Niki Gessler Artist

11/13/2025

The success of the live model session on Monday inspired me to finally do an open studio!

I’m pretty rural and definitely too far out to be part of the Bloomington studio tours and feel like I’m even too far out to participate in an Owen County studio tour, if there was one.

So I’m going to host my own.

If you’re a fine artist near the Stinesville area and like to turn this open studio into a studio tour, let me know!

Or if you’d like to bring a cohesive collection of your work to my farm, send me a message!

It’ll be the first weekend in May.

What you won’t find at this open studio:
AI
Crafts (I feel like there are many opportunities to sell crafts and I’m going to focus on the fine art crowd. If you could see it in an art museum, it’s fine art.

You don’t have to sell your art, you can just bring it to show it!

11/11/2025

We had a great n**e model session today in Spencer! Out of respect for our great model, I’ve blurred my drawing a bit with my iPhone.

As a rural artist, I REALLY miss working in the same space and on the same thing as other artists. That studio community is the thing I miss most about art school. I’m so glad to get it back when I can! And of course there is open studio time at the Art Guild on Mondays.

Interested in joining? Comment for more info!

11/08/2025

Went to a great live model class today at the Owen County Art Guild!

Two 1 minute sketched
Three 2 minute sketches
Two 5 minute with watercolor
Three 20 minute with watercolor

Yes, the model had nice colorful hair

11/07/2025

This will be a great Christmas gift!

We still have some 2026 Friend’s of McCormick’s Creek calendars available. These would make great holiday gifts!

They are available at the Nature Center daily. Calendars are $10 each and every purchase helps the Friends group support the park.

Local artist and Friends member Grace Gonso has painted beautiful scenes of McCormick's Creek State Park. The original paintings were displayed last year at the quilt show held in the Canyon Inn, and later at the Juniper Art Gallery in Bloomington. In addition, five of the images have been printed as fine art prints and are available for purchase.

Want a calendar mailed? We can do that! Just send us a message for more info.

11/04/2025

I did a great painting of a bonfire a while ago, but unfortunately I didn't take a photo of it for reproduction. Today I painted another, smaller version and I added gouache! 4"x7" Bonfire

It's been scanned and will be made into greeting cards and prints! I'll frame it and bring it to the Hoosier Artist Gallery tomorrow.

This painting reminds me of my husband, Brian, who loves the woods and also bonfires.

I found two more paintings in my files to make into greeting cards, so in addition to this new one, I only need 15 more to meet my goal. Sorry it's not butts. I was cold today and felt like painting a fire.

Stay warm!

11/04/2025

I just ordered 300 greeting cards to restock my rack and rack space at 2 locations BUT I’d like to come up with 18 new greeting card designs to fill my large rack at Bloomington Farm Stop Collective

What would you like to see on a greeting card?

What options are missing in the world of greeting cards?

I once wanted to do a compilation of butts, but is that really what the world wants?

11/04/2025

Think of artists on Small Business Saturday!

Visit us on Small Business Saturday (November 29th) for food, fun, and more! We’re brining back our Small Business Saturday festivities this year and offering a free gift with any purchase of $50 or more. Gifts will be made by our artists, while supplies last.

Stay tuned for more details!