"Cal's Maples" -- plein air field study -- oil on canvas -- 11x14" -- Margie Guyot

This morning my friend Mike and I met at our friend Cal's house, just south of Charlevoix. He's got these giant, old maple trees in his front yard. As I drove up I saw these and knew I just had to paint them. The fall colors are starting up here. Some of the maples are fiery red, but some are still quite green. Old maple trees can get quite gnarly and weird-looking!

I'm still trying to get used to the new color palette I learned at Scott Christensen's workshop out near Jackson Hole. I really like the color range, but I think I will need to add a few colors to work here in Michigan in the fall.

Last fall I was occupied with packing and moving up here and had NO time to paint at all, so it's been a real treat to get out and paint.