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THE CAMDEN PLEIN AIR WET PAINT AUCTION 2013


"The Angelique in Camden Harbor" an oil on canvas 18 x 24 inches by Michael E. Vermette

This painting will be auctioned off at the Camden Plein Air Wet Paint Live Auction Saturday, September 7th, at the Bok amphitheater in Camden Harbor Park.

The Camden Plein Air Wet Paint Auction was really two auctions. The first one was a live Quick Draw wet paint auction which took place on Saturday right in the midst of the busy Windjammer  festival under the activities tent. The other auction takes place after the festival next Saturday on September 7th at the Bok Amphitheater in Camden Harbor Park.

Artists had to sign up for the Quick Draw live auction in addition to the regular auction held a week later and had to paint at the docks within plein view of the festival attendees. This year’s participating artists included Camden Falls Gallery artists Bill Barton, Todd Bonita, Lee Boynton, Ian Bruce, Daniel Corey, Aline Ordman, Judith Schuppien, and Diane Scott. Joining them were Tania Amazeen-Jones, Paul Bonneau, Allen Bunker, Beaman Cole, Teddi-Jann Covell, Alison Dibble, F. Michael Dorsey, Carol Douglas, Kathleen Galligan, Eric Glass, Judith Greulich, Alison Hill, Renee Lammers, Kirk McBride, Janet Sutherland, and myself Michael Vermette. But out of these, 22 artists registered 12 participated in the quick draw auction.  I believe it was the very first "Quick Draw" live painting auction to be held in the State of Maine. Each of us chose our sites before hand from which to paint the beautiful tall schooners and harbor boats. The weather was beautifully sunny even though it did not start out that way with a threat of rain and fog rolling in and out earlier in the day. Appropriately the Camden Harbor Master Steven Pixley, was the MC whose monotone voice loomed over the festival like a PGA Tour announcer. He signaled when we could begin painting at 1:30 PM and counted us down to when we should stop at 3:30 PM. 

I chose to paint on one of the small floating docks that had a unique view of a schooner built in the late 1800's called  "Prophet" which had an interesting pinky design at its stern. I talked with the owner Thomas Siske who put over 9,000 hours of labor into its restoration. The windjammer Festival says this about The Prophet," Captain Tom's handiwork is clearly evident in this Pinky schooner, Prophet. A true labor of love, just about everything on board has been hand crafted by this talented woodworker who lives aboard, year round, in Camden Harbor."

I didn't realize there were two start times in the Quick Draw, so when we were released for the first time from the blue and yellow tent to paint I started immediately until I was publicly told to "hold up" by the Harbor Master. I turned around and he said again, "Yeah you!" I held out my hands and then he counted us down and we all began at the same time. I really chose a very difficult location because everyone who came to watch me paint as well as frequent harbor boat pick ups and drop offs rocked the the deck back and forth and subsequently moved my easel. I felt a bit like a drunken sailor. But I continued to forge on turning around once in a while to notice that there were many people watching us from the upper main Wharf. Earlier that day this same crowd saw the infamous crate race and the chowder cook-off. Now they witnessed paint flying on the canvas. Then when Steven counted us down to stop at 3:30 PM and we all scrambled to get our paintings framed and on display for the very short preview before the auction which was scheduled between 3:30- 4:00PM. I rushed to my car, put my painting gear away and set my painting in a three-inch cherry wood finished frame. Then I rushed back to the large blue and yellow stripped tent where the auction would take place with only 10 minutes to spare. 

