sketching

Come join the GNSI New England Chapter crew as we get ready to dive into an under the sea field sketching trip at the New England Aquarium or Mystic Aquarium if that location is closer for you. If you are interested, contact Laurie Bebick as she is coordinating getting a library pass for 50% off the regular admission price to New England Aquarium (I am not sure if there are passes available for the Mystic Aquarium). We need a final headcount by Wednesday, April 13th in order to make sure we have enough passes for everyone to go.

Please note the aquarium is doing timed entry tickets.

 

Birds in Art Exhibit Field Trip to Stamford Museum and Nature Center

What kind of exhibit is Birds in Art?

The 45th anniversary exhibition of Birds in Art is currently on exhibit at the Stamford Museum and Nature Center in Stamford, CT. The Birds in Art Exhibit is organized by the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, WI. One of our Chapter members, Mark Lefkowitz, visited the exhibit while it was on display at the Wendell Gilley Museum in Maine and he highly recommended that we arrange a day trip to go see the exhibit.

For those who are not familiar with the Birds in Art exhibit – it is an international juried exhibit organized annually by the Woodson Art Museum. This year features artwork from 114 artists, selected from a pool of 830 works submitted from 510 artists by a three-person jury, which reveals the competitive nature of this exhibit, and the high quality of the work selected for the exhibit.

What else is at the Stamford Museum and Nature Center?

We are planning to make a day of it, and enjoy some of the other offerings at the Stamford Museum and Nature Center including touring the Bendel Mansion grounds, the Nature Center Trails, and Knobloch Family Farmhouse which should yield plenty of opportunities for some impromptu sketching if the artistic itch gets going. Plan to bring a brown bag lunch and make a day of it!

What’s Here to Explore

• Heckscher Farm and Organic Garden, Nature’s Playground, our hiking trails including the Orange Adventure Trail and the Wheels-In-The-Woods trail, as well as the Bendel Pond Meadow.
• Our Bendel Mansion building and Museum Galleries.
• Heckscher Farm Restrooms next to Heckscher WILD!, Bendel Mansion restrooms, and our Knobloch Family Farmhouse restrooms are open for one family at a time, please.
• Heckscher WILD! is open Tuesday – Sunday 1:00 – 3:00 PM
• Overbrook Nature Center & Gift Shop is open daily from 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM

Visiting safety guidelines

Please make sure to wear a facemask while indoors.

Field Sketching | Rough Meadows Wildlife Sanctuary

Field Sketching at Rough Meadows Wildlife Sanctuary

In our quest for new places to explore, GNSI-NE has chosen Rough Meadows Wildlife Sanctuary for a late August field sketching outing. Please consider carpooling with other members and let’s go have some artistic fun in the great outdoors!

Rough Meadows Wildlife Sanctuary, located in Rowley, MA has 1.7 miles of trails through 226 acres encompassing spectacular coastal woodlands, salt marshes, tidal creeks, and salt pannes, and supports an astonishing diversity of wildlife. The sanctuary, managed in collaboration with the Essex County Greenbelt, is part of the Great Marsh ecosystem. The area has been designated an Important Bird Area and Area of Critical Environmental Concern.

– taken from Mass Audubon website

The comments section has been turned on in case people want to coordinate carpooling, or meeting times for lunch or to share the work you have created. Please feel free to drop a comment and get the plans in motion for this exciting day of nature observation.

Rough Meadows Wildlife Sanctuary Highlights

  • Five well-marked trails through magnificent coastal woodlands to several viewpoints that offer panoramas of the Great Marsh.
  • Habitats that favor many breeding bird species, such as Rose-breasted Grosbeaks and Saltmarsh Sparrows, as well as migratory birds like Least Sandpipers and Semipalmated Plovers.
  • Granite benches at the end of Professor Chandler’s Long Walk and on the Kestrel Trail, providing wonderful places to sit, contemplate nature, or have a snack.
  • Sawyer’s Island, a one-mile hike from the parking area, has spectacular vistas from every direction and a view of an active Osprey nesting platform.
  • Programs for all ages are held through Joppa Flats Education Center.

Two sanctuaries to visit in Rowley!

