"Peebles Road, Looking South" -- field study on panel -- 8x10" -- Margie Guyot

Yes, it was 50 degrees. And yes, it was sunny. But my gawd -- the wind! It was roaring in off Lake Michigan, blowing straight across the empty farmers' fields, where it tried desperately to rip my hat off, blow over my easel and drive me insane! 5 times it blew the palette off the easel, landing the full, gooey color mess smack-dab onto my jacket. I was just covered with paint by the time I finished this little field study. Ordinarily I can paint & not get a drop on me. Not today!

Everybody was so excited to finally had a sunny, warm day! Our first "nice" day since last October. I knew I'd be out painting. The land around here is pretty hilly in places, with remnants of pine forests here and there. Many cherry and apple orchards in this area as well. I seem to gravitate towards picking a north-and-south-running road, then looking south. I like the perspective and colors. The blue haze in the distant hills. Noticing all the colors is so addictive!

I parked on the side of the road and kind of wondered if I'd be stuck. So if it wasn't the wind that did me in, it would be the muck. I'm not a big fan of wind. The wind, the Mistral, drove Van Gogh nutty and by God, I guess that's good enough for me. By the time I finished this, I'd felt battered. Covered in oil paint and battered from stem to stern. Exhausted from trying to hold my palette down and my hat and a paintbrush all at the same time.

The wind was so strong, it kept blowing my hand around. The hand holding the brush. Damn! And I was slowly sinking into the mud. But at least the mosquitoes weren't out yet.

Was glad to finish this. Drove straight home and threw my clothes into the washer. Had a cup of tea, some guacamole & Ritz crackers, changed clothes, then went back out again...