"Speedboat at Rest" -- plein air field study -- 9x12" on canvas -- Margie Guyot

After painting the maples at my friend Cal's house, Mike and I went into the town of Charlevoix, where they were having their annual Art, Apples and Autumn Festival. We'd been invited by the Circle of Arts to paint en plein air around the town, then frame our works and return to the gallery by 4 PM. They hosted a wine and cheese reception.

I love painting boats in the water (and cars), so I suggested to Mike that we mosey on down to the marina and paint. This boat looked interesting to me. I'd just drawn in the basic outline when the owners showed up and started getting ready to take her out! I asked them if they minded hanging around another 15 minutes or so. They got out their fishing poles and fished. But they also took the front tarp off and I had to work a lot of this painting from memory, trying to remember what color things were. I worked as quickly as possible, but they were gone before this painting was done.

I really loved the ripply water and the reflections. I would have loved to have painted more boat scenes, but we were running out of time.

I framed this and it sold within the first 5 minutes of the show! Hey -- that's a car payment for me.