"Pussywillow" -- oil on canvas -- 11x14" -- Margie Guyot

A few days ago I saw a wild pussywillow growing in the cedar swamp, down the road about a mile. I nipped a few little branches and had them in a vase by the kitchen sink. This morning I looked at them & thought I should do a painting.

I love this old tablecloth! I left it all mussed-up, as it fell onto the table.

Both the little studio kitties slept most of the afternoon, listening to classical music on NPR radio. When I was about done, they perked up. Of course they had to jump onto the table, rip the pussywillows out of this vase and drink the water!

People might wonder why I did such a restricted-looking (colorwise) painting. Well, it's nice once in a while to leave the jarring colors sit for a day or so. Maybe I was influenced by the Sarah Brightman DVD I watched last night. And it was another dark, snowy day here in Michigan. No strong sunlight, so this painting reflects a more quiet look.

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

Saturday was a beautiful, sunny day, up to about 50 degrees. Probably the nicest day we've had yet this year. I felt the urge to drive down to Elk Rapids, the next little town down US 31. Every time I've been through, this big lake catches my eye. I've wanted to come and paint it ever since I moved up this way. The town's name is Elk Rapids, only I have no idea where the rapids are. All I've ever seen is this big lake. It's got dozens of tree stumps, some of which you see poking up out of the ice in this painting. I don't know the story on this lake yet. Probably it had been a river and it was dammed up, killing a bunch of trees?

When I see all those tree stumps in the water, the first thing I think is there must be some great bass fishing! I hope to get some fishing in this year. I haven't taken time to fish in almost 10 years, what with working and moving. This year I'm going to go fishing. And get out my kayak!

"White Owl" -- oil on canvas -- 48x36" -- Margie Guyot

Once again I played hookey from going plein-air painting with my buddies and stayed home to do a still life painting. Since last November, I think we've only had 1 Saturday with sun here in Michigan, and I was just tired of dark, gloomy (and rainy!) days. Yesterday was just another classic "sour owlshit brown" Saturday, so I holed up in my studio and painted screaming oranges all day, listening to my collection of Diana Krall CDs. Last Sunday I started setting this one up and it was driving me nuts for days. I kept taking everything off my rigged-up table, then putting stuff back on, taking it all off, putting back on. I wanted to find orange tulips, but nobody seemed to have them. So I bought orange lilies. All the vases and figurines I've scavenged from garage sales. The owl came from some old guy's garage sale and he was such a flirt! He'd built a treehouse in his front yard and had a mannequin in a bikini posed as if she was waving at passersby. And of course those are my shoes! Life's too short to be conservative.

I woke up during the night on Friday, thinking about this painting. Or, more correctly, the canvas surface. Originally I'd started painting something else on it but didn't like it. Last year a friend told me he recycles unwanted paintings by coating them with oil-based primer. I slapped some on this stretched canvas spring of 2006. But -- oy vey! When I tried painting on it, all the dark colors were dissolving into the supposedly dry primer! It was actually sticky to paint on. Very frustrating. I laid there in bed, thinking about that nasty canvas, thinking I'd have to go buy a new canvas in the morning and throw this old thing out.

Saturday morning I slept in until 4 AM (my usual time is 3 AM) and was so impatient for the sun to rise. Due to glare, I never paint from artificial lighting. When it got light enough to see decently, I went in and just started painting. Drawing this one in was pretty tough (I am far too impatient to take slides, wait for processing, then project and trace images!). I think it took me just as long to draw the basic arrangement in as it did to paint it. At least it felt that way. The glass bowls and large vase were interesting challenges, but not impossible.

So now it's Sunday and the sun is out, of course! I'm going to a big orchid show with my neighbors and maybe to our favorite resale shop.