"Beach -- 11/29/08" -- plein air field study -- oil on 8x10" birch panel -- Margie Guyot

"Beach -- 11/27/08" -- plein air field study -- oil on birch panel 8x10" -- Margie Guyot

Most people probably went to the Malls this weekend. Not us painters! We grabbed our gear and hit the beach. It's truly addictive. I grew up in Iowa, with no views anything close to this, so I'm totally ga-ga over Lake Michigan. I could come down here every day and paint. The colors of the water astound me. Painting the waves is tricky. Kind of like trying to paint a barnyard of chickens running around nonstop. The light's changing constantly, so it keeps me guessing all the time.

Painting on the beach in NW Michigan at the end of November is cold business. The temperature may be slightly above freezing, but the wind howls relentlessly off the lake. Layering helps immensely. Thank goodness for Gore-tex! Being all bundled up makes small movements take longer. Just putting away a piece of paper towel into a trash bag and tearing off a new one takes about three times as long as it does in warm weather.

I always love to walk along the rocky shore, looking for Petoskey stones. I find one about half the time. Petoskey stones are petrified coral that was formed along the coast of Chile, they tell me. Over time the plates shifted and the coastline of NW Michigan is supposedly the only place in the world you can find them.

Today I was lucky enough to have 2 old-time painting buddies along with me. They agree: this place is wonderful. It's at the Antrim Creek Natural Area. We're planning on having a hot dog roast with more of the gang next summer. A "paint-athon".

"November 5th - the Lake" -- plein air field study -- oil on canvas -- 12x16" -- Margie Guyot

This lake is addictive! I went back to Rex Beach again yesterday afternoon to enjoy another moment of painting while the good weather still held. We've had highs up near 70 degrees the past couple days. And there's nothing quite so refreshing as standing on a Lake Michigan beach!


Good thing I had my polartec jacket with me. Sometimes the wind direction would change, blowing in a chilly breeze. Storm clouds were rolling in from the west. The weather forecast is for a high of about 30 degrees this Sunday, so I really wanted to seize the day.

The day before, I'd painted about 100 feet north of here. I'd included the sun's glare on the water. Today I didn't feel like blinding myself again, so I looked more to the north. I loved the pale viridian hue of the water and the shoreline pattern of the rocks. No sand in this view! The rocks all had some kind of crust on them, so hunting for Petoskey stones was out of the question.

This canvas was actually a recycled canvas that I'd coated over with a gold tone. It's larger than I'd normally use for a plein air study, but I managed to complete this painting in about an hour. The sun was dropping fast towards the horizon, so there was no time to dilly-dally.

I loved the little pools of water in between some of the rocks. Maybe if I try repainting another version of this in the studio, using this study as a guide, I might be able to show these pools better. As usual, I painted this whole thing with a single #8 flat brush. And hurridly. So small details couldn't be noted.

Another plus to painting in November: no mosquitoes!

"The Lake 11/04/08" -- plein air field study -- oil on stretched canvas -- 11x14" -- Margie Guyot

"Maple" -- plein air field study -- oil on birch panel -- 8x10" -- Margie Guyot

After voting this morning, I came back home and loaded up my Explorer and went out to paint. As usual in Michigan, the weather is usually pretty nice up until about the first week of November. Then it all goes to hell. All the more reason to go out and paint today!

I was able to get by with just a T-shirt & jeans this afternoon. No bulky down jacket yet. It was wonderful. The maple tree in this painting is just down the road from me, on Old Dixie Highway. Most of the trees are bare by now. This one had some glorious red and gold leaves hanging on yet. I love the way these big old maple trees get so gnarly.

After painting the maple tree I drove down to my favorite beach: Rex Beach. You can actually drive right down onto the sandy beach, but you can't park there. With all the rain we've had lately, the sand has been pretty wet and it is kind of scary to drive on it. I see deep ruts from other vehicles who've barely made it out.

First I took a walk along the beach, looking for Petoskey Stones. Alas, all the stones I saw were covered in some kind of dried scum. The sun was blindingly bright on the water and I found this spot where cross currents were making interesting patterns. In the distance is the Leelanu Peninsula. If you like rocks, this is the place to get some! Because of the blinding reflections on the water, it was kind of tough to paint this. I kept my sunglasses on through most of it, which is something I wouldn't ordinarily do. It was kind of tricky to get the values of the water and rocks right so that the sunlight reflections would give the feeling of how bright it actually was. And painting waves is always tough -- like trying to draw chickens running around in a pen! But I really enjoyed painting this.