SETTING OUT INTO SPRING
Happy Spring everyone! As I start out planning my summer and teaching night classes with some really talented individual artists, I am reminded of the "Child" within me who awakens with new and creative inspirations this time of year. Of course I am referring to a child-likeness not a childishness. I am setting out to set time aside to make a creative journey back to my heart. I like what Charles Saite-Beuve puts it,
"With everyone born human, a poet - an artist - is born, who dies young and who is survived by an adult." -Charles Augustine Sainte-Beuve
I have a very real desire to turn that around, to take walks in the woods and along the coast, not say a word, and seek out creative ideas, allowing the spirit to fill the well of my soul. The Indigenous First Nation Americans people of this country call this action a "vision quest", similar to them the Celts call this simply a "Quest" and even similar again the Russian church called this a "Poustinia." For me it is my "Art Spirit Quest" that I am setting time aside for, to meet my Creator in silence and solitude in the painting process in plein air. I want to recover the creative passion of my youth, when angels whispered to me in my ear ideas of creative play. And it has enkindled a desire in me to return to places that I have painted in my youth, in the days before I knew to call it painting in plein air. This resolve to actualize the visual desires of my heart goes intentionally beyond theorizing about it. I have made a plan to paint on locations as a form of prayer and communication to the Spirit.
My soul, like everyone else's grapples with the doubt, and the practicality of actually doing what the heart orders. Because it is difficult to be childlike and nurture that place in your heart that gets excited about what you are seeing visually and what might be possible. The first thing my uncle did with our family when we moved to California, was take us all to Disneyland in Anaheim, California. I still remember it vividly all these years later, how I had a hard time sleeping the night before, I was so excited. My uncle was the first painter I ever met and that trip became a visual feast that stimulated my creative journey at 5 and 6 years old. He didn't just talk about Disneyland, he actually took us, and over the three years in Los Angeles we lived there, we went 7 times! It is that plan to do something, to make a plan, seek out, grab hold and pocket what we need, that has always moved me forward into creative breakthroughs. It never came from intellectual analysis. Even in the face of global warming as a plein air painter what excites me the most is just how our natural environment is breaking through the barriers with life and beauty. A most worthy subject, when you are painting the landscape and setting out into Spring!
MY CALENDAR THIS SUMMER SO FAR
March thru April: One Person Show at the Mark and Emily Turner Memorial
Public Library in Presque Isle, Maine- 36 oil and watercolor
paintings on display, and a presentation on the
Allagash Wilderness Waterway, and book signing for the
50 PLUS ONE book to be announced soon. Opening Reception and presentation/book signing is April 14th, 4PM at the Mark & Emily Turner Library in Presque Isle, Maine.
June 12th to July 9th - "Paint Wiscasset And Beyond" a plein air event, sale
and show at the Maine Art Gallery in Wiscasset,
Maine, Reception, Awards and sale June 17th 4-7PM.
June 23rd to June 25th - " Paint For Preservation 2023" CELT (Cape
Elizabeth Land Trust) plein air painting event
and Live Auction.
June 23rd to June 30th - "Paint The Peninsula" Blue Hill Library, Blue Hill,
Maine, Plein Air Event and Silent Auction-sale on
Friday June 30th, 2023.
July 21st to July 23rd - "Camden On Canvas" Plein air event and live
Auction at the Camden Public Library, Camden,
Maine.
September 30 to October 1st - "Art Works For Humanity 2023" Plein air
event and live auction on October 1st at
the Belfast Boathouse in Belfast, Maine. To
benefit the Waldo County Habitat for
Humanity building project for a single
mother and 4 children.
WORKSHOPS
July 10th to July 14th - Plein Air Watercolor Painting Workshop in
Rangeley, Maine, through the Rangeley Friends
of The Arts, Lakeside Theater, Rangeley, Maine.
August 7th to August 11th - Plein Air Oil Painting Workshop in Rangeley,
Maine through the Rangeley Friends of The
Arts, Lakeside Theater, Rangeley, Maine.
ART IS FOR HUMANITY
This year I am the juror and on the board of the Waldo County Habitat for Humanity, "Art Works For Humanity 2023" Plein Air Live Action Event. Is off to a great start. The web-site is officially up & running! Take a minute to check it out when you get a chance! (https://www.artworksforhumanity.org/)
We will be adding more information about the single mother family with 4 children that is receiving a house this year. So far we have 23 generous artists who will join with the Belfast Habitat For Humanity Restore to create paintings in the Waldo area on the weekend of September 29th to October 1st 2023! We will also be supporting each artist with 50% of the sales. The Live Art Auction is on Sunday, October 1st, 2023 and Kaja Veilleux will be our auctioneer from Thomaston Place Auction Galleries.
Please also note that we have an official e-mail set up for the event now ([email protected]) to answer questions.
Ticket sales and more news in the weeks to come on this exciting Fall Live Plein Air Auction event.
One of my favorite collages artists was quoted to have said,
"Inspiration,' the false artist says,'it just comes to me.' And it shows. His pictures are as like as the four walls of his room -- morning, evening, midnight, noon. For myself, I have to search for it. The whole world is your palate, but only if you reach, take hold of what you need and pocket it."
- Kurt Schwitters
Let's search, reach and take hold of Spring as creatives and pocket it!
Michael E. Vermette
Leave a Comment