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"One Door Closed Another Opened

Staying on mission as an artist is perhaps the hardest thing to do as a painter. From time to time we even have to take a hard look at what our mission as an artist actually is. With the recent COVID-19 pandemic, many artists have become introspective with their purpose and artistic processes. At this point in my career I was suppose to be retired from public school art education and starting my journey as a full time painter. But that was not meant to be. I just couldn't bring myself to retire during this crisis. So not only did I work all last year, but I learned how to teach on line and become computer savvy. Now I am facing truly my last year of teaching at the Indian Island School on the Penobscot reservation. This year will truly be a year of transition for me as I continue to paint in watercolor and oil and as I hand the mantel of Maine Indian Art Education over to another more qualified than me. I feel like a door is closing for me and one is opening, as I am preparing to take this year to walk through towards the next chapters of my life.

MY BOOK and My Show in August

Ever since the day that my vacation began back in June, I have thrown myself into writing my book, and working with my good friend and editor, Adrienne Piewonski. The book recorded my day-to-day experiences for 14 days in the Allagash Wilderness Waterway back in the summer of 2020. The book and the showing of my paintings are entitled: 50 PLUS ONEreferring to the 50th anniversary of the 92 mile waterway being designated as a national wilderness river preserve and the 50 paintings I did in response to each year since of its inception. My book is currently being published through McCarthy Printers and is expected to be available for a book signing at my special opening at the Gleason Fine Art Gallery in Boothbay Harbor on August 6th.

I have received a lot of recognition this summer including a centerfold article called, "Michael Vermette: A Passion for Plein Air" written by Carl Little in the May/June issue of Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors magazine in the special freshwater focus of Painting the Allagash. Carl has also written the foreword in my book, a portion of it reads,

" A committed plein air painter, ready to fend off black flies and deal with rapid changes in the weather, Vermette immerses himself in the landscape as an act of communion. To be one with lakes and rivers, swaying trees, sunrises and sunsets, is as important as painting itself. Indeed, they are inseparable.

In both oil and watercolor Vermette is an action painter, capturing the scene with an immediacy that brings the painting - and landscape -to life. At the same time, he displays a discipline borne of years spent studying and rendering Maine's lakes and rivers, islands and mountains."

Carl Little edited his brother David's book Art of Katahdin, which features several of my paintings. He lives and writes on Mount Desert Island. Gleason Fine Art Gallery has also created a full page advertisement of three of my works in the same issue of Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors magazine featuring three of my paintings. In August they are going to put another full page advertisement of six of my Allagash oil paintings in the August issue of DownEast magazine. DownEast magazine conducted a statewide survey and have voted once again for the second year in a row, Gleason Fine Art, the number one gallery in the State of Maine. It is an honor to end my visiting artist open studio program there by have a very special showing of 53 of my paintings of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway. A bi-fold invitation card is being printed out for the opening and book signing by Gleason Fine Art and will go out soon for the show on August 6th, 2021.

Paint The Peninsula: Blue Hill, Maine

More recently I participated with my fellow colleague and longstanding friend and painter Eric Glass in the Blue Hill Library's Paint The Peninsula 2021, which took place for the artists last week. Eric and I painted last wednesday and stayed at the Blue Hill Inn over night. We created three plein air oil paintings each within our time spent there, each taking 3 hours to complete. Our idea this year was to paint views from a mountain, of an island, and of a river, all of which were in Blue Hill. We began with a view of Mount Desert Isle from Blue Hill Mountain, then hiked out to paint a view of Barred Island in the Barred Island Preserve on Deer Island. The next morning we painted the famed reversing Falls in Blue Hill including the view of the historical bridge which is sadly scheduled to be replaced. We may have been among the last to have painted it since they will begin construction on it soon.

Blue Hill Library's "Paint the Peninsula" Fundraiser will be held July 19 - July 24 featuring 90 local artists, whose paintings will be auctioned off during an online auction of the week of July 19-24, as a fundraiser for the Blue Hill Public Library. Eric and I submitted our two paintings of the view from Blue Hill Mountain and of the Bridge over the Reversing Falls. These paintings will be put on display at the library starting Monday, July 19th. All of the bidding will be online this year. The paintings can be viewed online or in person at the library. This year's lead sponsor is the Merle B. Grindle Agency of Blue Hill.

The Ellsworth American was reported to have said, "The resulting exhibition will be a celebration of both the area and the artists who live here. It is rare to have so many artists - from young, emerging talent to some of the region's most celebrated painters - participating in a single event." Of which I totally agree.

The opening bids range from $50-$600. All of the sales support both the Blue Hill Library's operating budget and the local arts community.

For more information or to place a bid contact The Blue Hill Public Library

at 374-5515 or visit www.bhpl.net to get connected.

This year Eric and I were featured in the advertisement of this event. It was taken by a local photographer two years ago before the event was cancelled because of COVID-19 last year. She lives in the cottage behind Eric in the photo and took the picture of us early in the morning at the reversing Falls, and on the same day the paintings went up for auction in 2019.

The painting at the beginning of this newsletter, "Barred Island, Deer Isle" is also for sale through my studio. It may already have captured the eye of a few buyers. All in all, this was a very productive painting experience that made up for not having it last year due to the pandemic. I have also started plein air painting again, which is a particular joy after spending so long writing a book.

The Maine Art Gallery Plein Air Paint Wiscasset 2021

The next Plein Air festival I am participating in is the Maine Art Gallery Plein Air Paint Wiscasset 2021. This event will be taking place in my home town where I attended Wiscasset Elementary school before graduating and moving on to Brunswick in 1972. The festival schedule is as follows:

Wednesday through Friday, July 21-23: All Day Painting

Saturday, July 24; Morning Painting; All wet paintings must be delivered to the art gallery by 11 am on Saturday. Paintings completed may also be dropped off prior to Saturday morning.

