Guyer Creek #1

Guyer Creek setup #1

 

It was a balmy week, with high temperatures nearly 60 degrees.  We were all doing cartwheels for joy.  Yes, it was also deer season.  I know a woman who won't walk down to her mailbox during deer season!  But I wrapped a fluorescent yellow safety vest around and walked out into the cedar swamp in back of my studio building.  It's all my property back there and there shouldn't be any hunters back there anyway. 

 

Guyer Creek is a very shallow creek (usually) that empties into Lake Michigan.  I feel very fortunate to have it running through my property.  The land between it and my studio frequently floods and is nearly always mushy.  In the summer I don't go back there, as the mosquitoes are relentless.

 

"Guyer Creek #1" -- plein air field study -- oil on birch panel 8x10 -- Margie Guyot

 





It's kind of hard to come up with a halfway decent painting of this creek -- it's just a wild tangle of "stuff"!  What I loved was the water reflection.  And after the screaming greens of summer, it was a nice change to have the subtle mauves and golds. 

Deer Field #2

Setup for "Deer Field #2" -- plein air field study

"Deer Field #2" -- plein air field study -- oil on birch panel 8x10" -- Margie Guyot

 

All I had to do for this one was turn my field easel a little -- and there was a whole, new view.  It's just a simple field, but it's beautiful in all directions.  That's a basketbush in the foreground.  They're named for their basket-like shapes.  I believe they're a type of juniper.  In the back are two white cedars, another very familiar tree in this area.  Past that is a large cedar/aspen swamp.  It's almost impenetratable.  And past that is Lake Michigan, whose waves you can hear if the wind is right.

 

It was late afternoon when I painted this and the clouds were rolling in.  No sharp sunlight/shadow patterns today.  After having done a series of studio still lifes, it felt very good to get outside and paint!

The Deer Field

 

My setup for painting "The Deer Field #1"

 

"The Deer Field #1" -- plein air field study -- oil on birch panel 8x10" -- Margie Guyot

 

Here it was, early November, and we were having a week with "balmy" temperatures!  The sun was "sorta-kinda" out, which cheered everybody considerably.  After a series of studio paintings, I was in the mood to get out and do some plein air landscapes.  But I didn't want to drive for miles.  This field is directly west of my driveway.  I've always loved it but hadn't painted it.  There is a deer path that runs along this basketbush (in the foreground). 

 



When I painted this, the clouds were moving in and there were no more strong sunlight/shadow shapes.  But that's OK, too.  I always love the soft colors of late fall.  There is a mixture of meadow grasses, mosses and bracken in this sandy field.  Lake Michigan is about 1/2 mile due west.  If the wind is right, you can hear the waves crashing on the shore.

Two more pumpkins

"Polka Dot" -- oil on canvas 12x12" -- Margie Guyot

"Blue Satin" -- oil on canvas 12x12" -- Margie Guyot

 



These are some of the amazing pumpkins I found at a roadside stand in Traverse City.  It's at an old gas station and every fall it's packed with pumpkins, gourds, apples and cider.  I think pumpkins are just so much fun to paint!  When I was a kid, all they had were orange ones.  My dad would drive us kids from stand to stand, searching for "the perfect pumpkin".  And now there are such cool varieties!

 

I find it hard to resist painting them every fall.  Last year I did quite a few; this year I painted just a couple.  My time was eaten up by planting 1500 English bluebell bulbs, 80 parrot tulips, 20 oriental lilies and an assortment of shrubs.  I did them all in 3 weeks.  You just never know when the weather will turn foul. 

Green Brandywine

"Green Brandywine" -- oil on canvas 12x12" -- Margie Guyot

 

Once again I'm running way behind on my posts.  I painted this on October 31st, after a quick trip to my "home away from home", Pine Hill Nursery.  I'd bought a few plants on sale and saw this green brandywine tomato sitting on a stone wall.  Knowing how much I enjoy painting things like this, they gave it to me. 

