ART SPIRIT NEWSLETTER
August 24th, 2018
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PAINT THE TOWN, WALDOBORO, MAINE
Well it's official! My painting, "Friendship Town Wharf" broke the Paint The Town Fresh Paint live auction records, selling for more than any other painting in PTT's history. I painted it the week before and arrived with it to enter, presented in a beautiful ebony frame from School Street Picture Framing, made right here in Brewer, Maine. The buyers, Bob and Sally Butler, told me that upon seeing the painting for the first time, they rushed home to choose a spot for it on their wall. They were going to bid as high as needed to add to their Vermette collection, and I am very grateful for them. The painting sold for $3,150.00.
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"Friendship Town Wharf" at Bob and Sally Butler's Home.
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I also painted with my fellow colleague, Eric Glass, a plein air oil on canvas of "Ram Island From Walker Beach". This painting, although a smaller 20 x 24 canvas, also sold for a high price of $ 1,050.00. Through it all, we couldn't have asked for a better day to paint, as the rain held off and they raised more than ever for the Waldoboro Public Library, the Fire Department, the Lions club and the Saint Georges River Land Trust. All of the directors and chairs spoke about their most worthy causes.
For my wife and I, this is one of my favorite live auctions to participate in, not only because its one of the oldest live art auctions in the state, but because of how accommodating the people of Waldoboro are. The terrific job that Ms. Natalie Masse does with many other volunteers is amazing. The venue is beautifully appropriate, the live music outstanding, and they served up a breakfast for the artists good enough to march on! At the event they offered a buffet of healthy choices that even included lobster tacos and rolls (since it was held during the Lobster Festival, I'm guessing). This was so much fun to participate in!
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THE 63rd ANNUAL KENNEBUNK RIVER CLUB ART SHOW
The Kennebunk River Club 63rd Annual Art Show displayed over 140 works by regional artists, who were all personally invited for this sale. I was invited to show based on my work last year on display at the Yarmouth Frame and Art Gallery. The event took place on Sunday, August 12, noon to 5 p.m. at 115-116 Ocean Avenue, in Kennebunk, Maine.
You can only submit one painting and I wanted to enter my best watercolor of the year, "Mohegan Lobsterboat Captain Changing Course". This painting was too large to enter into the New England Watercolor Society Biennial show this year in Massachusetts; so I wanted to display it at the historical Ocean Avenue club that maintains a high-quality shingle style architecture building listed on the National Register of Historic Places. They use these buildings to showcase the art show venue and put on a very prestigious display of works by Maine artists.
Here is what I wrote about my painting.
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This watercolor is painted on rare vintage Whattman watercolor paper that was purchased in the 1940's. This paper is not made any longer and is supreme in quality essentially having all the benefits of all watercolor papers today in this one sheet. Worth $150.00 per sheet in today's market, it holds up to rigorous experiments and delivers incredible color transitions and grain.
I chose this watercolor paper to depict a Monhegan Lobsterboat captain, (one of the Odem Brothers)"Changing Course".
As the lobster season comes to a close in June on Monhegan Island, Maine, the captain and crew begin to reflect on changing course. That is to say, the captain, will initiate a reflection on strategies of what was successful and what was not in the year. June is a good time to go over these blessings and disappointments among friends who share the same vision that you do as close friends. Life's most critical decisions and expectations can sometimes only be worked out through the hard lessons learned through trust, loyalty and brave leadership displayed on the high seas. Therefore a new plan of action is based upon these hard lessons learned that serve to unite the fishermen together in a unique way as they begin to prepare for the next season and plan for sometimes a radical change in their future.
And so it is with us when we face the radical truth that is learned from life's experiential encounters. It is in those precious times when we patiently work through a difficult season that our character is shaped and molded. Just as true as it is that no one leaves this world without scars, it is also true that no one changes their course in life without enduring life's struggles. This belief that it is going to be "worth it" is the very ability to depart from a reliance on the intellect and more of a reliance on a real heart-felt encounter with the Spirit.
Just as the lobster boats in the harbor are turning into the currents and winds of change, so too must the lobsterboat captain's direction go, and so should we. It's a time to not only finish well but chart a new course, coil the lines, untie and paint buoys, and replace worn out gear.
