Welcome to Margie Guyot's updated blogsite! I do plein air landscapes plus studio paintings of still lifes in oil. You may still visit my older blog (greatlittleoilpaintings.blogspot.com) to see everything painted prior to 2010.
"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!
"Full Moon -- Rex Beach" -- plein air field study -- oil on birch panel 8x10"
"Full Moon and Cloud" -- plein air field study -- oil on birch panel 8x10"
"Full Moon -- Scott Road" -- plein air field study -- oil on birch panel 8x10"
The other night the full moon was glorious! I tend to hit the sheets pretty early, but I was just WIRED! How could I possibly sleep when it was so beautiful outside?? I'd never painted en plein air during a full moon, but nothing was going to stop me.
Since you see only 3 values during a full moon, the darkest dark, a medium sky tone and the bright moon, painting is relatively easy. I pre-mixed a dark-dark and a medium tone in the studio before I ventured out. Once out on location, I only had to turn on my flashlight a relatively few times to see what I was doing.
First stop was my favorite hang-out, Rex Beach. You can drive right down to the water. As usual, I had the entire park -- hell! the entire coastline! -- to myself. Normally I park back in the parking lot, but I felt daring enough to park on the sand. Sometimes people get stuck there, so I very carefully cruised through in low gear. It was SO wonderful to be down at the water's edge, painting! All I could hear was gentle waves and once in a while a coyote yipping. Still, I did look around once in a while for any approaching cougars.
A big cloud moved over the sky and as it passed under the moon, I was amazed to see the rusty tones and hints of ochre! Very bizarre.
I only had 3 panels with me, so the last painting was done on my road: Scott Road. I could have painted ALL NIGHT. Really a blast! Maybe this winter I'll try doing it in the snow.
"Fisherman's Island Park - Morning" -- plein air field study -- oil on birch panel 8x10"
This was the first painting of the day, done on the road at Fisherman's Island State Park, just south of Charlevoix, Michigan. The trees are in full glory now, loaded in golds and reds. A glimpse of Lake Michigan showing on the right, with Fisherman's Island in the distance. The lake is low and you can walk on dry land all the way over to the island.
I love painting shadows falling across the road (as if you didn't know that by now). As I painted at the side of the road, big RVs rattled past, kicking up clouds of dust. Fortunately, the wind was blowing steadily from the west, so I wasn't covered in it. That's not always the case!
"Sunset #1: Rex Beach, 9/28/11" -- oil on birch panel 8x10" -- Margie Guyot
"Sunset #2: Rex Beach, 9/28/11" -- oil on birch panel 8x16" -- Margie Guyot
Running behind on my blog posts again! Towards sunset there was an interesting bank of clouds moving toward the west. I threw all my gear into the car and headed down to my favorite spot, Rex Beach, south of Charlevoix. That's the Leelanau Peninsula in the background.
It's amazing how quickly the sky changes! I painted as quickly as possible to finish the first one, then walked it back to the car. Sitting finished, wet oil paintings on the sand, I discovered to my chagrin, is a no-no! Although it might seem to be calm, there is always a little breeze going on down at sand-level. I have a beach painting that's covered with a fine layer of sand. And contrary to what people say, it does NOT brush off once the painting is dry! Same goes for bugs, too. They are attracted to wet paint and by golly -- they die there. I end up having to paint over them later.
By the time I got back down to the easel everything had changed. The sun had actually dipped below the horizon, but there was still plenty enough light to see to paint. I liked the clouds, how they appeared "dotty" at the top.
"9/23/11 Rex Beach at Sunset" -- plein air field study -- oil on birch panel 8x10"
It had been an absolutely gorgeous September afternoon, with clear, blue skies. That morning I'd butchered one of the rabbits (quite a job -- I was new to the procedure!). And it seemed like I'd labored most of the afternoon, making rabbit stew. Which was an adventure in itself.
As evening approached, a large cloud bank came out of the East, promising for an interesting sunset. It appeared my long-awaited rabbit stew was finally ready. Ah, thedilemma: paint or eat? But the clouds looked so wonderous, I just had to shut off the stove, cover the pot, throw my Soltek easel into the car and head down to Rex Beach. All I'd eaten all afternoon was the rabbit liver (which was delicious!), but eating could wait!
