"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...

"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.

"Maple Tree on Toad Lake Road" -- plein air oil study -- oil on canvas board 11x14" -- Margie Guyot

There is a one-lane dirt road that winds along between the farms between Ellsworth and Eastport, called Toad Lake Road. The first time I happened upon it, I was lost, trying to find my way home from Tapawingo. It was early spring and the road was quite muddy in places. I have a 4-wheel drive vehicle, but I was worried I'd get stuck, miles from help. I revisited this road on Friday, armed with painting gear. The road was relatively dry. It's really quite a pretty drive, snaking along through the woodlands and hills. Rather like parts of Vermont. No Hunting/No Trespassing signs are posted, along with Season Road -- Not Plowed in Winter (And they mean it!) signs.

At one point it does pass a small lake. The famed Toad Lake, I assume. I rolled the window down and listened. Hmmm... no toads were calling. Wrong season anyway. None were trying to mate at the moment. Come back in the spring when the road's a quagmire and hear the frenzy.

There was a really cool, old, gnarly maple tree along the roadside. There are LOTS of old, gnarly maples up here to chose from. Some are right on my property. But somehow the excitement (and suffering) of exploring the hinterlands give certain gnarly trees more of an appealing aura than others.

I loved how the branches snaked out. And the golden leaves, some brushed with shades of red, some still green, shot through with bright sky holes! It's tough to paint. I'll probably try doing another version of this, using this field study as a reference. What I'd change is the value of the leaves in relation to the value of the sky holes. I'd make the leaves a shade darker and give the sky holes a bit more of a design, a pattern. It's sometimes kind of difficult to consider all these aspects when out painting in the field. The light changes so fast. The wind is blowing. Insects are biting. Branches are moving and leaves are falling. Clouds move in; clouds move away. No wonder Van Gogh went mad!