"Storm - Dec. 1, 2008" -- plein air field study -- oil on canvas 9x12" -- Margie Guyot

This was the second painting I did yesterday out on the beach, looking at the stormy Lake Michigan. It was so windy I had to hold onto my easel with one hand the whole time. The wave's spray was freezing instantly, pelting me with ice pellets. That white stuff in the foreground was chunks of ice. Waves were swooshing it up onto the rocks at my feet. That big boulder you see out in the waves was getting a crust of ice on it. In the distance you see the snow-covered hills of the Leelanau Peninsula.

I like painting at this particular spot because there's a small reef that juts out into the lake and the waves come at it in a crosswise pattern. Having grown up in Iowa, where we had rivers and ponds (and no waves), I'm totally captivated by waves here.

I thought I had a good grip on this painting, but the wind caught it and blew it face-down into the snow, missing the lake by inches. I had to let it thaw and dry out in the studio overnight before I could touch it up a little and photograph it.

Painting in a snowstorm along Lake Michigan kind of wore me out for a while. I'm going to be painting some still lifes in my nice, warm studio for a while. When the ice starts piling up along the shore and the sun comes out I'll go down and paint again. Expect bizarre things!