Good thing I'd put on a polartec jacket AND a windbreaker: it was getting a bit nippy! I set up on my favorite spot, next to a couple relatively flat large rocks, with a view across Grand Traverse Bay towards Northport. As usual, I had the entire coastline to myself. Sunsets change SO rapidly, there's no time to chitchat or dither. It's a race to finish! Ten, fifteen minutes and the show's over. Darkness descends.
As I was packing up, a minivan pulled up into the boat launch area and parked. It was driven by a young woman nurse who had taken her patient, a quadriplegic older man, for a view of the sunset. They were both friendly. We talked briefly as she exercised her patient's legs. Like many of us up here, she'd moved up from one of the Detroit suburbs. The man seemed in good spirits. I could see he was in good hands.
So it was another experience reminding me of the importance of making the most of every day. Everything is a choice: do we want to lay on the couch, watching TV -- or do we want to go paint a sunset? The rabbit stew? It was just perfect! Oh, and I only had 2 bugs stuck in my paint at the end.
"Rex Beach - 9/15/11" -- plein air field study -- oil on canvas 8x16"
setup at Rex Beach 9/15/11
All day long the clouds were SO fantastic! I waited until late in the day, then drove to my favorite spot, Rex Beach. Glad I'd dressed in layers -- that wind was howing the whole time and it was pretty chilly. Here I'm looking over Grand Traverse Bay to the Leelanau Peninsula. Parts of the peninsula were getting rain squalls.
Up until this summer, I'd not tried painting in this type of format: long and narrow. It's kind of fun to do, as I get to show more of the dramatic skies.
And yes, that's a Soltek easel. After having to get the legs repaired a couple times, I've finally learned to keep the leg tips enclosed in plastic. Once sand gets inside, the legs go kaflooey! Other than that, it's been a good easel.
As usual, I had the entire beach to myself. This little park is only 3.5 miles from my house and I can drive very close to the beach. There is a turnaround at water's edge, designed for boat drop-offs, but I've seen many people get stuck there. Which is why I always park in the designated parking lot.
Although it was still light enough to paint another, I thought it would be pushing my luck. The rain squall might just hit in the middle of another painting. I packed up and stashed everything into the car, then returned for a walk along the beach. Found 2 small Petoskey stones (fossilized coral, originally formed along the coastline of Chile). Beach visits always revive me!
Sometimes it's almost dark when I walk back to my car, carrying all my equipment. That is when I think about packs of rabid coyotes, hungry bears, mountain lions on the prowl.
Believe it or not, but bugles are BOOGERS to try to draw! All those crazy bends in the tube. Whew! Notice how I haven't attempted to paint my saxophone yet (murderous -- all those keys!). I found this cool bugle last summer in an antique store up in Pellston. The red velvet Mexican sombrero was from a garage sale in Glen Arbor. It weighs a good 5 pounds. I don't know how the guys can stand to wear them, but they're fabulous. Love the sequins and doo-dads!
Lots of fine lines in this painting. And I painted all of them with my #8 flat brush. It's a Silver Brush Ruby Satin. Those are the best brushes! They hold their knife-sharp edges very well. Mooshy brushes: absolutely maddening to work with! Which reminds me: it's another reason to be glad I'm an adult. As a kid, I had no say in what art materials I got to have. All my brushes were cheap, mooshy ones back then. So I'll put up with a few wrinkles -- as long as I can have my Ruby Satins!
"Dem Golden Slippers" -- oil on canvas -- 40x50" -- Margie Guyot
I wanted to do a gold and red painting and the red gills of the fish amazed me! A friend had given me this stringer of taxidermy-d perch. He'd caught them a few years ago and had them mounted. They're huge. And they're also a tattered mess -- his dogs had ripped the bejesus out of them. So it was a puzzle, figuring out how the fins were supposed to go.
The golden slippers came from a thrift shop up north of Petoskey. And they FIT me, by golly! I thought they were a hoot to paint.
And I just HAD to use the pumpkin! Isn't it great? I bought it from 2 young boys in Elk Rapids last October. They grew specialty pumpkins and this one is gigantic. It must weigh over 20 pounds. But alas -- it's starting to rot a little. Glad I could paint it. I believe it's really a squash. So tomorrow I will cut it up and bake it. Good golly -- it looks like a year's supply of squash, there's so much of it!
Some things are so challenging, I love to try painting them over & over in many paintings. If you've seen my other paintings, you probably would recognize the red striped glass pitcher. And the tapestry. Oh, and of course the turkey feathers! Wild turkeys are all over up here and I love their feathers!