 

Already it was beginning to rot.  See the black area on the lower left?  The new plants had to wait while I painted this.  I loved the way the shiny green tomato reflected the reds of the cloth!  

Northern Lights!

"Northern Lights -- Rex Beach" -- oil on birch panel 8x10" -- Margie Guyot

 

This morning I happened to wake up at 4 AM.  Glancing out the north-facing window, something struck me as very unusual: it was way too bright for that hour of the morning. It was a guess, but I figured it just had to be the northern lights.  I'd never seen them before.  Yes, it was ungodly early, but what the heck -- I threw on my robe and slippers and drove my car down to Rex Beach, about 3 miles away. 

 

I dared parking right on the sand and got out.  There they were!!!  All across the northern sky, shimmering and pulsating!  Unlike many of the popular photos, they appeared fairly colorless.  But still, I was so excited I could have done cartwheels!  I wrapped my excitement in 2 old afghans from the back of the car.  It was kind of chilly out on the beach.

 

It was surprising.  The sky wasn't pitch black.  I don't know if you could even call it "black", but the darkest parts were the distant line of trees and the line of shrubs and grass on the beach.  The sky was almost a medium tone.  In the distance were low-ling clouds.  And the lights themselves were not a brilliant light, but more of a soft, blurry non-color.  I stared at these things, trying to make myself remember.  A shooting star flew by.

 

No camera.  No paintbox.  Alas!  But I did grab my mileage log book and do a quick pen sketch.  Later in the morning - when it became light enough to see -- I did an oil painting of the scene, referring to my sketch.  

Here's my reference sketch.  Solar flares are predicted to continue for the next year or so, so I hope to get to make more observations -- and paintings.

Cat Teapots

"Cat Teapots" -- oil on canvas 24x24" -- Margie Guyot



 

Believe me, it'll be a loooong time before I ever paint this tablecloth again!  Thought my eyeballs were going to fall out!  I had to take frequent breaks, hoping the Good Fairy would paint it in for me.  Alas, no such luck.  But the black and white color scheme tied in so well with the two cat teapots, I just had to use it.  Do you notice the blue and pink cast tones from the flower vase and the pink glass bowl?  I love looking for stuff like that when I set up an arrangement.  Things like that make a painting come alive.

The black cat teapot I bought about 30 years ago and somehow it's survived.  I used to keep it on my stovetop and whenever the little neighbor boy came in, he kept a good distance.  He said the eyes frightened him.  The striped teapot I picked up in a garage sale in Bay Harbor this summer.  That was probably what inspired this painting.  Painting the reflections on these was so much fun!

If you've followed my blog posts for a while, the pink glass bowl may be familiar.  I'm fascinated by it and have used it in several paintings.  It's really difficult to draw and paint!  Lots of distortions and reflections to try to catch.  Each time I paint it, it looks a little better.  Monet had his haystacks, so I guess you could say I've got my pink glass bowl.

My ascendant (astrologically-speaking) is Cancer, the Crab.  We Cancers LOVE bags and boxes.  It's been said that if you give us a wrapped present, chances are we'll love the wrappings far more than the actual present itself!  I think that's true.  I love this polka-dot bag!  It came from a fancy dress shop in Petoskey, Talula Boutique.  How could I throw such a marvelous bag away?  I've been saving it (and others) for use in still lifes.  And that hot pink tissue!  I just love stuff like this!

It's been a while since I've used shoes in a still life setup, but this seemed to call for some.  These beauties were a Goodwill find.  Not my size, but hey -- the color just made me feel like doing cartwheels across the store!  I love painting shoes.  Such interesting shapes, colors and reflections!

To echo the hot pink tissue, I plucked a few geranium blooms from the plants on the studio windowsill.  Some of my plants are 6 years old (or more).  They seem to do much better inside the studio during the winter than they do out on the patio all summer.  Go figure. 

I'll be having to take a brief break from painting.  1500 English bluebell bulbs just arrived the other day, so it'll be one mad rush to plant them all before the ground freezes.  Stay tuned!