Whatever direction your course of change may take you, I recommend that you don't get stuck in a complaining mentality but that you spend some time in this place to celebrate that season of new beginning and take some time to embrace the ordinary and small accomplishments on your way. After all, changing course in your life is a very brave and exciting adventure in itself, that ultimately brings success and exceeding joy.
This painting sold for $10,000.00 and reached an all time high for me in sales for one of my watercolors. Carl Little gave this painting a second place award in the Bangor Open Juried Show this year yet it was too large to enter into the 2018 New England Watercolor Biennial show. This bummed me out. But If I have learned anything through this journey and through the years, its that quality will pay big dividends if you can only hang in their and trust in the Spirit's leading and perfect timing. You simply just have to believe that it's all going to be worth it someday.
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THE THOMASTON PLACE AUCTION GALLERIES:
Bold, Beautiful, Rare & Wondrous Summer Auction weekend.
This is a friendly reminder that the biggest fine art auction of more painting's than ever will go up for auctioned at the Thomaston Place Auction Galleries called "Bold, Beautiful, Rare & Wondrous Auction Weekend August 25th &26th!" Along with many other Asian artifacts, and antiquities, an Andrew and Jamie Wyeth will go up for auction as well as many other famous pieces.
My two paintings are on page 227 and 228 in the catalogue. Both of these paintings come from The Leslie Waldron collection that were returned to me to resell. "Moose Call" , on page 228, is a watercolor I did over ten years ago when I discovered and experimented with Chinese white gesso on paper as a ground. I learned this technique from looking and researching James Fitzgerald's watercolor paintings up close. The green canoe owned by Maine guide Alfred Cooper III, is filled with years of scratches and abrasions from the use of the canoe against shore rocks on Katahdin Lake, in Baxter State Park.The guide's hat and rain gear were also painted with a ground before watercolor painted, and also have interesting textures that made the subject pop out of the picture as if real. The idea for the painting came from an experience I had with the Maine guide on a cloudy rainy day, as he demonstrated how to call in a moose with his birchbark moose horn. I was intrigued at the flaring out of the birch bark horn that related to the flairing out of the canoe bow.
This is an excellent opportunity to buy a painting that has been hidden away in a collection, that is estimated to be worth $6,000.00 with a minimum bid of half as much. It is framed in 8-ply museum mattboard and 24 carrot gold leaf frame estimated to cost $1,000.00.
My next painting is on page 228 and is called "Rusty Spear Stacking Lobster Traps". It is an very thick impasto oil painted on heavy Belgian linen that is hard to find today. It was painted in 1999 on Mohegan Island in the Carina House Studio as a part of my Mohegan Artist Residency painting portfolio. I worked very closely with Ann Hubert and Jacqueline Hudson to researched the painting methods of james Fitzgerald and Eric Hudson, in particular the Venetian style of painting that James used with Black Oil Wax Medium added to oil paint to make it butterly. The painting is as rich today as the day I created it. This is the very painting that I was offered the Ram sketch on Manna Island by Jamie Wyeth in exchange for the painting. It was a house painter who owned the original drawing and was painting Jacqueline's cottage at the time. One night he visited my studio and was very impressed with the Black Oil Wax medium calling it, "The Real Thing". I didn't sell it to him, but to my patron at the time, Leslie Waldron, bought it and is now making it available once again. It is beautifully framed in a thick dark wood stained cove frame with a gold leaf liner. It looks like it deserves to be on a Spanish galleon, with the frame costing just over $1,000.00.
Rusty Spear still works on Mohegan Island the last I knew, and he is one of the original Mohegan lobsterman I observed back in 1999. Carl Little once wrote in the Island Journal - July 2014, " Michael Vermette, who emulates the vision of one of the island's great painters of the past, James Fitzgerald (1899-1971), adds impasto oomph to iconic views."
This is a great opportunity to purchase a quality painting that is also estimated at $6,000.00 with a reserve of half that amount.
My two paintings will sell on the second day of the auction weekend this Sunday, August 26th and the auction begins at 11 am. Hope to meet any of you who can make it there who might attend. The event is free to attend unless you raise your bid card, and so goes the live auction with distinguished owner, appraiser & auctioneer Kaja Veilleux.