I love Goodwill. They have some of the coolest stuff. I got the pink Depression glass plates and cups up there a week or so ago. It was rather complicated to try to paint that stack!
And I love painting the red Carnival glass heart dish! It has some of the wildest color reflections. This is one of those paintings that I could probably spend weeks on, putzing. But hey -- sometimes you ruin things that way. On to the next one.....!
I love gnomes! But only really cool gnomes. Not stupid gnomes! This one was found in Meijer's a couple years ago. The red poinsettia doily was a resale shop find.
Those glass ornaments have been in my family for many years. In reality, I was holding the bulbs in my fingers when painting them. One slipped out and shattered in a million pieces the floor. I went out into the woods and clipped off a small branch and added that later.
"Scott Road, Looking West" -- plein air field study -- oil on canvas 12x24" -- Margie Guyot
This is the road I live on. That's Lake Michigan and the Leelanau Peninsula in the distance. The fall colors were in prime condition, with the maple trees all shades of gold and red. Last year I stood on the distant ridge, facing east to paint Scott Road. This time I decided to paint the opposite view.
Normally I wouldn't use such a large canvas for a plein air. There's such a large area to cover -- in so little time! But I really wanted to paint a long, horizontal view and this 12x24" canvas was the only thing I had. I was painting with a buddy, Al Maciag, and I didn't want to hold him up, so I painted fast as I could.
Every time I drive over Scott Road, I'm thrilled at how beautiful it is here.
That's a new field of corn on the right. That field hadn't been used in years. The landowner rented the land this year and I think all us neighbors were surprised the corn did so well. It had been planted late and the ground is quite sandy. If you got up close to it, you'd see the outer edge of the cornfield had been quite "gone over" by the resident deer and raccoon population.
I'd like to do a winter painting of Scott Road, but I doubt it will be painted from this location. The wind is quite fierce up at this ridge! Half the time I had to hold onto my Soltek easel while painting this, or it would have blown over.
"Boardman River" -- plein air field study -- oil on birch panel 8x10" -- Margie Guyot
My friend Al Maciag and I were cruising around the "Seasonal Roads - Unplowed in Winter" areas, east of Traverse City when we stopped at a little campground. It was really beautiful, with large pines, hemlocks, ancient oaks -- and this lovely stream.
I was struck by the colors in the water and the reflections. Painting water is always challenging, but fun. It's always a juggling act: the water refuses to hold still and the light conditions are constantly changing. But I find painting water addictive.
It was pretty chilly out, and breezy. Thank goodness both of us had extra jackets along. The water looked deep and not too far above freezing. I bet the fishing was good along this stretch!
The painting was quite wet when photographed; I couldn't escape the wet glare on the left and right sides.
"Sunset - Rex Beach 10/01/10" -- plein air field study -- oil on birch panel 8x10" -- Margie Guyot
Rain, rain and more rain! It stopped for a few hours at the end of the day, so I took a chance and went back to Rex Beach to try to do another field study. I'd finally run out of canvas panels, so used a birch panel, heavily shellacked, my friend Caesar Citraro gave me. Wow -- a friend with a table saw -- who's not afraid to USE it! Worth his weight in gold!
I really enjoy painting on birch panels. Unlike canvas, they are nice and smooth, allowing the oil paint to goosh out freely. I'd paint on nothing else if I could.
The entire sky was filled with dark rain clouds, with the exception of this thin wedge of gold to the north. Right as I finished painting, the rain started again. Chilly rain, too!
"Rex Beach #2 -- 9/29/10" -- plein air field study -- oil on canvas panel 8x10" -- Margie Guyot
Sometimes I'll get 2 paintings in before it gets too dark to work. This is the 2nd one of the evening. When I look around, trying to figure out what to paint, the question on my mind is always "what is there that is most amazing?". In this case, it was the bank of dark storm clouds to the north. While I painted happily away on the beach at Eastport, Harbor Springs and Petoskey were getting pounded! The rain didn't arrive at my house until after 10:30 PM.
"Sunset #1 - Rex Beach 9/29/10" -- plein air field study -- oil on canvas panel 8x10" -- Margie Guyot
This view is looking west across Lake Michigan from Rex Beach. That's the Leelanau Penninsula in the distance, home to many small vineyards and wineries. When I came down to paint this evening, what struck me immediately were the beautiful clouds to the south of the larger, ominous storm front in the north. I had to paint very fast to get this onto canvas.
