Blog

The Plein Air Connection Newsletter: June 15th, 2013  

PAINT MACHAIS WET PAINT AUCTION!


"Bad Little Falls, Machais, Maine" an oil on canvas 19 x 24 inches by Michael E. Vermette

The day before the "Paint Machias Day Wet Paint Auction" I googled pictures of Machias and got my first look of Little Bad falls through the eyes of another artist-photographer. I was so taken by this subject that I called Kay Carter whom I was car-polling with and shared with her how I thought this might be the subject for us for the day. I proceeded to ask her if she had heard of Little Bad Falls. She said that she had and that it would be a good choice. As it turned out we got off to a late start that Saturday anyway and didn't arrive until about 9:30 am, about 3 1/2 hours after registration had opened at 6 am. For this reason, we decided not to paint our first choice which was a site on the "Rails to Trails " path but paint "Little Big Falls" instead. When we arrived we were met with a large detour sign barricading the bridge into Machais with a very official looking police officer who basically told us, " You Can't Get there From Here!" It just so happened that it was the only bridge into Machais  and it was blocked because of the huge 250th Machais Valley Birthday Celebration parade in full swing. So we found parking in front of a yard sale off the road on the other side of the river of Machais. We found immediately a large sign that said "Bad Little Falls park" near where we parked and explored about three different areas to paint. We met two painters already painting, which was a good sign that we were in the right place. one was a former student of mine who was painting a beautiful oil on the bridge of the falls. They both informed us of where we could register our canvases and where to find the festival headquarters.

So we crossed the bridge into Machais on foot with canvases in hand just as the highland band began to play their bag pipes.They were very loud and regal looking.  I joked with Kay that they were playing to honor our arrival and she laughed and said, "Yah right!"  We got our canvases signed by Michael Hoyt at the festival head quarters which also had a bathroom that was very welcoming after our travel. We then returned to paint views back over the bridge in Bad Little Falls Park where our car was. The parade was not going to end soon and we were already losing precious morning light.  We took a lot of time deciding on a good composition of the falls on the other side of the bridge while on our way back and finally chose a site that gave us a spectacular close-up view of Little Bad Falls. We were both set up and drawing by 10:30 am.

I chose a small bridge that was once made of stone as told to me by a local native. It seems that the bridge had fallen into the river around noon time many years ago. Since this was a place where people always looked at the falls it was a miracle that no one was on the bridge when it collapsed.  It was replaced by this iron Bridge and still many people look over its railings to peer over at the fast flowing falls. This was a powerful subject indeed that reminded me of bridge paintings that I've seen of Vincent Van Gogh and the power wave action strokes of George Bellows. The water was high because of all that rain we got the week before. And all of this water came down from three lakes in the area swollen by the week's Spring Rain. For the view I wanted, I had to cross over the protected fence that had an access path down below the edge of the park. Kay and I carefully hiked back to the narrow piece of land that gave us enough room to set up on the edge of the cliffs. We helped each other with our art equipment over the fence. There was a stiff wind that got progressively worse by the end of the day. By noon I had blocked most of my painting in and studied my work at a distance while taking a break for lunch. I returned to the painting with a clean palette and refined the work further for the next 3 hours. In that time every insect that could get stuck in my oil painting did, even what appeared to be a large Chinese Beetle with 2 1/2 inch antennas. A family was watching me paint when it hit as hard as a rock immediately getting stuck in the middle of my impasto painting. The youngest child immediately  exclaimed," Don't Kill It!" So I scrapped it off the canvas, placed it on a leaf as it stayed near me for hours trying to work the sticky paint off of its legs. It seemed like such a dinosaur. All I could think of is the quote from Robert Henri who said, "The picture that looks as if it were done without an effort may have been a perfect battlefield in its making." It was for us, especially with the constant wind and mist in our faces from the falls.



"Bad Little Falls, Machais" an oil on canvas by Kay Carter 

Kay Carter was equally engaged in this battle with her beautiful study of a totally different view of the Bad Little Falls. It included two uniquely colored old mill buildings atop of the falls. She had a vantage point that featured several unique angles that lead the viewer's eye up the composition toward the buildings. I admired that she was able to capture such a beautiful painting while being interrupted by so many people who came and talked with her and even interviewed her. I was further over toward the edge of the cliff and away from the fence that separated the viewers from us and them. Kay actually was closer and used the fence to attach her umbrella and shade her work.  

