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SUMMER IN REVIEW: Why I'm Thankful

As I have put off writing a newsletter for some time now, it has become increasingly difficult to share all that has happened since the last one I wrote. But as I draw nearer to the holidays I grow increasingly thankful of all that has transpired over the summer months and even down to the present. I have such fond memories of events that turned out fantastic for my family and I that taught me where I need to improve. Early on, I decided to not use my retirement, from public school art education, to fully retire, but to move into becoming a full time professional artist. It was a change of career that I have been dreaming about for years that now has become a reality. My plan from day one back in June was simply to enter every plein air festival and apply for all the art shows and auction opportunities in Maine and New England. I also wanted to continue to teach adult plein air workshops, art courses and experience new gallery options. I have done most of that this summer, checking off some of my dreams and goals, as ones on a bucket list.

But presently I am pausing, to be thankful as I recall the many events that filled my late Spring, Summer and Fall. The following are some of the highlights that stand out for me and made this season an unforgettable one.

Starting on July 2nd to the 9th of this last summer I participated in the Wiscasset Plein Air event through the Maine Art Gallery and shared the top winning prize with two of my fellow plein air painters for my oil painting, "View Of The Sheepscot River From Fort Hill Street, Wiscasset" I painted 6 paintings that are presently at these two galleries for their holiday sale, http://www.yarmouthframeandgallery.com. and https://www.gleasonfineart.com.

Next on July 11th to July 16th was the week I stayed at the Blue Hill Inn and painted in Blue Hill for the "Paint The Peninsula" Silent Auction to benefit the Blue Hill Library. I was thankful to have sold both of my paintings. But many do not realize that I painted a third one of a view from the summit of Blue Hill Mountain, that is still available for sale. It depicts a view of Blue Hill from Blue Hill Mountain just before a summer storm descends upon the bay. It is currently for sale at https://www.gleasonfineart.com in Boothbay Harbor, Maine for this Holiday season.

In July and in August I am also thankful to have shown my Allagash and Rangeley paintings through the Lakeside Theater in downtown Rangeley and through the Rangeley Friends of the Arts. I was also able to teach a watercolor and oil painting workshop that bookended the show in their gallery schedule. These workshops were very successful and productive for the students and myself. I was vary thankful that Nora West came back on both weeks to be a terrific monitor for the 2 workshops. Many of my watercolors and oils from this workshop are on sale on eBay for a discounted Holiday price. We are currently planning on doing both workshops again next year with changes that should make them even better. So stay tuned, much of the planning and implementing will be hopefully coming out in January 2023.

In July 29th to July 31st I was very thankful to be juried into the "Camden On Canvas" Plein Air and Art Auction Event to benefit the Camden Public Library. The coordinators put my wife and I up in a very posh bed and breakfast downtown to honor my retirement of 36 years of teaching for Maine Indian Education. I sold my painting with a vision of doing more in the future. I hope they continue to do this event next year and invite me again to apply so that I can paint an even better painting for them. This was a very successful event for both the artists involved and the library and their patrons.

I began August teaching a one-day plein air watercolor workshop for the Maine Youth Wilderness Leadership program students, and through the Friends of Baxter State Park on August 4th. This was an amazing day long

experience I had with the students that began at Kidney Pond Pond where the park visiting artist was staying at. In the afternoon we traveled to the Ledges in the park, where they painted their second watercolor each on the day. After they finished, they enjoyed their traditional swim at the natural pools and waterslides of the Ledges they had just painted. I hope to do this again next year and make some logistical changes in Baxter State Park for next year's MYWLP student painting workshop, which I hope will be even better.

I was very excited with the outcome of the plein air oil painting workshop in Rangeley through the Rangeley Friends of the Arts. As with the watercolor workshop, this included a free oil painting demonstration on the night of August 15th. It covered plein air equipment and art supply materials mixed with advice on best practices in painting on location in Rangeley. We continued the next day and throughout the week to August 19th when the workshop ended with over a hundred quality plein air oil paintings produced by the artists who participated in painting the various sites on the famed Artist's Trail.

After that, I was excited to participate with some of the best Maine plein air painters in the very first Habitat for Humanity Plein Air Art Auction in Belfast, Maine on August 28th. I painted in plein air a large oil of the tugboats in the harbor from one of the docks. My painting was purchased by a buyer who use to work for the Farnsworth Museum and it was a particular honor that she now owns my Belfast Tugboat oil painting, since she chooses that image on the cover of the Chamber of Comerse brochure each year. It was one of the highest purchased paintings in the auction. The fundraising staff did well for their first time and I know they will do an even better job next year. I look forward to returning to participate.