ART COURSES AT BANGOR HIGH SCHOOL ADULT & COMMUNITY EDUCATION: Begins on Wednesdays and Thursdays September 12th & 13th, 2018.
I am excited to offer two newly designed night courses at Bangor High School this Fall in the areas that I am proficient in as an artist and educator. I plan on teaching a Pastel Landscape Painting class and a Bold & Free Watercolor Figure class of figures in the outdoor environment(this will not be a life painting class involving the nude figure). Here are the descriptions, times and supply Information:
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BOLD PASTEL LANDSCAPE PAINTING
Description:
Join Michael E. Vermette for a painting journey that explores how to make a pastel drawing into a pastel painting with techniques in chalk pastel that depict boldly the landscape as the well known artist Robert Henri. Artists may use drawings and photographs to generate their inspirations for their paintings. Michael will demonstrate his method of painting using a combination of layering soft and hard chalk pastels combined with his enthusiasm with the Maine landscape; a mindset, he describes, where you can let yourself go, have fun, yet still be in control of the medium. From painting soft lost and sharp found edges, to creating a full range of value and color, pastel is perfectly approachable and adaptable especially for the beginner. No previous experience is needed for this class and experienced artists will benefit as well with Michael's friendly and open style of teaching. You will love how much this inspiring course will teach you about pastel painting the Maine Landscape.
Length of the class: 7 weeks on Wednesdays, starting in September.
Location: Bangor High School.
About the Instructor:
Michael E. Vermette double majored in Painting and Printmaking at the Maine College of Art, receiving his B.F.A Painting degree in 1980. He is a Maine certified K-12 Art Educator and has taught art for 32 years. A full-time artist and part-time teacher, Michael has been painting in oil, watercolor, and pastel for over forty-five years and has won numerous awards for his work, including the Loran Coleman, Beverly, and Marilyn Sabin Awards at the New England Watercolor Society where he is a signature member. Michael participates in multiple plein air events and is this year's First Place winner at the Castine Plein Air Festival and a featured artist at several Cape Elizabeth Land Trust, Paint for Preservation art auctions at Cape Elizabeth, Maine.
His watercolors, oils, and pastels are in private collections throughout the country and internationally. In Maine, his works are represented in various galleries, including the Gleason Fine Art Gallery in Boothbay Harbor, The Frame and Art Gallery in Falmouth, The Lupine Gallery on Monhegan Island and the North Light Gallery in Millinocket.
Pastel Painter's Supply List:
I recommend that you use what you have and add essentials as you can afford. I am more focused on working with you right where you are rather than imposing my personal preferences on you. That is why the following is only what I would suggest you think about purchasing for the course.
- Reeves BFK Paper or Arches Hot Press watercolor paper, by sheet 18 x 24 inches or 22 x 30 inches - 7-10 sheets.
- Soft and hard chalk pastels and pastel pencils, a warm and cool statement of each primary color plus secondary, grays, blacks, white for a minimum of 14-18 colors. I use Schmincke, Rembrandt and Sennelier soft pastels and Prismacolor NuPastel.
Cadmium Yellow Light Cadmium Yellow Deep Cadmium Orange Yellow Ochre Cadmium Red Light, Alizarin Crimson Chinese White Burn Sienna Viridian Green Hue Cerulean Blue Cobalt Blue Ultramarine Blue Deep Manganese Blue Prussian Blue Permanent Magenta Ivory Black Indigo
3. Golden Gel Medium, Fine Pumice Gel 8 0z.jar.
4. Set of Fiber-Castell Pastel Pencil Set, (Optional).
5. Paint board or light-weight plexi-glass or formica board at least 2" larger than
your paper.
6. Portfolio, large enough to fit your paper and painting board. (You can make your
own out of cardboard)
7. A roll of 1" maskin tape.
8. A roll of wax paper.
9. Acrylic paint, Yellow Ochre and/or Iron Oxide acrylic paint by Golden.
10. One 2 - 4 inch flat latex house brush brush for painting grounds.
11. Paint Box, to hold all of your pastels in, I use cigar boxes and a backpack with
extra pockets to hold miscellaneous supplies.
