| Fun in the sun in Southwest Michigan…Part 2!
Overview
This year's Summer Workshop was a huge delight in a little package, with a very small but excellent mix of participants and instructors blending for another wonderful experience at Pierce Cedar Creek Institute (PCCI).
Our participants' backgrounds were varied: a student at the University of Toronto interested in exploring the field of scientific illustration; an artist and sfairly new GNSI member long experienced in botanical illustration looking to expand her skills to animal illustration and painting; and two long-time GNSI members who were also looking for extended experience in animal drawing from live subjects and in background painting techniques. So although our group was small, the information, skills, inspiration and fellowship that everyone enjoyed was certainly an enormous benefit personally and, I think, to the GNSI.
Once again, the PCCI staff and facilities were superb; newcomers to PCCI were totally impressed with the facility, the beautiful surroundings, the food, and the staff bending over backward to make us all comfortable. Even the weather cooperated this time!
Schedule
Our goal was a program that would give participants a variety of skill sets: live-animal illustration, and new approaches to rendering backgrounds in color. Additionally, participants would learn how to coordinate background and foreground into an accurate and natural composition.
First Half-week: Drawing Small Mammals with Nancy Halliday
We began Nancy's class trapping and sketching live white-footed mice from the PCCI grounds. Trapping was disappointing, as we only caught two mice and one escaped overnight. Happily, the remaining subject was calm and content to stay in the aquarium where he (she?) had plenty of excellent food, fresh water, and nice dry bedding. Nancy did an extensive overview of mammal skeletal and muscle structure. Students dissected some very fat lab rats; an experience perhaps a bit unsettling, but was still highly instructive in mammal structure.
Tuesday was spent sketching at Binder Park Zoo, so students could observe a wide variety of mammals in motion, and connect the structure sketches and studies they made Sunday and Monday with the real thing. Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning were spent finishing up the mouse drawings.
Second Half-week: Gouache and Colored Ink Techniques for Backgrounds, with Suzanne Wegener
Suzanne began her session Wednesday afternoon and Thursday with examples of and instruction in the techniques of gouache painting; students also collected plant materials from the PCCI grounds to use in their combined illustration of the mouse and its natural habitat. On Friday, students explored colored ink techniques, and began work on their finished illustration. No one finished, as expected, but all got their projects off to an excellent start.
Bonus Instruction: Egg Tempera Technique with Karen Ackoff
Karen joined us Thursday afternoon, and did a mini-presentation/trial run that evening of her upcoming Ithaca conference talk on egg tempera technique. We got set up in the second classroom (the one with a very vital sink) and learned how to separate yolk from white, and then how to blend the yolk with watercolors, do the glazing technique, and finishing techniques. It's a fascinating medium, and very beautiful. Karen brought several examples and we all had a chance to try out this ancient technique. We're grateful to Karen for adding another wonderful dimension to our workshop!
Exhibit
PCCI hosts ongoing quarterly exhibits of area artists' and photographers' work. We have a time slot available to us this coming spring (March-April 2009) to exhibit pieces from both workshops and our own portfolios, and we will add general educational information about the GNSI. A great many people come out to PCCI to hike the trails and attend their Sunday brunches and special programs on nature and conservation; in addition, during the spring-through-fall months, research scientists, individual college student researchers, area college classes and instructors, and area secondary school groups all come to PCCI, giving us an opportunity for excellent exposure for the GNSI to our target audiences.
Special Thanks
It's been quite an experience hosting the workshop these past two years! I've had a wonderful opportunity to get to know GNSI members and instructors I knew of but hadn't met yet, and to meet and welcome new members to our group. Two students were in the mix; it is so energizing to see their excellent work and tap their enthusiasm for their prospective careers! And of course, I valued the chance to spend time with several old friends. Thanks to everyone who attended, and even to those who wanted to attend but couldn't.
I want to especially thank Cassio Lynm, GNSI Education Director, and Amelia Hansen, GNSI-Kalamazoo, for all of their wonderful support and hard work through both years; I couldn't have done it without them! Thanks also to my supportive and patient husband Bob, to my wonderful instructors, Nancy Halliday and Suzanne Wegener for their hard work and excellent presentations; to Karen Ackoff for joining us with her lovely egg tempera technique; to the GNSI Board of Directors for their patience and support, and to the Pierce Cedar Creek staff for their superb hospitality.
Look for upcoming announcements regarding the 2009 GNSI Summer Workshop!
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 Coats, hoods, and long pants were necessary defenses against the mosquitoes Sunday evening while setting live traps for our drawing subjects. Heavy rains the week before launched a huge hatch of the pests. L to R: Nancy Halliday, Elly Wane, Jessica Hsiung, Amelia Hansen, and Sara Taliaferro. Photo © Gail Guth.
 Skipper on clover blossom; Pierce Cedar Creek's many trails feature a wide variety of upper-Midwest habitats, and lots of opportunities for photography and sketching. Photo © Gail Guth.
 Studies from Nancy's session. © Amelia Hansen.
 Karen Ackoff captured this excellent photo of our white-footed mouse. Photo © Karen Ackoff
 Nancy Halliday and Amelia Hansen work on sketches of our "temporary resident" mouse. The little guy (girl?) was released the last evening of our workshop. Photo © Gail Guth.
 Sara Taliaferro mugs for the camera, but her delight in our last night's banquet dessert, Baked Alaska, was genuine. Chef Richard Centala spoiled us with his usual excellent meals. Photo by Gail Guth. Photo © Gail Guth.
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