The Windjammer Festival was supposed to provide a live auctioneer for the Quick Draw event, but for some reason they failed to provide one. So with only a half hour notice, Howard Gallagher, the owner of the Camden Falls Gallery stepped up to fill the position as Maine's first Quick Draw auctioneer. He instructed us to stand behind the paintings we had just painted so that the people could get an idea of who the artists were. Then as he introduced us individually he handed over the mic to us. He asked us to each to say something about our work and we all talked about our paintings as he paraded them back and forth throughout the tent.  Then Howard gave us back the work and he then proceeded to auction off the 12 paintings. And what a great job he did as an auctioneer! He actually sold eleven out of the 12 paintings that afternoon, and the one he couldn't sell was actually a drawing. All the paintings that sold were either acrylic or oil paintings. Daniel Corey's painting and mine were among the last to be auctioned off as the crowd was beginning to thin out. But despite that, we both had among the largest paintings that drew the highest prices in the auction. We both breathed a sigh or relief. The artists could choose to give 25%, 50% or 75% of the proceeds to the Camden Windjammer Festival, Camden Public Library, and the Penobscot Marine Museum. A 20% fee would go to the Camden Falls Gallery. The artists who were invited to take part in the Camden Plein Air Wet Paint Auctions did not have to pay a registration fee. The Camden Falls Gallery graciously provided us with power bar snacks, fruit and plenty of iced cold bottle water. They were very organized and gracious and I would definitely recommend them for artists who would like to try their hand at this auction next year. It was designed like a race and many people in the festival were entertained and showed up to support the causes at the Live auction, quickly filling the tent to a standing room only overflow.

  



My wife Elaine and I stayed at the Cedar Crest Inn with our friends Theresa and Eric Glass. It is located just off route 1 in Camden and has very clean rooms and a wonderful dining area where we ate supper and breakfast.  The next morning we got an early start eating breakfast by 8:30 am. We took our time because the gallery wasn't going to open until 10 am. So we ate a leisurely breakfast together. We noticed a young waitress who seemed to have a limp and was visibly experiencing a nagging pain every time she walked. She was serving another table of 6. I overheard the people talk with her about it and she shared with them that the doctor was recommending cortisone shots in her knee which were very painful. My heart went out to this young women who had to face a possible knee operation down the road. So I talked with the others at the table and said that I thought that we were ment to pray over her for a healing. But the problem that we had was that she was not our waitress. Our waitress was a really nice older women who had no difficulty walking at all. We all wondered if we would get a chance to talk with the young girl, when right out of the blue the young waitress walks over with my wife's breakfast and mine. Elaine immediately says, "well, here's your chance!" So I proceeded to talk to her about her knee and asked her if anyone had every prayed over her knee by laying on of hands. She said no one had every done that before to her and thought that it was a cool idea. When I introduced my wife Elaine as a Penobscot she perked up and said that she was also a Native American also and that her name was Kim. It turns out Kim is Passamaquoddy. Then we both laid our hands on her left knee as Theresa and Eric leaned over the table to join us. We prayed for a total healing of her knee. We prayed as it was is heaven, that it would be hear on earth because there is no sickness in heaven. We prayed for quite a while as we declared in our prayers that there would be no need for an operation and that all the pain would be completely gone. And even though there was no visible sign of an immediate healing, the atmosphere changed in the restaurant to a peaceful ambience. After Kim left our table Elaine foretold that by the end of the day, Kim would be experiencing no more pain from her knee and we all agreed with her in faith. Even though we would not see her for the rest of the day we felt we would see her again some day and that she would have an interesting testimony. My wife Elaine has had both of her knees replaced and knew just where to lay her hands as we prayed. It was an amazingly divine appointment!

That incident set the stage for the whole day on this beautiful Sunday morning that started our rainy and foggy but burned off into a bright and humid day. Eric and I chose to paint nearer to the red boathouse near the village green of Camden Harbor Park. This morning I decided to paint an 18 x 24 inch oil of the schooner the "Angelique." the Windjammer Festival says this about her," The 95' ketch-rigged Angelique was built specifically for the windjamming trade in 1980. Patterned after the 19th century sailing ships that fished off the coast of England, the Angelique was built for safety, and offers the unique feature of a deckhouse salon." The Captains are Mike and Lynne McHenry and their Homeport is Camden, Maine. They can take up to 29 Guests who were boarding by the end of the day as I was completing the painting.  I found it interesting that the schooner was built the year I graduated from Maine College of Art.  Their web site is: www.sailangelique.com and they were setting sail today September 2nd.


