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The Plein AIR CONNECTION NEWSLETTER August 17th, 2013


"Goose River Tidal Falls, Waldoboro" an oil on canvas 16 x 20 inches by Michael E. Vermette

Elaine and I left Old Town at 4:30 am in the morning to get an early start and reach our destination, the Cider Hill Farm in Waldoboro. The "Paint The Town" wet paint auction was to take place at the farm and proved to be an excellent space for the event. I loaded into my car the night before my painting that didn't sell called "Kenduskeag Stream at Lover's Leap" at the Governor Baxter Day wet paint auction back in July 24th. I also packed my new canvas and frame that would be painted that day of the paint-out auction along with my oil painting art supplies and newly repaired easel. My plan was to enter the framed the Kenduskeag Stream oil painting and paint one at a chosen site in Waldoboro or an acceptable place near by like Friendship, Maine.

When we left Old Town there were many pockets of thick fog as the sun began to break through at sunrise. We traveled along route one and were surprised to witness  as we passed Swan Lake, an eagle who flew along side our vehicle for some distance before turning off into the fields. We both took it as a sign that God was with us and that we would experience prosperity today, which is always a challenge to believe in with these wet paint auctions. We had never been to the Cider Hill Farm in Waldoboro but it wasn't too difficult to find, on west main street. This was the Tidemark Gallery's  8th "Paint the Town" wet paint auction, one of the oldest of its kind in Maine. They make a lot of changes to make it a better success than last year's auction.  instead of giving us t-shirts or tote bags, they spent the money in advertising to try to reach more patrons in the area and it seemed to work because there were many people who attended.

We arrived in time for a wonderful breakfast at 7:15 am that they provided for the artists and our spouses. They also gave us a bag lunch with a very large and delicious sandwich to eat on site. We easily signed up and register a painting that we painted earlier and the one we were painting on the day. They handed out maps  for the artists and the workers were available to help us find the 31 sites that we chose from.

We met two other Plein Air Connection members there including Karsten Kettelson and Becky Whight. We had breakfast together as we perused through the sites. They gave us a map and a directory with about 4 photos of each site. Karsten and I decided to paint site 24 at 3601 Friendship, Maine. It was the private home of Tom and Connie Hammermeister who were very generous supporters of the event and welcoming allowing us to use the facilities in their home and even invited us for lunch, which non of us could find the time to do. Karsten painted the panoramic view of the cove from the Goose River Tidal Falls rock and I painted the falls themselves. We painted on a huge pinkish granite rock that I included in the foreground of my painting. The wind would blow and acorns would fall and bounce off our easels all day as we painted mostly in shade flicking off an occasional caterpillar throughout the day. There was a pastel painter who arrived on site before we did and finished before us who was from out-of-state. She was not only an artist but an art teacher and writer. She painted still another beautiful view of the upper cove before the falls.

We finished on site at about 2 PM and quickly framed our works and brought them back to the art tent at Cider Hill Farms where there was a stage set up for the live auction. The oil painters provided easels for the wet paintings to be placed on away from the watercolors and other dry works. They became a backdrop for the auction. I brought my art cards with my bio printed on the back to hand out.  They were beginning to set up the catering and the tremendous work of categorizing all the work that numbered over a hundred pieces. There were a lot of beautiful pieces here, not all completed en plein air, some studio pieces. Both of mine were plein air and that seemed to be what the people mostly bought.

After we dropped off the work Elaine and I visited the Tidemark Gallery where I  found my 2-D instructor's show from Maine College of Art. He was showing his drawings, paintings and bronze sculptures of what appeared to be swimming figures and other interesting figurative pieces. The color of his paintings and patina on his bronzes were exquisite.  Elaine and I also tried to find the Sourcraut House on route 202 but didn't have enough time to look around for it traveling about ten miles only to return empty handed. We changed our clothes in a local filling station that had large bathrooms and went back to the reception and live auction preview at 6 PM. As we drove in the Cider Hill Farm parking lot we noticed another large eagle fly high over us and with us into the parking lot. I said, "No Way!" to Elaine as we both interpreted its presence as another good sign from God that we would sell the paintings today.

At the preview there were tasty treats and fancy finger food and wine of course. They had bottled water as well throughout the day and on ice! One of the great things you can do during the preview besides look at the art is meet other artists. I was able to have an interesting conversation with Dan Corey who was the highest selling artist in the auction. We talked and shared about our painting processes and fond memories of our Maine College of Art professors. In the Castine Plein Air Festival I was able to have a good talk with Cooper Dragonette who is a fellow exhibitor in the Elizabeth Moss Gallery in Falmouth, Maine.

  The Cider Hill Farm had a serene feeling to it as the sun was setting around 6 PM and when the live auction began. The wind died down and it was a perfect setting for an auction. The auctioneer was Carol Achterhof of Thomas Place Auction Galleries at 51 Atlantic Highway Thomaston, Maine. Although we missed auctioneer Kaja Veilleux this year who is the owner of Thomas Place Auction Galleries, Carol did a fine job selling the work. In fact Carol got into a bidding war with another patron over Becky Whight's painting that we all enjoyed. In the end carol bought Becky's work! I had never seen an auctioneer out bid an art patron before. Karsten Kittelson's painting was bought by the Hammermeisters who loved his rendition of their cove. Both of my paintings also sold meeting and even exceeding the reserve. The first painting of mine that was auctioned off was the wet painting that I painted on the day at the Goose River Tidal Falls. The second painting of kenduskeag Stream didn't meet the reserve price and was passed during the live auction.  But after the auction was over it had its own bidding war. It was between an artist friend of mine and a patron who tried to offer me lower the price. Needless to say the painting went to my artist friend who offered the reserve price. This made me very happy to have sold both pieces and meet the owners of both paintings and to give them my contact information.

It was a very successful auction with most of the paintings selling to very proud owners who couldn't wait to put the pieces up on their walls. The auction finished at about 7:45 PM and Elaine and I went straight home from there, stopping only to pick up a bite to eat in Belfast. At that MacDonald's through the drive through window as we were ordering, we could see Becky ordering her food inside as well. We waved, laughed, and arrived home at about 10:30 PM that evening. It was a long but rewarding day that I hope to do again next year. 

The plein air connection group is invited to Karsten Kittelson's home to paint in Addison, Maine on Saturday, August 31st. That is the same Day that I will be participating in the Camden Windjammer Wet Paint Festival's "Quick Draw". In fact painters can paint all week-long from Monday August 26th beginning at noon to when the festival ends on Sunday September 1st. The live auction will feature Kaja Veilleux this time from Thomas Place Auction Galleries and will be on Saturday evening, the same day as our last plein air wet paint-out auction in over very own beautiful  Downtown Bangor Maine. For more information on the Camden wet paint auction go to the Camden Falls Gallery at: https://www.facebook.com/camdenfallsgallery.

Also "Paint DownTown Bangor Wet Paint Out and Auction 2013" is soon coming up in a few weeks and I hope all will be participating. This will be the last plein air wet paint live auction this year that I'm aware of.  It benefits the Bangor Public Library roof campaign who have generously provided for us space for our monthly art society meetings. To register go to the Bangor Public Library web site at: http://www.bpl.lib.me.us/ here is the rough draft poster below, I'll send the actual one later on this week. Please spread the word!

Have a great week everyone and don't forget to register for Downtown Wet Paint Out Auction 2013 ASAP!

Michael E. Vermette
Coordinator of the Plein Air Connection