Perfect storm of nature and art

Participants from Kalispell to Hamilton came to Seeley Lake for the Nature of Art workshops hosted by Alpine Artisans Sept. 16-17 at the Seeley Lake Community Hall. Nature Journaling, Plein Air painting, Silk Painting and Gelli printing were held during the two-day event.

"The goal of the weekend was to bring more art experiences and classes to the community," Kris Gullikson, Aline Artisans president and event organizer said. " My reward will be the looks on their faces when they see how much fun they're having."

Nature journaling instructor Deb Kehoe from Hamilton presented introductory exercises using the nature journaling system developed by John Muir Laws of, 'I notice, I wonder, it reminds me of..'.

"One of the benefits of nature journaling is that it uses all the parts of the brain, which has a calming effect," Kehoe said. "We're never wrong when nature journaling, it's all about what the observation means to us."

The class went to Big Larch campground and students chose natural items like rose hips, feathers and pine cones

to document with words, numbers and drawings.

"Nature Journaling is all about observing and recording what you see in the moment," Kehoe emphasized. "It's for any skill level because artistic perfection is not the goal."

Plein Aire is a French term from the 19th century for painting landscapes and nature in the outdoors using watercolor paints. Instructor Roberta Burruss, Corvallis, met the class at Big Larch. Burruss demonstrated the tools and equipment used for outdoor painting, much like nature journaling. Constructing a small thumbnail sketch gave students a way to draw in the color values from light to dark of their scene. Then the class did their final painting, moving several times to stay in the shade so the paint didn't dry too fast.

Silk painting and Gelli printing classes were held at the Community Hall on Sunday. Students got to try their hand at bringing pictures to life by handpainting with silk dyes. For Gelli printing, natural items such as leaves, grasses and feathers were used as a resist on the printing surface to create one of a kind prints. Instructor Shimmy McKenzie had examples of book covers she had made on handmade books using Gelli printing.

"We're going to be doing more of these activities," Kris Gullikson said. "Look for some classes this winter in Seeley Lake."

A nature journaling group is starting up with their first meeting Oct. 21 at 10 a.m. at the Barn.