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THE PLEIN AIR CONNECTION JUNE 22nd, 2013

The Plein Air Connection, June 22nd, 2013


"The Rocks of Washer Women" an oil on Spanish Cedar 9 x 13 inches by Michael E. Vermette

The Plein Air Connection workshop instructors and wives began arriving on Monhegan Saturday at 4:00 PM. We rented the Murdock cottage which is near the Trailing Yew on Lobster Cove Road. We got very little done and it rained on that first day. So, we used the rest of the day to get settled into the cottage. It's a spacious cottage that has four bedrooms and will house seven comfortably. There is, also, plenty of room to conduct our critiques and classes in the two living rooms. We appreciated the very large kitchen but wished that the refrigerator was larger.

The next morning the forecast said that it would clear up in the afternoon, but there was no sign of that on Monhegan Island.  Eric Glass and I painted two paintings each.  Mine were painted on Spanish Cedar panels 9 x 13 inches that I intend to frame while I'm here. It is the first time that I have painted paintings to leave here at the Lupine Gallery on Monhegan. Eric Glass painted a beautiful watercolor from inside the cottage living room space, a birds-eye view through the double doors that gives access to one of the second floor deck windows. The view is clearly one of the best from the cottage, revealing many angled roof tops that cluster toward the cupola of the Island Inn in the village.


"View From Murdock Cottage, Monhegan Island" a watercolor 11 x 15 inches by Eric Glass

I decided to brave the weather, grabbed my umbrella and went out to the Christmas Cove area to paint an oil. I started out at 10.00 am and as the morning progressed into afternoon, it never rained for the rest of the day. In fact, it cleared as the sun broke through the overcast sky and provided beautiful glints of light upon the waves that I added to my painting, in the end. The tide was high and the waves dramatically crashed over the Washer Women rocks. There was a curious pinkish glow in the landscape's atmosphere upon the many faceted rocks descending into the waves.  I've decided to paint more directly on this trip, looking for a freshness in my work. Painting away from the tendency to dob and dashing with the brush impressionistically toward a deliberate pattern of shapes was my focus for the day.

 
"View of Black Head from Pulpit Rock" an oil on Spanish Cedar Panel  9 x 13 inches by Michael E. Vermette

Later in the afternoon, Eric Glass joined me outdoors to paint at Pulpit Rock. Being a Yankee thrift sort of person, he'd been wanting to finish a painting his wife gave up on 2 years ago. In fact, he wouldn't stop talking about it over the last two years, which I found amusing. It was a good start with areas blocked in effectively and a large portion of sea and Pulpit Rock on the bottom of the composition. But Eric quickly turned it into a more finished work with evidence of the pinkish violet light of the day upon the complicated angles and pattern of the rocks. I painted a view from the pulpit rock area, including the rock shelf from which we were standing and the full view of the back side of Black Head. Eric's wife Theresa also went with us and was quick to point out fin-backed whales and possibly a seal or two while we painted. This is a great place to view whales. I first spotted them early one morning on my Mohegan residency fellowship years ago. This is the time for them to start appearing when the Herring start running. After we completed our paintings, Eric asked," could you both spot the added element in my painting," kind of like a "Where is Waldo" exercise.  This is a painting that Eric and his wife Theresa made together with a little whimsy inspired by Andrew Wyeth. He made a painting with a lot of ferns on the forest floor. At closer observation you can see where he put little bits of the fern actually in the painting! Can you spot the piece of Monhegan landscape placed in Eric and Theresa's painting?


"Afternoon At Pulpit Rock" an oil 0n panel 8 x 10 inches by Eric and Theresa Glass


All an all it was a wonderful start of our week. Theresa and Eric treated my wife Elaine and I to a lobster dinner. Tomorrow, students will start to trickle in from different parts of the state of Maine, New Hampshire and Alaska. We'll have 5 participants in the Plein Air Connection workshop and a total of 7 of us by Tuesday. The weather outlook is great for now to the end of the week. I'll post more by next weekend.

Have a great painting week,

Michael E. Vermette
Coordinator of the Plein Air Connection.