"February Thaw -- Lake Michigan" -- plein air field study -- 9x12" -- Margie Guyot

This was the second painting of the day, started about 4:30 PM. The snow was melting fast in this 50 degree temperature, so I wanted to capture the look of it -- and the ice chunks on Lake Michigan. The sun was setting fast, and the shadows were deepening. Some of the snow, partially melted, had a rather smokey violet hue.

The distant water along the horizon always amazes me for its deep blue color. Not a true ultramarine, it's grayed-out a touch. Closer up, sometimes you see the most striking shades of paler blues, even ranging to turquoise and ochre tones.

The ice was breaking up and piling up in clusters all along the shoreline. As you can see, what remained of the snow showed in rows and rows of ripples. The endless wind creates all those ripples. Strangely enough, it wasn't as unbearably windy here on the shoreline (at Fisherman's Island State Park) as it was around noon today, near Ellsworth. Thank goodness.

The distant sky, right above the horizon, was a gray-blue: a far-off cloudbank. Somewhere it must have been snowing in the Upper Peninsula.

It's fun driving along, looking everywhere, all the time, trying to see amazing things: amazing shapes, stunning colors. I look for that stuff all the time. SO much more fun than doing taxes!