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The Plein AIR CONNECTION NEWSLETTER February 10th, 2014


"Monhegan Fisherman Rowing" a watercolor 19 x 24 1/4 inches by Michael E. Vermette

First of all, I'd like to welcome all of our new watercolor artists who have recently joined this newsletter. The Plein Air Connection is a connect group of artists who believe that drawing and painting on location is a spiritual practice of faith. It is the act of co-laboring with a Great Creator that is at the heart of making beautiful paintings that will not only impact on our world but also produce positive change. We believe that this kind of painting attitude creates its own market, not the market creating the work. So the journey to become a skilled painter is found in identifying with what the Creator has prepared on location as a subject idea, then studying the art of painting outdoors on location to capture the true essence of color, light, shade, and shape to bring about that concept. Many artists have painted studies and sketches on location and used them for references for larger studio works, a tradition that has been passed down from the great painters such as Frederick Church, John Constable, Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent, Marsden Hartley, James Fitzgerald, and many painters today. It is considered an important discipline for figurative Painters to master as well. The newsletter also serves to tell you about shows, exhibitions and events that will be coming up this year. So, as the coördinator of the Plein Air Connection and the vice  president of the Bangor Art Society, there will be a meeting tonight, February 11th, along with an opening reception and awards ceremony for the participating artists who are members of the Society. This opening reception is located on the third floor of the Bangor Public Library and will be between 6PM and 7 PM. The event is free and all are welcome to take part. I hope to see all those who can make it tonight.

Plein Air painter Becky Whight and I were the only ones who attended the Plein Air Connection discussion meeting last Saturday February 8th at the Holy Grounds Cafe at Grace Church, 1404 Broadway in Bangor. I would have liked to get a few more point of views from artists on this wonderful section in "The Art Spirit" book by Robert Henri p. 143 "My People" to p. 159 "Letter of Criticism". Henri talked about "His People" and his love for the "dignity of life" found in his subjects as seen individually. We agreed with the following quote:

"This thing I call dignity in a human being is inevitably the result of an established order in the universe. Everything that is beautiful is orderly, and there can be no order unless things are in their right relation to each other." Robert Henri p. 144 in The Art Spirit Book.

He went on to further clarify his statement by pointing out that everywhere he found that moment of order in nature, clearly understood in a painting, he found noblility. He found nobility in his Irish peasant paintings in the language of their facial expressions, the North American Indian in gesture, and all children having this sense of nobility by naturally being impulsive. I could relate to this dignity found in the figure in the landscape with those who have become my people over the years. I believe the order that Henri is eluding to is the moment when the figure is so worn by the landscape that there is a visual rightness in the way he stands on the boat, hauls a lobster trap or as in the painting above, rows a boat in Monhegan's Harbor. 

Henri points out that the pursuit of this "rightness in order" in painting comes easily to the artist who is free to disconnected from institutionalize thinking. He relates the "institutional" as an organization that smothers greatness in an artist. That we ironically destroy what we love in an artist and reverencing what we destroy. He mentions Rodin, Whitman and Millet to show how unpuritan their lives were by not restricting their desire and response to nature. This reminds me of my own views of painting being a form of worship. Something that goes way beyond technique, but a language that gets clearer to me the older I get. Painting to me is co-creating with the Creator as it were in Spirit and in Truth. That means engaging in a painting process fully aware and without limitations through the Spirit, Soul and Body. I believe all of us are spirit, soul and body. But the exciting thing we artists can enter into is allowing out spiritual thoughts and emotions to affect our physical expression on the canvas or paper at any given moment. Painters need to feel free to respond through a physical and emotional release in a painting so that our canvases can have in right relationship with nature and the universe. Henri points out how dangerous institutional systems can be, (in his time it was the academy that certified artists of his time) to the artist because they promote separating artistic spirit from the body and soul of the artist, when in reality its more a holistic package. He is saying, that if we deny ourselves the opportunity to experience our subjects physically and emotionally then we will keep ourselves from a physical release that is only natural and traditionally came easy to all the great artists of the past.      

Our techniques and language of painterly marks for their own sake can be of no value if we aren't free to express the infinite moods of our humanity. Henri even went as far as to suggest that we should be looking at our subjects in the hope of finding in them the dignity of life, humor, kindness, and having the power to save the human race. He states that even war is impossible when the poet, painter, the scientist, the inventor, the laboring man, and the philosopher all see the need to work together for the welfare of the race.

" a beautiful order will be the result and war will be as impossible as peace is today." - Robert Henri  p. 145 The Art Spirit.

We talked about the role of the teacher of art and how we can instruct with goals to two different types of students. A student who always modifies to bring about success or the student who is free to believe in and is compelled to take risks to succeed or absolutely fail. The latter students goes on to become a great painter because he or she is willing to risk it all, even failure to get the results that they are passionate about. Teachers of art should teach in such a way to show what students want to know. We should teach in a way that aids the student to dig deeper beyond the surface of the subject. We should teach students to establish the substructure in a painting carefully and then not to destroy or kill the painting by feeling compelled to add "detail" or to "finish" the painting, thus weakening the substructure. Henri recommends that we should teach our students that we do not make art to make a living, but we make art to experience a rich way of living a life. Because human progress has always depended upon solutions through spirit in art and science, art study should not be exclusively directed toward commercial ends or even awards.

   We ended our discussion this week with a resolve to allow our spirit inside, our thoughts and emotions to cause a physical and emotional response in our expression through paint. Lets let every line, tone, value, color and even brush pressure be directed by our emotions so that even the techniques we use dissolve into a sincerity that connects with greatness as with the masters of the past. 

Our next Plein Air Connect book discussion is Saturday, February 22nd at Grace Church, 1404 Broadway, Bangor from 10 to noon. the topics we will be discussing is "Letter of Criticism p. 159 to "Letter of Criticism P. 180. We would like to thank you JoAnn Arsenault for the wonderful pasta dish she made us and the very delightful Valentine treats made by the women from the "Women's Cup of Joy" group who so graciously invited us to join them in their luncheon feast. The Plein Air paint-outs on Tuesdays and discussion group meeting are free and all are welcomed to come and participate. 

May you find your subject everywhere you look this week and gain the courage to be the "Rebel" to capture it,

Michael E. Vermette
Coordinator of the Plein Air Connection 

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