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"This oil painting study is in excellent condition painted this last Summer in plein air of

the docks at Bucksport Harbor, Maine. It is painted on a high quality gypsum gessoed

oak board as with the master's highly prized alabaster gesso painting surfaces. Michael

only uses handmade high quality oil pigments such as Old Holland, Blockx and

Williamsburg. He also makes his own Black Oil wax medium; used also by the Venetian

masters to add a luster to the work and eliminate the need to use turpentine or any

other solvent that can crack the painting. All of these qualities are telling of Michael's

love of using high quality art materials and personal belief that his oil paintings hold

a special life of their own." If you would like to see this painting up close or place a bid

on Ebay CLICK HERE.

Description of the painting: This oil painting landscape is a very rich and colorful

study of a spectacular July sunset over the Harbor on Mohegan Island, Maine. Michael

says," I painted this small sunset study within an hour just as the sun was setting over

Manna. You make a terrific draw on your experiences and just respond because there is

little time to think about formulas or technique, only the expression of the moment.

That's what makes this spontaneous study so charming."

Painted in plein air, Michael used only a small palette knife in an impasto painting style.

Michael paints on location to capture the light and the movement of the subject and he

believes that his paintings have a spiritual life of their own as he captures these moments

in time. The painting study is rendered within a two hour block of time and it is painted

using the highest quality pure pigments from Williamsburg, Old Holland and Blockx

hand ground oil paint. Michael also uses a traditional Venetian Black Oil wax medium

that he makes himself to transform the colors into brilliant semi transparent color

statements. This medium is very achivel and adds a luster to the paint as well as thickens it

into a delightful impasto surface that resists cracking over time. The painting is high quality

all the way down to the highly prized 1/4 inch traditional gypsum gessoed archival

Ampersand panel it is painted on. The ground is a traditional gypsum gesso ground painted

on all sides for permanency and stability before the work was painted in plein air and on location.

If you would like to get a closer look at this oil painted sketch or would like to place a bid on

it in auction please CLICK HERE!

This painting is a very colorful and dramatic scene of Tidal Storm Surf at Schoodic Point.

I painted it en plein air in the afternoon just off the Sundew Trail of the Schoodic

Educational Reseach Center at Schoodic Point. It is filled with movement and spontaneity

that is often the case at this "place of Fire", as the Native American name of Schoodic means.

If you would like to see this painting up close or place a bid on Ebay, please CLICK HERE.

My coat of many colors is a red worn Columbia coat that has very little paint on the back but loads of paint dashes and dabs from watercolor and oil paintings that I painted in the past 15 years on the front. It was a warm coat that I always wore in the Fall because of its red color and the fact that it had polar fleece on the inside. I always had wool gloves in the pockets of this coat, cut off at the knuckles of the fingers so that I could hold a brush and paint in Plein air even in the coldest weather. Over the years I had grown very fond of old this coat, but I never knew just how attached until a few weeks ago.

Occasionally, I'm asked by my church that I attend to do seasonal artwork sometimes only weeks before an event. The Harvest Festival was no exception. I was asked to quickly construct and paint a photo stand-in of a farm and two different sized scarecrows that would be cartoonish. A photo stand-in is a painting that is usually 6 feet high and made of plywood with holes to place your face through so that you can become the character in the painting on the other side. Wanting to help out, I did design one that turned out to be pretty successful with many families having fun and interacting with it for a photo opportunity.

In the beginning remember donating all the supplies and constructing the photo stand-in and prepping it in between my classes and studio work. It all came down to this one Saturday to finish it. I thought I could donate a full day to paint and complete it just a few days before the event. I remember getting up early that morning motivated to paint for God. I got my old paint shirt and paints on and even grabbed my coat of many colors to wear because the heat in the work area in the building was poor. So I figured that coat would keep me warm like it did when I painted on location all those years in the past.

When I arrived in the work room of the back of the church I noticed several tables of clothing that were stacked for the poor and homeless to come in and pick over for free. I remembered then that this was the same weekend that our members would be going out into the streets of Bangor and bring back the poor and disadvantaged for them to choose clothing and receive prayer support. Thinking it ironic that I too might be mistaken as a homeless, the way I was dressed, I fit right in as I proceeded to set up for a day of painting. It was warmer than usual in the room so I took off my coat and without thinking laid it on the end of one of the piles on a table near where I was painting.

Many people came in that day and I got so engrossed in painting that I forgot all about my coat that I fully intended to move later. But as the day went on and the photo stand-in became more and more detailed my coat became further and further from my thoughts. I became more entranced by the process as the hours passed. At the end of the day I overheard a person who came in who had been there twice before that day say, "You can pray with me; but Jesus never did give me anything!" In fact after he got what he wanted he stood behind me admiring my painting. I distinctly remember hearing the voice of the Spirit instruct me, "Don't Turn Around! He's watching you paint!" So I didn't. I just talked with him and kept on painting. I painted long into the night after everyone had shut the lights off and left for the day. I never thought anything of it because I had may halogen Light on the painting the whole time. And still after all that time went by I never did think of my coat until my lamp fell over and broke it's halogen bulb. Its amazing when you're found in total darkness how quickly you come to the conclusion that your done for the day. When I got my cell phone out I found that it was 10 o'clock PM. I turned on my cell phone's flashlight to navigate around the dark room to pick up my supplies and it was then that I remembered my coat. I couldn't find it anywhere and the temperature was quickly dropping down to the lower 30's.

