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50 PLUS ONE art show

There is an important meaning behind a one person show that is often missed. It has been said, that when you have a one person show, you are announcing to the world that you are making room to do more artwork. In my case, paintings. And although there is some truth to that, I am beginning to believe that there is still another reason that is less talked about.

So much of painting en plein air is being at the right place at the right time to receive a perfect visual gift. Most of us painters take credit for these exciting visual encounters, often dismissing them as luck or coincidence. But the truth is, it feels much more like a divine hand that is guiding the artist to experience a perfect visual encounter. Often the artist, if alone, will search the landscape to find another artist who might be witnessing this same phenomenon. Sometimes it can be a shared moment with another artist.

Many years ago my fellow colleague and I hiked up Horn Hill to paint at the James Fitzgerald studio the sunset through the fog. We were the only ones there and we began painting a small study each. Suddenly my friend shouted, "Hey, look up!" and when I did we both shared this spectacular pattern of colorful sun rays piercing the sky through the fog bank and lighting up the meadow on Monhegan Island. It was totally unexpected and unplanned. It made us so excited that we altered our paintings to include that encounter. We returned to our studios that year and both painted larger versions of the beauty we experienced that evening and have long since sold our works. But even today, we still talk about that encounter.

If the best painting experiences en plein air are more than just a chance moment, than I believe we are accessing the presence of God through the landscape. And if that is true, that there is this divine presence that is releasing beautiful visual encounters in the form of perfect gifts that inspire the artist, than my question is, how do we receive this aesthetic grace for each of our paintings, when they seem to happen to us by no merit on our own?

I believe it is by first being truthful to ourselves and acknowledging the source of that visual gift as not coming from us. Secondly, and more importantly, it's humbly finding a way to repay by giving back to God that good and perfect gift that was freely given. What I am eluding to is simply this: I believe that most people aren't aware that when an artist has a solo show of their artwork it is not just an announcement that they are seeking to do more work, but it is a way to repay God by returning the beauty given, and at the same time asking for more.

This is why people can leave a show with tears in their eyes. The beauty and truth of the work, the encountering gift, has worked its way through the hand of the painter and touched their inner core. It is a very humbling experience shared by both the artist and the viewer alike, and it has the power to not only redeem our world, but change its consciousness. It is a humility that not only calls for living in the moment, but self forgetfulness on the artist's part. It is the courage to simply consider it a small thing what people think of you, or even what you think of yourself. Because what truly matters when painting en plein air, is that good and perfect gift given from above and what the source of that gift thinks of you. That is why I am so thankful for this show of my work that ends my visiting artist program from August 2020 to August 2021 of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway. I have found the courage to ask for more.

Michael E. Vermette