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Come Have a Brush with Nature

People connect with nature in many ways. Some go for long hikes–like Nelson Daigle, who, at age 84, just climbed Borestone Mountain for the 200th time!  Others spend hours gardening, bringing native plants home to create a robust habitat for birds and insects. Some connect with nature by canoeing, birding, or participating in community science projects like our Stream Explorers water sampling program. And then there are the artists who capture a moment, a feeling, a memory, so that when we look at the finished drawing or painting, we are transported. In the middle of February, we can be standing in the shade of a pine forest smelling the needles in the summer sun.

Over the weekend of August 27 and 28, twenty-six Maine artists will be creating new work at Maine Audubon’s sanctuaries around the state as part of our Brush with Nature Plein Air art event and auction. The resulting works will be auctioned off online and at a live event on Thursday, September 29, at Gilsland Farm.

We invite you to visit one of the sanctuaries on that August weekend and be inspired to create alongside the painters. (If you haven’t been there, Hamilton in West Bath is spectacular and my favorite. If you have been there, then you already know its beauty.) Bring paper and pencil and sketch for 10 minutes (we will have some there if you forget yours), or pack a full painting kit and spend the day. Or simply take in the view and see how it evolves on canvas. What does the artist see differently than you do?

Not an artist but interested in participating?  We still need volunteers to help out at each location to guide artists and visitors; you can sign up here.

Maine’s wildlife and habitat inspires each of us in our own way. Visit on August 27 and 28 to see how these 26 artists are inspired to create during their Brush with Nature.