Reception and Sale 4:00 to 8:00 pm

Sunday, July 25: Sale from 11:00 am

The Gleason Fine Art Gallery in Boothbay have agreed to bring over 3 of my dried oils and I will be including 4 new wet plein air oils from the week for the reception and Sale on Saturday for a total of 7 paintings. It is expected to be an exciting event. I hope to see some of my past acquaintances and friends at the reception.

Maine Audubon's: Brush With Nature and Hybrid Auction

The Maine Audubon's jury has selected me to participate in the event Maine Audubon's Brush With Nature and auction. This special plein air painting event is scheduled for the fall of Thursday, September 9th to Monday, September 12th of 2021. This year they are inviting plein air painters to be inspired by nature at their sanctuaries to create beautiful paintings outdoors to engage visitors in each artists' artistic process. The paintings will be auctioned off, with proceeds benefiting Maine Audubon's education, conservation, and advocacy programs.

I will be painting en plein air at Borestone Mountain Audubon Sanctuary in Elliotsville. The public is invited to watch me while I work. To learn about my location and other sanctuaries, visit: maineaudubon.org/visit

The online auction is scheduled to run through September 25th, 2021.Due to the continuing uncertainty around the COVID-19 pandemic, they are working on a safe plan and appreciate your patience as they work out details of a possible hybrid auction. Online and in-person previews will be available at Gilsland Farm Audubon Sanctuary in Falmouth. 

I am very excited to participate in this event, I look forward to creating a painting that reflects the centerpiece of Maine Audubon's north woods presence. Thanks to the surrounding community's support and involvement, more than 4,000 hikers every year have access to this treasured mountain. For anyone who would like to see my painting process at the Borestone Mountain Audubon Sanctuary in Elliotsville, I will post details of my paintout event in my future Fall newsletter envoling times and my exact location.

Four Workshops

I am offering 4 plein air workshops this summer and into the Fall. The first one is with the Maine Youth Wilderness Leadership Program students through the Friends of Baxter at Daicey Pond and The Ledges in Baxter State Park. I will have 10 students and 2 instructors that I will completely fit out with plein air equipment and supplies for the day to paint up to three 11x 14 inch watercolors of these two locations.

As they have done in the past, these highly qualified and potential wilderness leaders will meet me at Daicey Pond Campground in the morning for a painting session of a view of Katahdin from the camp. Then we will travel to The Ledges to paint Double Top and the river that runs through the park. The program is completely directed by the Friends of Baxter. After painting, they will be free to take a well deserved dip in the natural water slide of the river. For more information of this program through the Friends of Baxter CLICK HERE.

My next workshop will be a plein air watercolor workshop in the mountains of Rangeley on the famed artists' Trail. This workshop includes three full days of painting and concludes with a final morning review of all of the student's paintings produced on the week. It begins with a free "Brushes With Nature" paint-out on Monday, August 23rd and follows with the workshop from August 24th to the morning of August 27th.

The students in this workshop will have the opportunity to paint two or more watercolors on location and go to several sites on the Artists' Trail in Rangeley. There is still room in this workshop if you would like to join us. To register and for more information go to my website or CLICK HERE to register.

The next two workshops are in the Fall. I will be returning to Rangeley and teaching a plein air oil painting class on the new Artist's Trail. Set up exactly like the watercolor plein air workshop, the oil paint-outs focuses on making simular sized oils on location en plein air. The biggest difference will be the Fall foliage and experiencing the mountain views aflame with color.

The variant color of the rock found in such places as Small Falls are simply stunning. I will be making available my Black Oil Wax medium and in the materials list on my web site I demonstrate how to make the highly prized painting panels that I use on site. This workshop starts on Friday, September 17th and ends on Monday, September 20th in the morning, after a final viewing of each student's works. For more information on this new plein air oil workshop in Rangeley Click Here.

My last workshop for the year will be located at Nugent's Camps on Chamberlain Lake in the Allagash between October 1st to October 4th, 2021. There is still room for students to register. However, there is no availability at the camp before the workshop date, so we will begin the first day we all arrive with a schedule that begins at noontime. The Camp fee is very affordable and so to with the price of the workshop. This is because I am committed to be there no matter how many students I get. I simply, as an artist myself, want to have one more opportunity to paint in the Allagash during peak foliage.

This time I will be painting a larger version of watercolors in my demonstrations, and the structure of the workshop will be less of a race and more focused on one method of painting en plein air each day, rather then several.There will be lots of one on one attention payed to participants as well as helpful group critiques. I'm looking forward to experiencing plein air wilderness painting at it's best, and in a season I have yet to see myself. I invite those who can come along to join me on this very productive weekend. To register you can go to my website main page and for further contact information in reserving your cabin CLICK HERE.

Ebay Sale Ends in July

My eBay sale of my older inventory of paintings, I have given an extra month. It will be coming to an end by Friday, July 31st. I will no longer realist anymore paintings until the Fall when I might have a Seasonal Sale of small works. I currently have relisted 18 paintings and I hope you can find the time to check them out in the next ten days.

All 18 pieces are listed at $250.00 and I will also accept offers no lower than $200.00. They are unframed except a few but of high quality. I want to thank those who have taken advantage of this sale and now own some beautiful works of mine in their homes. You have helped me to publish my new book which will be available on August 6th, 2021.

Remember the cliche', When God closes a door he opens another. Next year at this time I will be a full time painter and I expect to be spending a lot more time in my studio and painting everywhere. Namely a trifecta of award winning paintings of the mountains, rivers, and islands of Maine.

Keep painting!

Michael E. Vermette