Saturday, September 22, 2007


"Passing Storm" -- field study -- oil on canvas panel -- 9x12" -- Margie Guyot

It'd rained fairly hard out here at Kensington Metropark this morning around 7 AM. The pavement was still wet at 8 when our group gathered in the parking lot. Heiner Hertling suggested painting up on this ridge in the park, overlooking the tree-filled valley. The fall colors haven't quite started yet here in southeast Michigan, but there were the most dramatic clouds racing along! I just had to paint them. Of course it's hard to paint clouds (especially fast-moving ones), but sometimes you just need to "stake 'em out and stay with 'em". They were fascinating. The colors were surprising. I saw edges of gold on the dark clouds. And off to the right the sky actually looked a sort of reddish tone. I have no idea what would have caused this, but I painted it in. Good thing I'd decided to work on the clouds first, since they completely blew away and the sky cleared within less than fifteen minutes.

Such gusty winds up on that ridge! I had to paint with one hand on my hat and one hand on my brush. One time I was out painting and it was so windy I had to tie my easel onto a tree to keep it from blowing over.

I'm in the process of buying a house (and art studio!) up near Charlevoix, so lately my time has been occupied with packing and sprucing up my house and yard. I'm pretty excited about finally having a real studio to paint in.