More Pumpkins 12x12"

 "Cheese Pumpkin" -- oil on canvas 12x12" -- Margie Guyot

"Baby Boo" -- oil on canvas 12x12" -- Margie Guyot

Once again I've fallen behind on my posts!  Life is FULL.  The weather here along the NW coastline of Michigan has been balmy, compared to previous years.  We've even had a few sunny days, which I've used to squeeze in a few more plein air paintings of the pumpkins.  I wish I could say I had grown all of them, but the deer population here would never allow it.  No, these are "store-bought" pumpkins from a farmstand in Traverse City.  I never cease to be amazed at the varieties!  All they had when I was growing up were the big jack-o-lantern types.

To paint pumpkins, I've been plopping them in the grass in front of my studio, setting up the Soltek easel and Bestbrella and sitting in my lawnchair.  Usually I stand when painting, but maybe I felt lazy.  And I always, always use a little viewfinder to see my compositions.  

Most of the time it would be sunny when I'd begin; often the clouds would roll in at some point and I'd lose my strong sunshine/shadow patterns.  And the temperature would drop very quickly.  Good thing I paint fast!   

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.