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Practicing Social Distancing

The above watercolor painting that I just completed above, "Llamas of Addison, Maine" reminds me of social distancing. Years ago my students in a workshop that I taught on Mount Desert Island gifted my wife and I with a overnight stay at the Addison B&B Llama Farm in Addison, Maine. I captured this image when walking among the Llamas early the next morning. I don't know if you know anything about Llamas, but one of the things they do is practice social distancing. In fact if you or another Llama gets too close they can choose to pit at you. It is interesting that even though they have a whole field to graze upon, they have one path that they all travel on together while maintaining that social distance.

Over the last Few weeks our world has been turned upside down and we find ourselves in a pandemic that rivals the real life experiences of the 1918 influenza our grandparents told us stories of. In this season of keeping away from each other in public places and practicing the rule of social distancing, it can be real easy to get isolated and become a recluse out of fear. But it should't have to be that way. The truth is, that even if we are isolating we are also in this together and our story is now more important than ever. For this reason many artists are keeping a sketch journal.

In fact we artists are real good at one thing that we do with our art that we can share with others during this time, even if we're asked to sheltering in place. And that is "living in the moment". When we do our art and enter into that timeless "creative zone" of bliss, we are living in the moment. We are not holding onto the concerns of the past nor worried about tomorrow. We are dealing with the present challenges of our art just as we're asked to live one day at a time. It's what we do all the time when plein air painting. We as creative individuals are really good at this. When we live in the moment we realize that our identity as an artist is not found in a museum exhibit, the next gallery show, a school or class, a plein air festival or sidewalk art festival, an art Society or even a church or religious institution alone. It is not found in what we do socially as much as it is found in our assurance of who we are in our relationship with what "our Creator" has told us we are personally. We are called to be an artist for such a shaking as this.

But we can't do this if we don't chose to embrace this moment as an opportunity to "rest" rather than "worry". But can actually find peace in times of uncertainty? Yes, but that means we need to be careful that we don't throw ourselves off the mark of who we are as artists. We need to encourage each other to make art in this time of difficulty to prove that artistic greatness can come out of adversity, creativity can come out of challenge, and even innovation can come out of a global pandemic. Making art has always meant that in art history and even more so in the present moment as we embracing the time we are living in inserted of embracing the fear of acquiring the virus. It means being safe, yes, but it also means that we steer away from a presumptuous and entitled state of mind. A mindset that leads us into a false idea that somehow we are not affected or can escape from what others have to walk in. I overheard, while pumping gas the other day, two elderly people talking to each other while keeping a social distance. They were saying, "I'm glad I'm retired and don't have to go to work!" The truth is we all need to encourage each other to do whatever our hands find to do now more than ever. And for us creatives, its our art.

We must also encourage each other and not isolate. This means we must make an even greater effort to reach out through social media or even old fashion letter writing to our family members and neighbors. To do this we must have the compassion to not make light of the real fear they are facing. Instead of being critical we must honor them through our presence and our art with the pure spirit of joy. You know; it's that special joy that you experience in making a work of art and how it can be the joy that a person needs in order to get their mind off of hopelessness. Art is like that. It can be a powerful ray of light, an inspiring idea, that can be birthed out of complete darkness, even dread. That creative spirit, even now, hovers over this virus, you can feel it in the air.

This is our opportunity to know who we are and to take our place in this pandemic as highly imaginative individuals. It is not a time for self indulgence and hoarding. It is a time for establishing a routine that fosters productivity rather than a quitting attitude that says, "what's the use!" Instead what is needed is an artistic plan that makes you accountable to do what you know you can do best. That action is not only living your life to the fullest but obtaining a restful assurance that through faith you are going to make it through this. We will look back at this divine slow down, when all things came to a hault, and share your story one day in the future of how social distancing caused us to all become closer than ever as a community, state and nation. We are all this together, and like the Llamas, we creatives all walk that common path.

May you make it home safe, found in rest,

Michael E. Vermette

Bangor Adult Education Classes are cancelled for the Spring 2020.

It has come to my attention today that my two art courses, "Painting Animals In Watercolor" and "Impasto Oil" have been cancelled for the rest of the Spring semester 2020. With a heavy heart I must inform you that we will not be meeting again as a class for the rest of this semester. I am not sure at this time if we will even offer classes through Bangor Adult and Community Education this Fall Semester 2020, but I will keep in touch.

The painting above. "The Llamas of Addison, Maine" is the assignment of "Having a Center of Interest" and "Using High Key Colors" in my "Painting Watercolor Animals" course. Below is the previous lesson of "Painting a Monochrome" and "Painting Using a Low Key Color Palette."

I have emailed you a lesson to work on for the next three weeks and I must say I have enjoyed being your instructor and seeing your artwork as it comes in through your emails to me. And for those who would like to continue to email me your images, I would be happy to offer suggestions and comments.

In the paintings below I have the two last assignments that I gave in "Impasto Oil".

The one on the left is the lesson on using the Anders Zorn Palette or "Using a Low Key Color Palette" and the painting to the right of it is the same painting subject "Using a High Key Color Palette" captured in the afternoon light of the same day. If any of you would like to share your art on a zoom conference meeting on line and are connected to the internet; then I would be interested in that as we go through this season together. Just please email me and I will invite you to a future meeting.

It is my hope that you will continue to paint through this difficult time and share your work with as many people as you can. I currently have 5 paintings on eBay and you can view them more closely if you select "Press Here" you might even want to place a bid. Here are three more up close.

All of these paintings were the result of last February's found memories of the plein air painting trip my wife and I took with our close friends, Eric and Teresa Glass, and Adrienne Piawonski and Paul Girdzis. I hope this will be one of many in the future. 

I will leave you with the last painting and the hope and joy of the dawn of a new day, "Katahdin Aplin' Glow, Millinocket Lake, Maine."