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BOLD & FREE WATERCOLOR FIGURES
Description:
Join Michael E. Vermette for a painting journey that explores the human figure using new skills and techniques in watercolor that depict boldly the figure in the landscape. Michael will demonstrate his method of painting in sheer enjoyment of the figure in the landscape and through portraiture; a place, he describes, where you can let yourself go, have fun, yet still be in control of the medium. From painting lost and found edges, to floating washes wildly to create interesting treatment, watercolor is perfectly approachable especially for the beginner. No previous experience is needed for this class and experienced artists will benefit as well with Michael's friendly and open style of teaching. You will love how much this inspiring course will teach you about painting the active figure in watercolor.
Length of the class: 10 weeks on Thursdays, starting in September.
Location: Bangor High School.
Instructor:
Michael E. Vermette double majored in Painting and Printmaking at the Maine College of Art, receiving his B.F.A Painting degree in 1980. He has been a certified K-12 Art Educator for 32 years. A full-time artist and part-time teacher, Michael has been painting in watercolor for over forty-five years and has won numerous awards for his figurative paintings, including the Loran Coleman, Beverly, and Marilyn Sabin Awards at the New England Watercolor Society where he is a signature member. Michael is this year's first place winner of the Castine Plein Air Festival in Castine, Maine and a participant of the Cape Elizabeth Land Trust, Paint for Preservation art auction at Cape Elizabeth, Maine. His watercolors are in private collections throughout the country and internationally. In Maine, he is represented at the Gleason Fine Art Gallery in Boothbay Harbor, where he he is currently having an showcase of his Katahdin Landscape watercolors. He is also represented by The Frame and Art Gallery in Falmouth, the Lupine Gallery on Monhegan Island, and the North Light Gallery in Millinocket.
Watercolor Supply List
Again, I always recommend that you use what you have and add essentials as you can afford it. I am more focused on working with you right where you are rather than imposing my personal material preferences on you. That is why the following is only what I would suggest you think about purchasing for the workshop.
- Watercolor Paper, by sheet 22" x 30" - 7-10 sheets or a block no larger than 18"x 24" (they hold 20- sheets or so). I have used Arches, Fabriano and Gemini watercolor brands for mold made papers and Twinrocker, Indian Village and vintage Whattman for handmade watercolor papers all 140lb to 300 lb press (cold press is prefered, but you can also use hot press or rough).
- Watercolor paints in tubes or cakes/pans- a warm and cool statement of each primary color plus secondary, grays, blacks, white for a total of no more than 14-18 colors. I use Holbein, Grumbacher, Winsor & Newton, Daniel Smith and Old Holland watercolors because I have been painting for over 45 years and love color. Only Holbin has no ox gall in the paint, just pure gum arabic as the binder. It is more affordable than other brands. I recommend the following colors:
- Cadmium Yellow Light Cadmium Yellow Deep Cadmium Orange Yellow Ochre Cadmium Red Light, Alizarin Crimson Chinese White Burn Sienna Viridian Green Hue Cerulean Blue Cobalt Blue Ultramarine Blue Deep Manganese Blue Prussian Blue Permanent Magenta Ivory Black Indigo
- Studio Palette, with mixing areas separate from the wells.
- Three watercolor brushes, I use the Balmoral Kolinsky brand, but cheeper Langnickel brushes will also do. Choose a small round no. 6, a no. 12 and a Large 1" Flat.
- Cotton Rags or roll of paper towels.
- Paint board or light-weight plexi-glass or formica boardthat is non-absorbent at least 2" larger than your paper.
- Portfolio, large enough to fit your paper and painting board. (You can make your own out of cardboard)
- Graphite Pencils, 6B or HB or H depending on preference and how much you want the graphite line to be seen in your work.
- Paint Box, to hold all of your paint tubes, brushes, and miscellaneous supplies.
- Miscellaneous Supplies: Sketch book, a roll of 1" maskin tape, a sponge (natural are the best), 2 collapsible cups for holding water or a cool whip container, kneaded eraser, ex-acto knife, and extra media to add to watercolor such as ink, liquid watercolor or watercolor pencils and pastels
These classes are going to be lots of experiences in fun learning for the Fall Season. They are also packed with useful information for painters. In the Spring I am planning to offer an oil painting course. So if you are disappointed that I am not teaching an oil painting class, hold on, I'm currently designing one for the Spring session.
have a great end to your summer as you plan for the Fall,
Michael E. Vermette
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