Michael E. Vermette painting at the Camden Plein Air Wet Paint Auction, Sunday September 1st, 2013.

I was drawn to this site a few weeks ago when I was passing through looking for a location to paint.  I was struck with the three different sized boats represented. The Angelique which was a huge vessel with a green hull served as my large shape. The medium-sized boat was the Camden Peapod used to ferry passengers and was tied to the bow.  And my small shape was a very small skiff hanging to the left of the schooner. I was intrigued also by the reflections that became a challenge all day as the tide went out within the first four hours and returned in the afternoon before the painting was completed. The skiff was also removed by a crew member in anticipation of the low tide, so I had to finish painting it by memory. This commonly happens to many of the painters, so you try to draw as much of it as you can and take a digital picture of it to review and reference from your camera. But I was not able to get off a single shot quick enough, only an interesting shot of the young man moving the peapod shaped boat around the hull of the ship. So I relied on memory exclusively and my initial drawing on the canvas.

 
Crew member maneuvering a Camden Peapod around the hull of the Angelique.


I met a lot of people who came out and talked with me throughout the day. There were photographers who took my photo and people genuinely interested in my painting technique. I passed out cards with my contact information in hopes that throughout the coming year they would contact me.  Throughout the day I witnessed a pirate reenactment of a battle between very colorful Pirates and Englishmen. Their first Conon fire nearly jumped me out of my socks to the extent that I blurred a paint stroke. But no real harm done I quickly regained composure and continued to paint. It was a very realistic reenactment. There were other performances as well including a dog race/show and boat parade that helped me to add boats under full sail in the background of my painting.  I thought of how my grandson would have loved to take part in the pirate battle as the young children there did. But I was most impressed with my friend Eric's oil painting of me as I was painting the Angelique. He captured me perfectly with my easel and 7 foot umbrella fully engaged and pitched against the sun as I painted the schooner. He had finished before I did painting a smaller work than I. It was a fine work that made me wish I too painted a smaller work. And next year I'll do just that.  I finished at 5PM still wanting to add even more details. But I decided not to indicate it with too much rigging only to suggest it.  I was happy to end the session with a seven our painting. 

My painting is framed in a gold leaf floater frame along with the other paintings from various different artists who participated in this year's wet paint auction. We will have our their paintings up for auction on Saturday 7th, 2013. There will be a reception and preview of the paintings between 5:30 - 6:30 PM and the live auction will take place between 6:30-7:30 PM. I think the participant's of this auction will be pleasantly surprised about the high quality of the art work that has already  been noticed in the Camden Falls Gallery where the works can be previewed presently. The very charismatic Kaja Veilleux who is the Owner, Appraiser, & Auctioneer of the Thomaston Place Auction Galleries will be presiding as the live auctioneer for the night. The reception and auction will take place at the Bok Amphitheater in Camden Harbor Park and the proceeds will benefit the Camden Windjammer Festival, Camden Falls Library and the Penobscot Marine Museum. The Camden Falls Gallery who are the coordinators of the wet paint auction take 20% of the sales. For more information contact the Camden Falls Gallery at 207.470-7027 orwww.camdenfallsgallery.com.

Sadly, I will not be able to attend since I will be participating in the Downtown Bangor Wet Paint Out and Auction being held at the Bangor Public Library on the same day and that evening. I will share more about that wet paint auction in my next newsletter. 

Also, There is a very good chance that I will not be able to start up the Plein Air Connection's 1st group meeting on September 14th. I may be going to Haystack Mountain School of Arts and Crafts to attend a Plein Air Painting workshop with Cooper Dragonette. I am looking to change the first meeting day to Saturday September 28th after the Katahdin Lake weekend of September 21st which is currently open to all Plein Air Connection Painters. I will keep you posted on this and if that is the real start up date at Abundant Life Church 1404 Broadway, Bangor, Maine.

Have a creative and powerful week everyone!

Michael E. Vermette
Coordinator of the Plein Air Connection