"October Storm" -- field study 11x14" -- oil on canvas -- Margie Guyot

After weeks of beautiful, warm, sunny weather, everything turned foul. It's rained copiously for days. Yesterday I just had to get out and paint something or I thought I'd surely go mad. The skies were so interesting, filled with dramatic storm clouds. I went to my favorite spot, Rex Beach, which is part of the Nature Conservancy land along the coastline here. It was kind of risky -- the rain has been hitting off and on. I could have been drenched, halfway through the painting (which has happened before).

Thank goodness I'd thought to bring along my winter coat! The wind was about 30 mph and the temperature was in the low 40's. Bitterly cold. But the clouds were just so cool, "roiling", as they say. What painter could resist those? I'll have to be sure to bring along some of those hunters' hand warmers in the future. Thought my fingers were going to freeze off.

In the distance you see Northport, the little town at the tip of the Leelanau Peninsula. It juts out into Lake Michigan. The foreground in this painting shows a little reef covered in reeds.

The sun dropped to the horizon and it was quickly getting dark as I packed up the Explorer. Deer darted across the highway. Going out to paint is so much better than vegetating in front of the TV!