"Red Cellophane" -- oil on canvas -- 24x24" -- Margie Guyot

Last Monday I was in Meijer's in Traverse City, looking for a pink flower to paint. None of their pink flowers looked very striking. And then I spied this red cellophane! Wow! My heart started beating faster (always a good sign!) and I knew this was what I had to paint. The red gerber daisies were actually rather dull and drab-looking, compared to the cellophane.

I've painted clear plastic before. That's relatively easy. But to do red? I found it impossible to mix reds and get them to look transparent. Everything looked way too dark and muddy. What I ended up going was painting the entire tablecloth, using Liquin in with the oil paints. Liquin helps oil paints dry a lot quicker.

Once the tablecloth was dry, I was able to do a thin wash of red with Liquin. I think it turned out pretty well.

One of the striking things about the red cellophane was the pink shadow it cast on the tablecloth. It took some figuring-out to do on this one.

That's another vintage tablecloth from my collection. They're all from garage sales I've visited over the years. Glad the mice haven't found them yet!

"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.

"Flowering Kale" -- oil on canvas -- 30x40" -- Margie Guyot

A couple weeks ago I attended a "fungi/fermentation" workshop when I saw this huge, frilly, flowering kale. It gave me GOOSEBUMPS! Some people's heart skips a beat; for me, it's goosebumps. I went up to the workshop organizers and said I wanted to either "beg, buy or steal" it. Ended up making a $5 donation to ISLAND.

I loved the colors in the top part of the kale and selected a cloth from my fabric collection to echo those tones. The people in JoAnn Fabrics must think I'm cuckoo for the garish fabrics I buy.

The red-striped vase is from Pier One. That wonderful grape-shaped wine bottle I found at a flea market for $10. As soon as I saw it -- yep -- you guessed it: goosebumps. And that polka dot bag is so cool! It came from some hoity-toity boutique over in the Leelanau Peninsula last summer. I thought the polka dots work well, echoing the bumps on the wine bottle.

It was a bit of a challenge to get the sunlight and shadow patterns and colors. Usually I have to use my studio light during the cooler months, as it's mostly cloudy along the NW coastline of Michigan.

"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.

"Dusk" -- oil study -- 8x10" -- Margie Guyot

Last night just about sundown I looked out my front window and saw this. I live about one mile east of Lake Michigan and the sunsets are sometimes spectacular. I drew a quick sketch in pen and ink, making notes on the side about the colors.

It may be March, spring may be around the corner, but we have a "goodly amount" of snow on the ground yet. The foreground was reflecting a slightly lighter shade of bluish-gray than the dark storm clouds. A pale, clear blue was peeking through the upper left break in the clouds. Along the bottom an amazing streak of hot rust-peach was breaking through. It was like a long, glowing dragon's tongue!

This morning in my studio I laid this out on a shellacked birch panel. I used a #8 brush for the whole thing and did it in about 5 minutes. There is a bit of glare on the left side because the paint is so wet. I'd like to use this as a basis for a somewhat larger painting later on.

Russel Chatham's landscape show at the Dennos Museum (Traverse City) has me all inspired again about landscapes. I've seen his exhibit twice and truly enjoy his bold, simple shapes and moody paintings. As I walked through his show, I kept thinking I should get out and do more landscapes now and then.

Simple, elegant landscapes are a nice change from what I usually do: complicated still lifes with glaring colors. Would I quit doing still lifes? NO WAY! I just think it's good for me to switch off, to do a variety of things. Kind of clears the cobwebs and stale thinking.

Day #4 -- "White Duck" -- oil on canvas -- 30x40" -- Margie Guyot

This is day #4 of working on this painting. I'd been unable to get into my studio last week, due to a number of urgent tasks. And I had a house full of guests all weekend. Soon as they left this afternoon, I made a beeline out into the studio, turned on the radio to "Prairie Home Companion" and started in.

This was our 3rd day of bright sunshine here in the Traverse City/Charlevoix area, and it was quite a change to see my setup in actual sunlight. So I tried taking advantage of it to bring out a bit more definition in the shadows and highlights. Added the stems of the chinese lanterns (and their corresponding shadows). I was seeing portions of the white paper being backlit, so I added those changes. The glass vase was showing a lot of sparkle, so I spent a little time on that as well. Started adding a bit of the print detail in the yellow scarf. Played with the feathers a bit and added the duck's eye.

I took a short break and went back into the house for a couple minutes. When I went to the door, there were 3 deer out in the front yard, chewing on corn. The snow's about knee-deep here and they're having a hard time finding food. Soon they bounded off and I went back in to the studio.