"Tulips and Blue Glass Bowl"

"Tulips and Blue Glass Bowl" -- oil on canvas 20x16" -- Margie Guyot

I found these tulips at Meijer's and just loved the color!  The blue glass bowl came from an antique store in Elk Rapids.  As soon as I saw it, I knew it would be exciting in a painting.  The sun came out for one day, an exciting event in itself.  We see it so rarely in winter up here in NW Michigan.

 It's surprising how challenging it is to draw in and paint the tulip leaves!  Mixing the right shades of green was a challenge as well!  Once cut and put into water, tulips continue to grow -- and change.   But I've learned to compare the difficulty of painting something with the difficulty of painting cupcake frosting swirls (my big project last year).  I figure if I could control my panic with frosting swirls, anything else would be somewhat easier.

It's like comparing the difficulty of tasks with the difficulty of working on the Line at Ford Motor Company for 30 years!  Now THAT was hard work!

Stay tuned for more tulips.... 

"Banks Twp Park - Ice Chunks"

"Banks Twp. Park - Ice Chunks" -- plein air field study -- oil on canvas 8x16" -- Margie Guyot

It was another glorious, sunny day here, so I decided to venture up to Banks Township Park.  Pulled on my long underwear and ultra-heavyweight down coat.  And this time I wore hiking boots with ice grippers.  Unlike Barnes Park (see previous post), Banks Park lacks a steep hill, allowing the icy winds to sail right along. 

See that distant little point sticking out?  That's where I hiked to paint.  There's a rocky point that juts out and after my experience of falling into a crevass, I wanted to play it safe and stick to the rocks.  And I was so glad I'd bundled up.  The wind was brutally cold out there.

Things always are exciting out on that point.  I set my gear down and walked all around, looking for the most amazing spot.  What I loved was the little area of ice chunks that had floated into a cove.  Everything was freezing shut again.  The colors were subtle, but I was fascinated by this view.  Again, I'm looking south, towards Elk Rapids and Traverse City. 

One of the advantages to using a Soltek easel is the sides flip up, allowing the palette surface to be shaded.  Trying to mix colors on a palette that's in bright sunlight is pretty difficult.
After finishing this one I hiked around a little, but when my boot fell into another small crevass, I decided to quit when I was ahead!

More Roses

 "Golden Rose" -- oil on canvas 6x6"

 "White Rose" -- oil on canvas 6x6"

 

 "Lavender Rose" -- oil on canvas 6x6"

 

 "Hot Pink Rose" -- oil on canvas 6x6"

 

These roses were in the bunch I bought on Tuesday, when I'd ventured into the Elk Rapids grocery store in search of interesting donuts to paint.  Thank goodness all the donuts looked so blase!  

We've had tons of rain lately, so there wasn't much else to do, other than housework.  That always takes a backseat to painting.  It's still a bit too early to plant anything here in NW lower Michigan.  So painting it is!

 

Roses are hard to draw!  All those doggone petals!  I think what assisted me in being able to draw these was my experience in drawing and painting the dozens of cupcakes earlier this year.  The swirls were a puzzle!  As I painted the cupcakes, I kept thinking if you can do these, surely you can figure out how to do roses!    

To make a successful painting, a good deal hinges on your ability to control your panic.  Betty Edwards, in her book, "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" teaches how to ignore that part of your brain that sends out negative thoughts.  The left side of the brain likes pronouncing such negative thoughts as it looks awful!  You can't draw!  But the right side is more concerned with measurements: is it straight up and down?  Leaning a little?  How much?  Is it lighter or darker?  Bigger or smaller?  Betty believes that if you can see, you can draw.  Her book changed my life!

Although I've been doing a lot of little paintings since the first of the year, don't think I'm giving up on big still lifes -- or plein air landscapes!  There's only so much a person can crank out in a day.

Orange Rose

"Orange Rose #1" -- oil on canvas 6x6"

While doing the cupcake series, I began thinking of starting a series of flower paintings.  Roses are tough to paint!  All those petals!  But I reasoned that if I could slug it out with the frosting swirls and paper cups, surely I could figure out roses.  

I'd gone to the grocery store yesterday in Elk Rapids to look for more interesting donuts.  Alas, they all looked boring!  Then I spied bunches of multi-colored roses.  Ahhhhh!  That would be it!  

Had to hold this one in my left hand, looking directly down on it, while painting with my right hand.  And while Miss America (a very needy cat of mine) pawed insistently on my leg, begging to be held.  Oh, for a 3rd arm!  

I really loved this rose.  The center was darker than the outer petals.  It was an overcast day (to put it mildly!).  We'd had heavy rains and high winds and the power was out for 4 hours.  Creeks flooding, plagues, raining frogs....  Ooops -- sorry.... not quite that bad.  With now power, I had to choose between sweeping the floor, sorting paperwork, shoveling out the chicken coop -- or painting.  Easy choice!

Pecan Roll

"Pecan Roll" -- oil on canvas 6x6"

After dropping off paintings to Seeds Gallery in Elk Rapids, Michigan last Thursday, I walked around the corner to the town's bakery.  What treasures might they have?  This pecan roll looked the most interesting.

Sometimes things are quite stale by the time I get around to painting them -- and this was no exception.  Remember the cupcake paintings?  I kept most all of the cupcakes.  Some are 3 months old, but they look fairly good yet.  Hard as rocks, but pretty.

Like donuts, the pecan roll was fun to do!  Much simpler than the rose (next post)..... 

More Donuts!

 "Donut with Pink Sprinkles" -- oil on canvas 6x6"

"Striped Donut" -- oil on canvas 6x6"

These were from the grocery store in Elk Rapids. Cheap, too: three for 97 cents!  Yeah, I'm sure you'll want to know what happened to the third donut?  Truth is, it's still in the bag in the studio.  I might get to it, but not for a while.  On a flower painting jag now.

I really enjoy painting donuts!  I find them easier to do than the cupcakes.  I set them on the windowsill in the studio so they get full sun.  That is, when we DO have sun up here.  Northwestern lower Michigan is notorious for its overcast days, from November until at least May.

The pink one was so cheery to do.  I love the colors!  It was decorated for Easter.  And the striped one -- I really like that one best.  It had such interesting designs & contours!   

Fiesta!

"Fiesta!" -- oil on canvas -- 40x60" -- Margie Guyot

Last summer I snagged this Mexican sombrero at a yard sale in Glen Arbor.  I just knew it would end up in a painting.  It's a velvety-red, trimmed in gold and silver, with silver sequins.  Very heavy -- I don't know how the guys can stand to wear them!

With the red sombrero as a starting point, I knew I wanted this still life to have a red-green theme.  Years ago I realized that the paintings that seemed to "sing" to me, when I'd walk into a gallery, were the ones that made a big use of the complementary colors.  So I try to do that -- when I think of it.  

Aren't those cool pumpkins?  I'd bought them earlier this fall from 2 young boys in Elk Rapids.  I'd just used the striped one in a still life a couple weeks ago and thought I'd like to use it again -- before it rots.  The vintage, reindeer glasses were found in an antique store up in Pellston.  Green-striped afghan from a resale shop in Ellsworth.  It's just endless -- the possibilities from all kinds of junk!

Every year I bring my geraniums inside and set them on the studio windowsill.  Why buy new?  Some of them are 5 years old.  

What to put in the space under the table?  It's always a question nagging me.  This time I painted a portrait of "Miss America", one of my studio cats.  She (really a he!) was named for her pretty, little face.  I had to hold her in the crook of my left arm, baby doll style, to get a good look at her face while I painted.