"Creek House" -- plein air field study -- 9x12" -- oil on canvas -- Margie Guyot

My friend Pete called on the phone Friday afternoon, saying he wanted to show me a cute little house that just went up for sale down the road from us. We both just fell in love with it! Sitting on 10 acres, just off US31, between Eastport and Atwood, Michigan. South of Charlevoix, north of Traverse City, about a mile east of Lake Michigan.

That's a big porch on the left side. You can't see it in this painting, but there's a stream that winds all along the front of the house. A great spot to sit and watch the deer!

We met the owner yesterday, who told us the land around the house had been a thick woods, making it difficult to get back there to build the house. It had started out as a one-room hunting lodge. It's beautiful now.

I went back on Saturday afternoon to paint this view. I'd waited until about 4 PM. Which was too late to get a good sun-drenched view. The house sits back of a hill and the trees block the late-day sun. Finally a few patches of sunlight came through on the lawn in the foreground.