Alternatively, you can also visit Nelson Island, which is immediately next to Rough Meadows, but you must pay attention to the tides as this area is affected by the high tide, make sure to check the tide schedule and plan accordingly.

Be prepared to be outside!

  • The refuge is open from sunrise to sunset, so if you want to arrive before 10 or stay after 4 to avoid the midday heat, that’s perfectly fine.
  • We recommend wearing sunscreen and a hat and bringing a windbreaker as the area is wide open and you will be exposed to the sun and wind.
  • Wear comfortable walking shoes.
  • Have appropriate insect repellent and apply it if you expect to get into any vegetation that may harbor ticks.
  • Bring portable seating for extended sessions of sketching or painting in one place.
  • Bring a bag lunch and plenty of water with you.
  • Download a PDF trail map to have with you while you hike.

Plein Air Painting and Sketching at Sachuset Point National Wildlife Refuge

Plein air painting – celebrating gathering outdoors!

Plein air painting “in the open air” seems to be the greatest way to celebrate the reestablishment of getting back to normal life. Leave the four walls of your studio behind, grab your easel, paper, brushes, and paints and head out into the great outdoors for our first in-person gathering since COVID-19 shut everything down.  If painting isn’t your thing… bring your sketchbooks, pencils, pens, or any other media you choose to play with. Our destination is Sachuset Point National Wildlife Refuge in Middletown, RI, one of five wildlife refuge areas in Rhode Island. Sachuset Point NWR offers a variety of habitats to explore and paint from shrubland to salt marsh and cobble beach.

The comments section has been turned on in case people want to coordinate carpooling, or meeting times for lunch or to share the work you have created. Please feel free to drop a comment and get the plans in motion for this celebration of getting back to some form of normalcy.

See below for directions and contact information.

Be prepared to be outside!

  • The refuge is open from sunrise to sunset, so if you want to arrive before 10 or stay after 4 to avoid the midday heat, that’s perfectly fine.
  • Parking may be limited according to their website, so we highly recommend people carpool if at all possible, and arrive as early as possible.
  • We recommend wearing sunscreen and a hat and bringing a windbreaker as the area is wide open and you will be exposed to the sun and wind.
  • Wear comfortable walking shoes.
  • Have appropriate insect repellent and apply it if you expect to get into any vegetation that may harbor ticks.
  • Bring portable seating for extended sessions of painting in one place.
  • Bring a bag lunch and plenty of water with you. Currently, the visitor center is NOT open to the public.
  • Download a PDF trail map to have with you while you hike.

Botanical Sketching | Tower Hill Botanical Garden Field Trip

Socially Distant Botanical Sketching

Our Chapter is organizing a small group of attendees to visit Tower Hill Botanical Garden and do socially distant botanical sketching in the outdoor garden areas. This group is limited to 12 participants, and you will need to preregister with Carol Schwartz or Mei Leung by June 10th to secure your place. To help spread out visitors, Tower Hill is staggering entry times, and we need to enter the garden during our assigned 1.5 hour entry time then we can stay until the garden closes at 5 PM.

*** Rain date is Thursday, June 18th ***

Visitor Safety Guidelines (From Tower Hill’s Visitor Page)

  • If you are sick, please stay home!
  • Masks or face coverings are required for all visitors over the age of 2 who are able throughout Tower Hill property.
  • Stay six feet from visitors not in your household. Make room for others to pass when possible.
  • The Visitor Center is closed at this time, including Farmer & the Fork Café, Garden Shop, and Library. All plants from the two conservatories have been moved outside to their summer homes.
  • Indoor restrooms are available near the Limonaia. These restrooms are being cleaned in accordance with CDC and state guidelines. Please be prepared to physically distance while you wait in line.
  • Due to public health guidelines, they are unable to offer drinking water on site. Please bring your own.
  • Picnics are permitted in grassy areas, but they do ask that you take any trash with you. Due to public health restrictions, they have removed most chairs throughout the property.
  • The Garden cannot loan wheelchairs to visitors at this time.

You may visit Tower Hill’s website to plan your visit and stay safe while enjoying the beautiful outdoor garden spaces.

Tag Archive for: Field Trip

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