This winter I might use some of these small field studies in a larger work. I'd like to experiment with a technique to get the skies to appear to glow. First I'll paint the sky in pure white and leave it dry. Then I'll follow with some very thin glazes of color and Liquin. It seems that when you mix white into colors to create a pastel, it tends to gray everything. Make things chalky. Which is not "glowing". It's worth a try.
"Dusk - Rex Beach 8/29/10" -- plein air field study -- oil on canvas panel -- 8x10" -- Margie Guyot
The cooler, chilly and rainy weather of late summer has arrived. This view was painted from my favorite "sunset" spot, Rex Beach. It's about 3 miles from my house, right on the shoreline of Lake Michigan. People may be surprised, but the lakeshore is full of little inlets like these. The water stays shallow for quite a distance out.
We're starting to experience an invasion of "phragmites": tall, non-native reeds. Efforts are underway to eradicate them before they take over the entire shoreline.
This painting was done AFTER the sun had dipped below the horizon and the light was fading fast.
"Congratulations! Your work has been juried into the American Women Artists 2010 National Juried Competition in Dallas, Texas.
The jurors...had a very difficult task to select the pieces that make up this exceptional exhibition.
Of over 1547 entries ... the jury selected 65 works to be displayed from October 9 – November 9, 2010 at Southwest Gallery. Since your work was accepted into the exhibition, we hope that you will plan to attend and participate in the activities October 8 in Dallas which include an Awards Brunch at 9am and Artist Reception from 1-5pm on October 9th."
I painted this last year and entered it into this competition a couple months ago. Was happy to learn the results! Will be shipping it out to Dallas this next week. Thank goodness I haven't gotten rid of all my large shipping boxes!
The frog teapot and creamer came from a garage sale in my old neighborhood in Farmington Hills. Then I about fell over when I saw the matching water pitcher up for bid on eBay! Alas, that really cool "woogedy" glass vase (in the center) is no more. One of the kitties knocked it over and broke it. Boo-hoo!
That's one of my favorite vintage tablecloths. Really difficult to draw! But my general rule is: don't panic! Just slug away and figure it out!
Although I hate leaving Paradise, I'm considering flying to Dallas for this show. Maybe I can schmooze and get into a high-scale gallery.
"Looking South -- Lightfood and State Roads" -- plein air field study -- oil on canvas panel -- 8x10" -- Margie Guyot
We'd had days and days of high winds and rain here, making me itching to get out and do some plein air painting! This morning I had to schlep 2 paintings up to Crooked Tree Arts Council in Petoskey, then take several others up to Three Pines Gallery in Cross Village. Quite a haul. But I had my thinking cap on and had all my painting gear with me.
Every time I'd come back from Three Pines Gallery, I'd see this road. Finally I was able to stop and paint it! The wind was bearable. The clouds were quite interesting. It wasn't too hot or too cold. In other words, it was a perfect day to be out painting!
Seems like every painting I've done with a road has sold. Wow -- a light bulb finally came on: I need to paint more road paintings!
Woke up at 4 this morning, got up at 4:30 and am about to get my bike ride in. Then I'll load up the car and drive south, towards Bellaire. Last week I saw an old tractor in a field of goldenrod. Let's hope it's still there!
"Green Cabbage" -- plein air field study -- oil on canvas 18x24" -- Margie Guyot
Sunday morning I went kayaking out on Lake Michigan with a couple friends. I'd have gladly quit after an hour -- the sun was blazing, it was going up to 90 degrees and the waves made it rather challenging. But nooooo -- we stayed out 3 hours! I was pretty well tuckered-out by the time I got home. Had to take a nap.
Ah, there's nothing like a little rest and cup of Starbucks to get me going again! I loaded my Soltek, BestBrella, Gamsol and paints into the car and drove over to my neighbor's garden. OK -- call me soft. I could have carried it all over, but why suffer needlessly?I'd had my exercise for the day.
Wearing my long bumblebee-free jeans, socks and shoes, I felt confident I would be safe from marauding insects, although I sweated like a pig. 90 degrees at 4 PM. Did I mention I'm not a "heat person"? But I had been wanting to paint one of the green cabbages for days. Nothing was going to stop me. Except rain.