Starting in September 2nd I was excited to paint again for the "Great Art For Great Reads", an on-line art auction to benefit the Waldoboro Public Library. I entered two paintings, a large oil and watercolor that both sold. One of the larger oils I painted for the event was an impasto version of the afternoon sunset light on the harbor of Friendship Bay. I hope to participate next year in what is rumored to be an even better live auction similar to what they had a few years ago.

My solo show at the Lakeside Theater in Rangeley ended on September 9th and was less of a success than I expected. The opening of the show was poorly attended and not advertised in the local news papers until after the opening. I was also in less control of which paintings actually were exhibited and where my paintings actually hung in the gallery. I was trying for a balance of Rangeley and Allagash paintings that were painted at the same time in August 2020. As it ended up, they also included works of Baxter Stater Park with images of Katahdin that were painted years before. On the brighter side, they did actually advertise in the newspaper a week or so later and as the word got out more people got a chance to see the show. I also did sell a few books and unframed paintings through my students of the plein air oil painting workshop.

Presently all of the works have returned to me from various different gallery shows that followed. In December these paintings are going to be featured in a future art sale I am going to participate in through Maine College of Art & Design, Mainstay X MECA&D Holiday Edition at Halo at Thompson's Point in Portland, Maine. I intend to sell my small works that are left over from my residency and these shows at a super holiday price.

On September 9th & 10th I traveled to Ogunquit to take part in the Ogunquit Plein Air Painting Event at Perkins Cove. I stayed at a beautiful B&B and painted two bold 16 x 20 inch oils on basswood panels on the following day of the festival. It was my first time participating in this event and I had difficulty with getting my work registered on time to be judged by the Juror. I was also trying to figure out the price point for sales of paintings. Many people enjoyed my work, especially a younger ten year old boy who made a point of meet me, shaking my hand, and telling me that in his opinion my painting was the best in the show. I was humbled by his innocence and honesty. I would love to do it again next year, but I will make it a one-day event since it was so expensive to stay there overnight.

Then, from September 25th to September 27th, with a few weeks off, I went to Monhegan Island to paint for the Lupine Gallery. I dropped off a series of 7 small, freshly painted 8 x 10 inch oils on cradled bass wood gypsum panels that I painted there in plein air, just before leaving for the mainland. They were of the surf at Lobster Cove, Surf at Lobster Point, Surf at Gull Rock at High Tide, Sunrise at Whitehead, View of the Headlands from the trail atop Whitehead, A view of Black Head from 1-A trail, and a Quick surf painting at Lobster Cove. The gallery can be reached online at https://lupinegallerymonhegan.com on Monhegan Island, Maine.

It was a particular thrill to be chosen as one of the artists for the "Brushes With Nature" Audubon Plein Air event and Auction at the Maine Audubon Society at Gilsland Farm in Falmouth, Maine. My assignment was to paint at Biddeford Pool, and I painted a 16 x 20 inch oil on basswood gypsum panel and a much larger 36 x 36 inch framed oil on linen. I was very happy to see my smaller painting sell in auction on September 29th and weeks later the larger one to two perfectly supportive people who love the area and are dedicated to the Audubon mission as I am. Presently 4 oils of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway and 2 watercolors from Rangeley are in their salon-style group show of Maine artists, presenting works 12" x 12" or smaller in their Holiday show at Gilsland Farm's gallery. There will be a social reception and evening holiday shopping event, 4-7 pm on Tuesday, December 13th at Gilsland Farm, 20 Gilsland Farm Road, Falmouth, Maine 04105.https://www.maineaudubon.org

I stayed overnight in Gardiner at my friend's house, Eric Glass, before traveling the next day on September 30th to Rockport, Massachusetts. I intended to participate in my first out-of-state plein air painting Festival called the Cape Ann Plein Air Festival (CAPA) which began October 1st. I was assigned a terrific host family that was new to the festival themselves, and together we did pretty well. I stayed at their newly renovated apartment attached to their house that historically was the boarding house of the quarry workers of Rockport, Massachusetts. It couldn't have been more strategically located for me to be able to paint at all of the locations I chose to paint. I made a lot of mistakes, mostly due to my unfamiliarity of the area and learned a lot about what I would do next year, if I were ever chosen again. I managed to find all the locations that were unfamiliar to me via my gps on my phone, which wasn't always reliable. I painted eight beautiful impasto oils 16 x 20 inches in size. I sold one of my paintings so far and the rest are presently showing at the Gleason Fine Art Gallery and the Yarmouth Frame and Gallery in Yarmouth, Maine. They also can be viewed online at the CAPA online store at http://www.capeannpleinair.com. 

