"Plum Trees" -- plein air field study -- oil on canvas board -- Margie Guyot

With the change of seasons, my neighbors and I are all in a flurry to do everything at once! Which is why I haven't done as much painting just lately. Suddenly there's an urgency to plant gardens, straighten up the yard, etc. And I finally received a long-awaited check from Ford that's enough to pay to get my art studio drywalled, a skylight installed and new lighting. My current "hot" task is to move everything out from the front half of the studio so the drywalling can begin.

I know: excuses, excuses! I've been running around like a chicken with its head cut off, trying to get as much done as possible, enjoying life like there's no tomorrow. I really wanted to paint something yesterday. The lakeshore would have been gorgeous, but horribly cold and windy. The weather was very changeable: overcast, dark and rain-threatening one minute, clear blue skies the next. Relentless winds, too. I'd be hot one minute and freezing the next. Throw in some hot flashes & it was maddening.

The first trees to bloom on my property this year are the two plum trees. They've been covered in tiny white blooms (and bees) for the past couple days. I set up my easel out in the field and painted this view. Throughout much of this painting, I wasn't sure if I could pull it off. Painting orchards in bloom is tougher than I'd imagined.

Thank goodness my hat has a chin strap on it -- the wind was very gusty and my hat would have probably blown all the way to Charlevoix!

"Froggy Serenade" -- oil on canvas -- 36x36" -- Margie Guyot

I just finished this one today, so there was a bit of glare when I photographed it in my studio. It was a lot of fun to do! I'm always kind of sad to see them come to an end. If you've just tuned in to this blog, take a peek at the past few entries and you'll see a daily progression of this painting.

What next? That's always tough. Setting up a new still life is about as hard as trying to paint it. After snapping this photo, I put away all the props and folded the fabric. Tentatively I've laid a black & white asian-inspired fabric print on the table and fished a white ceramic duck soup tureen out of a box. After moving, it's a miracle I can find anything these days. It will probably take me several days of adding stuff to the new setup, removing, adding, subtracting -- until I end up with a view that I like. If I just marched out into my studio tomorrow morning and started painting, without having taken the time to get things "just right", the painting just wouldn't turn out.

I'd originally thought I was going to do a painting on the theme "bad back", since I'd been suffering last week with a bout of sciatica. I had a couple objects in my hand to use (a hornet's nest, for one), but I just couldn't feel inspired. The painting that ended up a reality was something bright & joyous. Joyous is what I feel about being up here, in my new home in NW Michigan! And I'm looking forward to hearing the froggies singing back in my swamp this spring.

"Hazy Spring Afternoon" -- plein air study -- oil on canvas -- 11x14" -- Margie Guyot

Last Saturday was probably our first nice day in Michigan since October. My plein air buddies and I lined up along this quiet pond that was dotted in new water lily pads. The leaves were just beginning to pop out on the trees. Morels were springing up from the duff. Violets were blooming. The large carp, frisky with the arrival of mating season, were leaping out of the pond, snapping at hapless bugs on the surface. After the long winter and late-arriving spring, the warm sun was very welcome. But the sky was thinly overcast with a high layer of clouds, giving an overall muted cast to the landscape colors. Spring greens of opening willow leaves, oaks and beeches were soft olives, pea greens -- even with hints of maroon in the maple buds. Spring peppers were singing. Even an occasional clunk of a bullfrog rang out. In a few days, these high, thin clouds would bring us a torrential rainstorm.

I'd gotten behind on posting to this blog because my brother was visiting me. And gave me his horrible cold from hell!