Rockford watercolorist and oil painter Tom Linden will be the guest demonstrator at the Kishwaukee Valley Art League’s first meeting of the new year. The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Unitarian Universalist Church on the corner of North Fourth and Locust streets in DeKalb.

Linden uses a realistic style as he seeks to capture the sights, mood and atmosphere that are typical of the rural northern Illinois landscape. He says he has always enjoyed drawing and painting landscapes. Linden uses plein air studies to create his studio works, and his creative use of colors, patterns and textures, particularly his use of light and shadow, make his paintings come alive.

Linden grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, and earned an art minor at Milikin University in Decatur in 1981. He has been an instructor in the Rock Valley College Community and Continuing Education program since 2005, though he has been a full-time artist since the early 1990s.