CAPA 2022 was truly the largest on the east coast and It was a pleasure and a lot of fun painting with some of the best plein air painters that I had ever painted with before. I absolutely loved being a part of the CAPA 2022 festival and now I have a much better idea of how I would approach the subjects and themes if I am chosen to come back next year. I have now one out-of-state plein air festival under my belt and the largest one on the East Coast at that. I consider it a dream come true and I can check that one off my bucket list. They have already set the date for next year's event for the week of October 8th 2023!

On the week of October 16th to October 22nd three of my Katahdin watercolors sold in the on-line and in-person art sale of the Saint Bartholomew's Yarmouth Art Festival, in Yarmouth, Maine. I was very honored to be the only painter with three paintings in the juried sale and got acquainted with the wonderful staff that applied 30% of more than 15,000.00 (total from all the painting sales from all the artists)in sales toward St. Elizabeth's Jubilee Center in Portland, and Friendship House in South Portland. All of the paintings I entered were Katahdin watercolors including 1) Katahdin From Katahdin Lake, 2)Katahdin From Kidney Pond, 3) Katahdin From Sandy Stream Pond. The "Katahdin From Kidney Pond" watercolor that was sold is the very image that was used as today's coffee bag image of Mainly Coffee's Baxter Blend!

https://www.mainelycoffee.com

I hope to get another chance to participate in all these sales, festivals and auctions again next summer in 2023. I'm looking forward to it being a year of better artistic focus, health and productivity.

Starting back in September14th and 15th til now I have been continuing to teach two adults education classes including: a 10-week Impasto Oil Painting course and a 10-week Watercolor Portrait Course, at the United Technologies Center in Bangor, Maine. These classes meet every Wednesday and Thursday and are offered through Bangor Adult Education.

The art in these classes made from the students are simply amazing as is their progress. The painting above,"Truth Talker" is a demonstration I did in the watercolor Portrait class and in my studio. It has been a delight to teach and interact with such creative individuals and witness their progress each week. I will be wrapping up this courses within the next three weeks.

HOLIIDAY PAINTING SALES & MAINSTAY XMECA&D HOLIDAY EDITION

The Holiday Show & Sale has begun. I have recently been selected as one of the venders of this year's MECA&D Holiday Show. I have decided to post a new painting for sale each day of the week through my newsletter, and Instagram, right up to the event and throughout the holidays. This will give you a taste of what to expect on December 1st. I have over 30 paintings that will be on display of my inaugural residency in the Allagash Wilderness Waterway in 2020. I also have some new ones of the Allagash from Nugent's Camp on Chamberlain Lake in Maine and in the Fall. Most of my paintings will sell between the $250.00 to $500.00 price range for works framed. I will also be selling the new revised edition of my book, "50 Plus One, Allagash Wilderness Waterway Inaugural Visiting Artist 2020, for a discounted Holiday sale price of $30.00. It features over 50 color plates of the paintings that I made as a visiting artist in the Allagash and makes a great Christmas gift as a coffee table book.

Please consider joining me and other artists for Mainstay, a monthly series of early-evening gatherings in unique spaces around Maine with great food, drink, and company.

Maine Home Design and Maine magazine have partnered with MECA&D for a Mainstay X Holiday Edition on December 1st at Halo at The Point. Come and enjoy a cocktail while you shop photography, paintings, sculptures, jewelry, and more, created by MECA&D alumni.

This event will be invite only for Maine Home Design, Mainemagazine and MECA&D's VIP'S from 5-6pm, with general admission from 6-9pm. One drink ticket will be given to VIP guests from 5-6pm, with additional drinks available for purchase.

Our VIP event is brought to you by High North Wellness, while our public event is brought to you by: Harvard Pilgrim, Bangor Savings, The Hanover Insurance Group, WIPFLI, USI Insurance, University Credit Union, and Wright Ryan.

On December 1st all of my 30 paintings will be on display in person for a one-day super sale price at the Halo at the Point venue located in the Brick North building at Thompson's Point in Portland, Maine. Halo At The Point is a 6800 square foot open concept event venue that bridges the rugged beauty of its exposed brick and classic 1800's industrial architecture with modern lighting and amenities.

Enjoy the paintings that I post, and feeling thankful for this year,

Michael E. Vermette