"Maple Conservancy Barn" -- plein air field study -- oil on birch panel -- 11x14" -- Margie Guyot

I'd driven down to this spot with the intention of painting the sunflower fields. But alas -- I'd arrived too late: the sunflowers were done blooming, heads hanging down, heavy with seeds. Boo-hoo! But then this old barn caught my eye.

I loved the strong sunlight/shadow pattern running across the red boards. And I especially loved the fact that I was able to paint this view, standing under the shade of a big maple tree. Even so, I had to put up my BestBrella, as little rays of sunshine occasionally peeked through the tree, falling onto my painting surface. Ah, technology -- love it!

The Maple Conservancy is a beautiful parkland located between Elk Rapids and Traverse City, Michigan.

"Orange Truck" -- plein air field study -- oil on birch panel -- 9x12" Margie Guyot

After painting down on the beach (see below) I trekked through the snow over to this abandoned orange truck. It was parked by the ranger's station at Barnes Park Campground, in back of their little log cabin headquarters. I saw this the other day and planned on returning to paint it before our snow melted. I really loved the color of this truck! After painting so many vehicles in the snow, I knew how the shadows would look, so I invented some for this painting. In reality, it was an overcast day, with no strong sunlight and defined shadows.

"Ice Breakup - Lake Michigan - 2/26/09" -- plein air field study -- oil on birch panel -- 9x12" -- Margie Guyot

I decided to take my morning walk down here at the beach, at Barnes Park. It's a beautiful park and campground on Lake Michigan. During the winter it's virtually abandoned. We were having a heat wave -- all the way into the upper 20's today. Still -- I put on my layers of long underwear and heavy down coat. And I was so glad to have it. Surprisingly, it wasn't windy. Usually it's like trying to paint in the middle of a tornado down here, but today it was calm.

I walked along with my viewfinder, checking to see what looked like a good design. I really loved the clumps of ice, piled up a little ways out from the shore. A few weeks ago I crossed a stretch of flat ice to climb up onto some of these "chunks", but I didn't trust the ice today.

As I painted, the ice was moaning and making crunching sounds. Really neat! Dark clouds were moving in the distance. As far as you could see at this point, Lake Michigan was covered in snow-covered chunks of ice.

I liked the little pattern of footprints on the ice. I wanted to be sure to include it in this painting. And the snow was not a dazzling white today, due to the cloud cover.

"Ten Degrees in the Shade" -- plein air field study -- 8x10" on birch panel -- oil -- Margie Guyot

This afternoon the clouds disappeared and I thought I'd drop all the varnishing and framing tasks to go out and do a "quickie". Decided to check out Barnes Park in Eastport. Most parks aren't plowed here in the winter, and this one only was plowed as far as the parking lot. So I turned around and on the way out, saw this sight. I loved the way the sunlight streamed across the road, through the blue shadows of the trees.

When I'd gone out to paint, I thought it would be warmer, since the sun is out (for a change). Wouldn't you know I'd pick a view that was in the heavy shade? About froze my fingers off, even wearing gloves. As I painted, a pair of cross-country skiers glided past. I bet they were warmer than I was.