"Frozen Lake -- plein air field study -- oil on canvas -- 12x24" -- Margie Guyot

We finally had a balmy spell -- up above freezing -- and partly sunny, so I decided to take my gear down to the edge of Lake Michigan and do a painting. I love doing frozen lake paintings, even though I get pretty chilled doing so. I had on longjohns, smart wool socks, polartec pants & a heavyweight down coat. And gloves with the fingertips cutout, plus my trusty zebra hat. And special snowboots rated down to zero degrees. That wind coming off the ice can get pretty cold!

It was so cold my Soltek easel had one leg that was frozen shut. I couldn't expand it full length. Luckily, I was able to open it halfway, at least. That umbrella was balky to open, too. It's the best I've found, though. Bestbrella. I probably couldn't have painted this view without it, as the sun was shining through the back of the canvas.

This was painted at Banks Township Park, north of Eastport, on Old Dixie Highway. It's one of the few parks you can drive into in the winter. The county doesn't plow the parks. And I learned the hard way that cars can't drive through knee-deep snow!

This was pretty challenging to paint, but I loved the view. In the foreground is a small open pool. There are lots of small streams that drain into Lake Michigan and there was an open pool that looked interesting. The golden ochre color is from the color of the sand.

Notice the diagonal stripes? That's the way the waves had been running when they finally froze.

Out near the edge of the ice are a few pileups. Way across the bay is a view of part of the Leelanau Peninsula.

"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.

"Common Mullen" -- plein air field study -- oil on stretched canvas -- 30x15" -- Margie Guyot

Mullen is a favorite wildflower of mine. The first time I ever noticed how beautiful it is was when I was out in Boulder, Colorado, about 12 years ago. They practice natural landscaping out there and somebody had a whole grove of this stuff in their front yard. It was glorious! Back in the suburb of Detroit (where I lived at the time), if I'd tried growing a grove of this in my front yard, the city would come, cut it down & send me a bill.

Now I've got hundreds of these plants in my yard. I've used the leaves for tea to help relieve congestion. From what I've read, mullen was introducted to America hundreds of years ago from Eurasia. Some people call it "Forester's TP". But I can tell you from personal experience, those fuzzy leaves leave you itching!

This is the biggest size I've ever attempted doing en plein air. I wanted to do something long and narrow, and the 30x15" canvas was the only thing I had on hand. But I had nothing else planned for the afternoon, so I just decided to take my time and see if I could paint this. At times early on I wondered if I could make it work. Oh -- and I had to duct-tape this onto my Soltek easel.

This was also my first use of the new BestBrella I'd bought. The instructions say to hand-tighten the screws, but I had to use pliers. And re-tighten things occasionally, as it was quite windy. But I probably couldn't have done this painting without an umbrella. The sun's glare would have been too blinding. I also had on a longsleeve shirt, hat and SPF 70.

Those leaves were quite a challenge! Well, when I start a painting, EVERYTHING seems like quite a challenge! But I just kept plugging away, painting what I could figure out. It's like doing a puzzle, only all the pieces are wet paint blobs!

I loved this scene especially because of the background, too. The mullen plants were growing amidst white yarrow, calendula and black-eyed susans. 4 hours just flew by! And thank goodness for left-overs, so I didn't have to cook dinner.