How quickly the sun was sinking behind the row of trees to the west! Brushes, don't fail me now! I painted as fast as I possibly could. Slap that paint around, girl!!! It would be no good to try to paint without strong sunlight and shadows. Notice how the sunlight seemed to make one of the leaves on the left side appear to almost glow? It made the central vein appear a surprisingly strong yellow.
There's nothing like painting in good-old, strong sunlight! You see colors you'd never be able to get if you were using a photograph as reference. Depending on the angle of the leaf, some sections would be reflecting the blue of the sky; others would be reflecting the warm gold of the sun. It's the strong shadow shapes that make an object "pop". To me, if something doesn't "pop", it's just blah. And why paint "blah"?
I usually do plein air in smaller sizes just because the light changes so quickly. But I wanted to paint larger, showing the cabbage nearly life-size. Impossible to do it proper justice on an 8x10" canvas.
The most difficult part of any painting, for me, is drawing it in. I always use a little view-finder to help figure out the composition. And I always use skills I learned from Betty Edward's wonderful book, "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain". I used my brush handle as a kind of measuring stick, basing all the drawings of the leaves on the gauge of the tight cabbage head. Otherwise this would have been impossible for me to draw. And yes, I always have lots of wipe-outs! But that's the great thing about oil paint -- it dries so slowly, it's easy to wipe out what you don't like.
"Corn" -- plein air field study -- oil on canvas -- 24x12" -- Margie Guyot
I'd been looking at this cornfield near my house for the past couple weeks, hoping to find time to paint it. The deer and raccoons have been ravaging the outer edges. In reality, there are ears with chunks missing, ears hanging and entire stalks ripped out. I "prettied it up" for the painting.
And talk about a hellish, mish-mash of green to try to make sense out of! Oy vey! Didn't know if I could pull this one off, but hey -- nothing ventured, nothing gained!
What I loved most about this scene was the interesting patterns on the ground, cast by the stalks and leaves.
And speaking of leaves: the wind was blowing them around, making it as difficult to try to paint as trying to paint a barnyard of crazy chickens! I couldn't really tell you how I figured out how to get this picture painted! Felt like I was treading on "new ground". But I think it worked.
The wind blew my umbrella off twice. But no bumblebee stung me this time -- I had the sense to wear LONG pants. So maybe tomorrow I'll return to my neighbor's garden and paint their green cabbage (site of the infamous bumblebee sting of a few days ago).
"Purple Cabbage" -- plein air field study -- 18x24" -- oil on canvas -- Margie Guyot
Normally I wouldn't paint a plein air study in this large a format, but I decided to try it this afternoon. I'd been over at the neighbor's garden, picking a few green beans, when I noticed their beautiful row of cabbages. Aha! Time to drag out the old easel!
Thank goodness I threw everything into my car and drove over. It took a couple hours to paint this and the sun was hot and I was rather tired at the end. My BestBrella didn't want to stay put in the wind, so I had to hold it most of the time with my left hand. Then my canvas blew off the Soltek easel! I managed to catch it before it landed face-down in the dirt. But worst of all: a mean bumblebee (one of those fat, black & yellow jobs) crawled up inside my capris and stung me in back of my left knee! OWWWW! Talk about "suffering for one's art"! I was happy my car was nearby and I could just heave all my gear into the back.
Cabbages are so cool! I might come back and paint one of the green ones. But next time I'll be sure to wear LONG pants!
"Sunset #1: Rex Beach 8/15/10" -- plein air field study -- oil on canvas panel -- 8x10" -- Margie Guyot
It's been very windy here the past couple days, so when I first got down to Rex Beach I prowled along the shoreline, hoping to find a Petoskey stone or two. The waves usually bring them in. No luck. I was killing a little time, waiting for the big cloud bank to move south a little more.
The view was spectacular! I could see patches of heavy rainfall out over the lake. Somebody was getting pounded. I found out later Harbor Springs, Petoskey and Charlevoix were catching hell. Dry as a bone where I stood (just north of Eastport).
But the wind! It was difficult to paint a straight horizon line with my hand being buffeted by the wind gusts. I looked up and saw the sun in this position, peeking out for one last look before being covered by the clouds.
The view changes by the second! There's the urge to keep changing the painting, but I've learned from experience not to do this too much. You can drive yourself crazy, following the endless changes.
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