"April Thaw" -- plein air field study -- oil on canvas -- 11x14" -- Margie Guyot

The great thing about living in NW Michigan is that you can just step right outside your door and see something you want to paint. This is just a few feet over from my property line, looking east. I called my neighbor Jerry and said, "Hey -- let's go painting!" and we had a great old time today. We both did 2 paintings.

At one point, an old car raced along the dirt road, dust flying, muffler in need of repair. Ah, but what would the country be without old, noisy cars, kicking up clouds of dust? I always like to dream that some rich person will see me painting, stop for a look and fall to their knees in utter rapture, just begging to buy everything in my studio!

I really love it when the snow melts into interesting patterns across the fields. And notice the blue of the snow in the shadow of the white pine? It's reflecting the blue of the sky. There was a thin strip of show beyond the stand of aspen and birches in the distance. Lots of robins were singing. We also heard a raven croaking. A curious bee was checking us out. We decided that in the future we'll have to pack a sack lunch --- painting is such hard work!