I'll never forget packing my supplies into my truck with just a shirt on as the bone chilling wind was blowing wildly outside. After three trips I was finally loaded up and looked forward to my truck's heater. But all it would do is blow cold air. To add insult to injury it stayed cold for the half hour it took to get home because my radiator fluid was low. Needless to say I complained about my situation to the Spirit blaming everything under the Sun including my mindlessness attributed to my age. I complained all the way home, for about a half hour, saying things like, "Every time I do something good for you Lord, something like this happens!" and "Whoever has my coat must be warmer than I am!". Ever been there?

Furthermore, I just couldn't believe that the old coat meant that much to me. I went on like this until I finally calmed down and just surrendered, glad to be home at last where I could finally stop shivering and warm up. Then, just as I pulled in my driveway to park, the Holy Spirit who was silent up to this point asked me in a still voice, "Can I have your Coat?" and totally undone and moved to silence I said, "Yes, Lord, you can have my coat," It was then that I realized that I was set up by the Spirit to give something that I was very attached to.

The next day was Sunday and after the service I asked the leadership who worked that day if they had seen my coat. They said they did and they confirmed that it was the very person that said, "Jesus never gave me anything!", who took my coat. As I contemplated how my coat was used as a part of a team effort to reach an unreachable man who needed the presence of God, I felt humbled. After all I had painted many landscape paintings in this coat. From Mohegan Island, Maine, to Acadia National Park, Baxter State Park and even the National Forest at Crawford Notch in New Hampshire; this became my coat of many colors. And when I painted I always prayed that the presence of the Holy Spirit be upon me and my art. I was finally at peace about who now owned my coat.

In the end I said to my wife, " So why my coat? Why did this man want that old thing?" and in her beautiful native American way she just said, "Because no one would want it." And although that's a hilarious answer, the truth is this: If the coat was a brand new coat the other homeless people would have fought him over it.

So in this special Holiday Season when we don't always have all the answers and are called upon to give a little more, let us as artists not only think of the things we can give out of our surplus, but maybe the things that we value and have grown close to out of our sacred experiences. Because you just never know when God will ask you to give the very thing that will embrace another with His Presence! 

A week later I received a call from Barbara Stroud from Charleston, South Carolina. She is the editor for ArtFoodHome.com magazine and featured me is an article called, "Featured Artist: Michael E. Vermette!
POSTED ON NOVEMBER 16, 2016 BY BARBARA STROUD. It seemed that good friends of hers bought a painting of mine from my recent show, "Working Harbors" at the Gleason Fine Art Gallery in Boothbay Harbor, Maine. She said she was "WOWED" enough to write about my art in her magazine and would I give her permission to write about me. Not thinking much would come of it, I agreed. The following link is the very article that God used to bless me after giving away my coat of many colors. The timing was perfect and as you can see it is a well written article. Click the following article: http://artfoodhome.com/2016/11/16to view the article. Enjoy!

On a very windy but bright Fall day, Michael paints the small town of Bucksport from

the top of Fort Knox across the Penobscot River. Painted in thick oil paint and rich colors,

you can almost feel the wind at your face from this high vantage point.

If you would like to see this painting up close or place a bid on eBay CLICK HERE.

In a beautiful afternoon light this oil sparkles with emerald tide pools at low tide with

Cadillac Mountain looming in the background. Painted in thick oil paint and rich colors

you can almost smell the salt water of the Blue Hill Bay. If you would like to see this

painting up close or place a bid on eBay CLICK HERE.

The afternoon sun baths Whitehead through the fog on one of Maine's most beautiful

out-to-sea islands in this oil study. Painted in thick oil paint and rich colors you can

almost smell the salt water. If you would like to see this painting up close or place a bid

on eBay CLICK HERE.

" Shooting the rapids on the Kenduskeag Stream in Bangor, Maine" is a plain air

painting that I captured in the Spring of 2016. If you would like to see this painting up

close or place a bid on eBay CLICK HERE.

My selection of eBay auction paintings continues with a special view of Northeastern

Surf at Washerwoman, on Mohegan Island, Maine during a storm. A starting bid

of $200.00 will set you in. If you would like to see more of this painting or place

a bid, please CLICK HERE.

My selection of eBay auction paintings continues with a special view of Sand Beach from Otter Cliffs, Ocean Drive, Acadia National Park. A starting bid of $200.00 will set you in. If you would like to see more of this painting or place a bid, please CLICK HERE.

My selection of eBay auction paintings continue with a starting bid of $200.00. If you would like to see more of this painting or place a bid, please CLICK HERE.

My selection of eBay auction paintings has begun and are starting at a low $200.00 bid. If you would like to see more of this painting or place a bid, please CLICK HERE.

My selection of eBay auction paintings has begun and are starting at a low $200.00 bid. If you would like to see more of this painting or place a bid, please CLICK HERE.