By 3 PM we were both spent by the struggle and the wind. So we helped each other portage our equipment over the fence and over to a sheltered picnic table in the park that we commandeered. We worked about a half hour longer cleaning up our images and signing our paintings. Then we packed our paintings and gear into Kay's car and visited the Beehive Collective gallery just up the road. We then return our paintings to the Celebration Headquarters at 50 Maine Street. We dropped off our paintings, changed into better cloths and went to the local bean supper of the Mason and Eastern Star on Center Street. They had a 50/50 raffle there and so I took a chance as I entertained the thought of winning more from the raffle than my painting would in the live auction. I didn't win  even though Kay was the one who drew the winning name. I took it as a good sign that something good was about to happen to me. The meal was great with Halifax Beans and two other types I can't remember. Most of all it was good to sit after standing all day. We also enjoyed talking with the local people and excellent fare.  Some whom we sat with, would later come to our wet paint auction and bid on our paintings. 

After the bean supper we walked down to the Pellon Center on US route 1. We met another artist whose name is Connie and is a clay and watercolor artist and art teacher in the area. She had brought her daughter who painted with her a beautiful watercolor and both were trying to get into the Pellon Center to deliver their paintings which was closed. We told them that the auction didn't start until 7 PM and they were gracious enough to give us a ride back to our car. We drove our car around the town and parked in two different parking lots where we took pictures on the other side of the river where we saw an artist painting earlier. It turned out that the artist was Karsten Kettelson  who painted with us in Castine. He had set up earlier in the day.


 "Bad Little Falls, Machias, Maine" an oil on canvas 11 x 14 inches by Karsten Kittleson 

Karsten's painting depicted more of the whole falls at a distance on the Machias side of the river. Kay and I were on the steep cliffs on the left side of the river across the river in Karsten's painting. He also put people on the iron bridge like I did who were traveling over the bridge all day long. Karsten's painting composition also leads the viewer up the river to buildings above the falls like Kay's painting. It's a great place to rest in the painting.

By 7:00 PM we had all have brought our paintings over to the Pellen Center on US Route 1. It was a large building that was perfectly suited for an auction. Kay had a great idea to put the paintings up against the wooden wall and the empty space came alive. We met about 10 other artist there as well and were able to share about our connect group. The auctioneer introduced each of us to the audience and asked us to stand and say a little about ourselves before he auctioned off our paintings. He was a good auctioneer but the auction was poorly attended. Half of the paintings didn't sell and those that did really didn't sell anywhere near what they were worth. But this was their very first wet paint auction they had ever hosted. All of our paintings were for the most part unframed with the exception of a few watercolors and Karsten's oil who sold his to the former owner of the very building he was painting behind on the river. I sold my painting too to the auctioneer and his wife. I also won the "Best Of Show" award which was real special for me because everyone present participated in the voting process. 

I hope they do it again next year and don't wait another 250 years . I think they could have the auction on another day then the day of the wet paint-out. That might allow more people to attend. Being  a part of the Festival and so late in the day, most people were too tired from the day's events to go to the auction. And although we saw a few attend from the bean supper, many had tired faces of a very satisfying day.
I would do it again and hope the next time they would plan it a little better. We all liked the auctioneer and I dearly wish I could remember his name. I will contact the festival coördinator and ask her.

The next two Saturdays I will be painting on Monhegan Island conducting with my fellow colleague Eric Glass a Plein Air Connection watercolor and Oil painting workshop. If you would like to come over and participate in the workshop for the day, it's 80.00 total for the instruction plus whatever your boat ferry ticket costs round trip. You can take the early boat and arrive by 8 am to paint for the day and return that afternoon on the 4 PM boat out of Port Clyde. For more information just go to http://www.monheganboat.com - Be sure to bring a lunch. This place is truly a strikingly beautiful place.

Have a Wonderful week  of painting everyone,

Michael E. Vermette
Coordinator of the Plein Air Connection