Blog

HAPPY SPRING

Happy Spring everyone! I hope you are all taking advantage of the great weather we are having to get out and plein air paint. The painting above, "Allagash Rangers Shooting Chase Rapids" is my new large watercolor I just completed for my upcoming one person show at the Gleason Gallery called "50 Plus One", in Boothbay Harbor on August 6th, 2021. This is the second painting idea that came from a live action photo shoot at Chase Rapids just below Churchill Dam in the Allagash Wilderness Waterway when on my second week of my residency in August 2020. The study below,"Chase Rapids", an impasto oil on panel 8 x 10 inches, became the inspiration combined with the photo narratives that informed the paintings that followed by way of color and spontaneity.

The first painting in this series was an impasto oil 38 x 48 inches on heavy Belgian linen called. "Shooting Chase Rapids, Allagsah Wilderness Waterway". This painting composition includes more of a sense of place and the ease of the experienced Allagash Rangers navigating the rapids even when a wave threatens to swamp the canoe. The ranger in the bow is environmental specialist Bob Johnston, and in the stern, superintendent, Matt LaRoche who has recently just retired. After 44 years of dedicated service managing two of Maine's most iconic rivers, the Umsaskis and the Allagash Wilderness Waterway, this adventurious AWW superintendent is paddling' on to retirement. He gave me the painting of the year and I am indebted to him and Bob Johnston for humoring a humble artist. Congratulations Matthew LaRoche I wish you the best!

The second painting is a large watercolor, "Allagash Rangers Shooting Chase Rapids" 27 x 55 inches and painted on vintage 1953 handmade Whattman watercolor paper. In this painting I am placing the viewer directly in the action amidst the torrent, close enough to feel the tension and concentration of the two adventurous paddlers navigating around the treacherious rapids that are shooting over large boulders due to the opening of Churchill Dam.

SPEAK YOUR VOICE

I am currently participating in "Speak Your Voice: the Maine Art Education Association (MAEA) 2021 Virtual Spring Art Exhibition" hosted by Maine College of Art. The show is looking fantastic and I am thrilled to be a part of it! The exhibit will run online from April 15th, 2021 through May 9th, 2021 on the MECA website.

The painting below, "Shooting Chase Rapida, Allagash Wilderness Waterway" will be included in the exhibit. I would appreciate your help in spreading the word once the exhibit goes live. This link below will be the one for the exhibit on April 15th. Stay tuned for updates, and please reach out to me with any questions!

https://www.meca.edu/academics/graduate/mat/speak-your-voice-maea-2021-spring-art-exhibit/

Many thanks for all Maine art educators and the work they do for their students in their community and in the the art education association! Our work and the work we do with our students are so important during this pandemic.

eBay SPRING PAINTING AUCTION: A Second Look

I have started my Spring eBay Auction that will run throughout April and May. This is another opportunity to get a second look at the paintings that are available from the Holiday Auction that ended in December, some of my favorite paintings that never made it in the auction, and paintings that were on exhibit at various New England Watercolor Society Exhibitions in Massachusetts during the past sale.

I have recently posted the first three paintings that are watercolors that were juried into the "Instructor's Exhibit" and the "Brushes With Nature exhibit" through the New England watercolor Society. The New England Watercolor Society or NEWS, sponsors several exhibitions with the recent opening of the NEWS Gallery at the Plymouth Center For The Arts, including two major shows a year including the: Regional Juried Show and the North American Open Juried Show of signature members work of which I am a signature member.

Have fun viewing these paintings up for sale. They are all painting in the Rangeley region that I either painted en plein air on the Artists Trail or in my studio. I will be instructing another Plein Air Watercolor workshop through the Rangeley Friends of the Arts this Summer. The registration for 2021 will be opening on their website and linked to my website in a few weeks and it is scheduled for Tuesday, August 24th to Friday, August 27th, 2021. I hope to have a full class of twelve students and continue the fun we had last year in a safe and productive way.

More watercolor and oil paintings will be posted this weekend.

The best to you all, New beginnings are on the way, it's time to celebrate them,

Michael E. Vermette