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The following is the tenth journal entry on February 24th, of Michael E. Vermette's Artist-in-residency at Crawford Notch at the Appalachian Mountain Club's new Outdoor Highland Center in Crawford Notch State Park and the White Mountain National Forest, New Hampshire. The duration of his residency was a week long, between February 19th to February 25th, 2017. In this time he created 11 painted oil sketches that were made completely outdoors en plein air within the region. Sometimes near the lodge, other times hiking up to 5 miles to and from a site on snowshoes with his studio on his back, he painted in the coldest weather and in the most challenging conditions. On the first day he featured a presentation of the White Mountain Painters and the following week an Open Studio exhibition of his work, displaying two new paintings each day between 4PM and 6PM for the guests at the AMC Highland Center. This is his story.

BREAKING THE BOUNDARY OF PREJUDICE

Since Saturday February 25th would be a traveling day with a final open studio exhibit in the morning, today I realized that this would be my last real opportunity to paint the region at Crawford Notch, New Hampshire. I was really blessed to get a week without a lot of unpleasant weather conditions and was able to paint some amazing and unexpected subject matter in the form of painted sketches. However, one of my original goals that I had when I came here was to paint a sketch of one of the waterfalls. The only problem with that is the very fact that nearly all of them were frozen over and covered with 3 to 4 feet of snow. You could hear them, but you would be hard pressed to find one with a lot of water action.

All week long I had been told with an open ridicule from the local residents that all of the waterfalls were too frozen over and covered with snow to get a decent view. So, on my last painting day of my residency, I was conflicted about whether to stay and paint at the Highland Center lodge or try and find a waterfall that would offer a view of moving water amongst the deep snow.

Prejudice, at least in the form of a discouraging thought that dismisses what you might be inspired to do, can keep you from the painting what you are purposed to accomplish that day. It can make you stagnated and keep you from thinking and acting clearly and selectively toward choosing a subject to paint on location. Your focus is more scattered and you can find yourself not knowing what direction to move forward. This is what I experience on this Friday morning as i drove around searching for a subject to paint.

There were a lot of voices that didn't offer encouragement. The voice of the weatherman who said it was going to rain all day. But the sun was out this morning with very little evidence of that. The Falls were suppose to be too iced and snowed over to see flowing water, but there were rivers and streams with flowing water that you could observe. After turning the car around several times, I finally remembered the words of wisdom of what to do when this discouragement comes upon you.

When you are beginning to believe in the words and bad reports of the nay-sayers who are going against what you have in your heart to accomplish, decide to expand your vision of what the Spirit wants you to do. That is, raise your thinking to a higher level of perception so that everything can change and get you back on track. After I opened my mind to the inspiration of the Spirit, I could focus better and my thoughts that before was saying, "Could any waterfall be worth painting?" changed to a hopeful, "Go and See!" It was then that I decided upon Jackson Falls not knowing what I would find.

Now, Jackson Falls is a very long series of rapid style waterfalls that runs through the town of Jackson, New Hampshire. Many of the White Mountain artists in art history painted there and hung their paintings in the local hotels who sold their majestic mountain and waterfall scenery. They were among the first artists-in-residence who made a handsome living off the sales of their paintings at the turn of the century. And curiously enough, the painted sketch was changing from an insignificant rendering to a valued painting. So when I arrived there I felt that sense of painting in the footsteps of the masters who have painted before me. It felt like a huge cloud of artistic witnesses were looking down upon me and cheering me on. And what I found was exactly what I was looking for.

It was simply awe inspiring to see large swaths of moving water appearing through very large holes in the snow covered ice and rock. I was able to drive right up to the location but it was very difficult to navigate to an area where I could get the best view. The problem was the deep snow that was beginning to melt on this warm day. It was four feet in some areas that covered even deeper crevices between rocks that were hidden and deceptively smoothed over by the snow. I could easily step wrong and posthole well below my thigh, twisting an ankle or worse. So I literally and selectively followed the footprints that were left there by others and was able to reach a bench that gave me an excellent view of snow, ice, rock and fast moving water.

The early morning sun broke through and illuminated my subject right on cue as I was setting up my easel. There were large areas that were still in shadows of pinkish blue violet light that made me paint quickly to capture it. Later on when I finished the painting the whole subject was bathed in sunlight and offered a less interesting composition. So I was thankful to have been able to capture that moment from direct observation when I did. I love how the water appears, disappears and then reappears as the water eventually rushes by the viewer's feet. There is the contrast of the feeling of a false safety, or security of snow covered rock and ice that is contrasted by the dangerously powerful reality of the fast moving water.

This painting almost didn't happen because of the biases that I was beginning to take on and form in my mind based on the reports and stories I was told by others. Sometimes you just have to go beyond the negative reports, the ridiculing laughter and the pre-judgement that shoots down your aspiring visual ideas. You have to expand your vision and raise your thinking to the level that you actually experience a breakthrough; braking the very boundary of prejudice that in the end transforms your painting.