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What Are You Waiting For?

When we are asked a question like that it's usually in the context of trying to motivate us to action. It is also common for artists to experience a lull or void during this time of year pertaining to painting production. That is usually because we are so busy packing away Christmas, organizing the New Year while ending the old year on a good note by paying our taxes on time and even reflecting on the goals. We tend to clean our studios and start planning for the months to come. So when someone says to us, "What are you waiting for?" We immediately are tempted to feel a tinge of guilt in our spirit and think of the time that has passed that we haven't been creating art. But that guilt is not a strong enough emotion to get us to create great art in the long run. The truth is this time of waiting is essential in connecting spiritually with our Creator. And it is that connection that is a true source of inspiration.

Rather than feeling guilty when faced with that question we might look at it in another way. What are we choosing to wait for? Most of us choose to take the faster road of doing what we think we should be doing in an uninspiring way, rather than take the time to be patient and receive a sacred instruction. We will wait in the waiting room for hours at the doctor's office, because our health is worth it. But do we spend quality time with our Creator to explore what ideas and adventures that the Spirit wants us to experience. What I am proposing is that we approach the question of "What Are You Waiting For?" as an artisic question of," What is worth your wait upon the Creator"? If you have a relationship with a higher power, God or your Creator, than what are you waiting to be inspired by for the paintings you will do for the coming year?

As a teacher, waiting communicates importance, especially when my students ramble on with each other forever and I just wait silently and stare at them. Eventually they will stop and I will continue to teach them when I have their attention. The same is true if you were going to invite someone out to dinner. You wouldn't just give them a date and time in passing and then rush off to do your business. No, you would go to them, and if they were engaged in a conversation, you would wait for them to finish their conversation so that you could have their full attention. I think that is what waiting upon the Creator for inspiration is more about. In fact waiting demands our attention.

There is a restfulness in waiting upon the Creator to move with an inspiring idea. When we choose to listen and open ourselves up to receive from God rather than choose to take matters into our own hands, we receive the greatest treasure that is worth waiting for. We receive a deep inspiration and new found love in our art process that even in the most stressful times and circumstances that drive can't be taken away from us. I often think of the Italian painter and printmaker Giorgio Morandi who specialized in restful still life paintings noted for their tonal subtliety in depicting simple subjects such as vases, bottles, flowers and landscapes. Morandi painted during the post-impressionist period when Europe was at war. He could have depicted the horrors of war, but chose instead to paint these amazingly well composed peaceful subjects.

In the watercolor above, "Hitching The Team" I decided to depict the relationship of the farmer, his sons and their two powerful quarter horses. It is an interesting painting because I made the farmer who is wearing a white shirt and green pants as tall in scale as the horses. In addition to the farmer being lower than the horses, this impossibility works for two reasons. It works in bringing the farmer closer to the viewer and also it works in perspective through distortions. You can almost hear the farmer giving the verbal commands as he has a deep relationship with these powerful horses. They are waiting even as they are backing up into position to be hitched up to the thousands of pounds of cement block load that they will soon haul in this "Horse Pull" at the Bangor Fair. The two sons will hook the load up to the team as quickly as they can just as the team gets into position. And I compare the load or burden similar to us being hooked up by the Creator to an inspirational idea. Then, when fully hooked up, the farmer will give the command and drive the horses who have been waiting. And they will pull with all their soul, might and strength as far as they can. It is an amazingly powerful thing to watch that in the end will be documented as a legacy attributed to these horses.

So what are you waiting for in this new year 2021? Are you waiting in expectations and in faith like I am? Are you waiting in restfulness in that moment just before you are hooked up with an inspirational idea, when you will receive from the Creator the word to "GO!" and run with all your heart, all your strength, all your might, and all your soul toward that original artistic goal? I challenge you this month to spend some time to listen and wait upon the Creator. To allow yourself to get connected to an idea that goes beyond impetuous wants that sometimes lead to disaster. To instead be inspired through a deep relationship with the Creator and to be challenged to run to a place of amazing beauty where the legacy of your art will be recorded and truly valued.

Michael E. Vermette

BRUSHES WITH NATURE NewEngland Watercolor Society Show

 The two watercolors above, "Upper Small Falls, Rangeley, Maine" and "Small Falls, Rangeley, Maine" just came back from the "Brushes With Nature" show at the NEWS Gallery at 11 North Street, Plymouth, MA 02306. These were paintings that I made in the Brushes With Nature plein air paint-out I hosted back in July 2020 in Rangeley, Maine.

THE INSTRUCTOR'S SHOW NewEngland Watercolor Society

The two watercolors above, "Paddlers On Martin Stream, Lock Dam Portage, Allagash" and "Nugent's Camps, Allagash Wilderness Waterway" are currently on display at the Newengland Watercolor Society/PC Gallery at 11 North Street, Plymouth, MA 02306. These paintings are a peek into the Allagash Wilderness Waterway Artist-In-Residency show I will be having called "FIFTY plus ONE" at the Gleason Gallery that will go on display on August 6th, 2021. Please save the date.

The show will feature 50 small painted studies, 25 oils and 26 watercolors that were painted as a part of my two-week artist-in-residence program at Lock Dam on Chamberlin Lake in the Allagash Wilderness Waterway. The 50 paintings represent fifty paintings commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway and the plus one is an extra watercolor I painted for the year of the exhibition on August 6th, 2021.

At this point it is unclear if there will be an opening. However the works will be on display and can be privately viewed throughout the month of August and online at Gleasonfineart.com. Hope that you will be able to view these plein air works and a few larger works I made later in the studio.

A PEACEFUL TRANSITION VS FEAR AND ANXIETY

Today we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr., a leader who stood up and pushed back against racism, white supremacy, and capitalism. Three days from now, we as a country will be inaugurating our newly elected President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Like many of you, last week, I was mortified by the white supremacy and Q-anon nationalist encouraged by president Trump to storm our Nation's Capitol with the intention to threaten the lives of Congress leaders, staff members, building police, and causing the death of at least 5 individuals. The FBI is currently reporting credible threats of violence in all 50 states, even our own Maine State capitol, right up to the day of the inauguration.

These developments did not happen overnight, they were a result of a process to undermine our democracy for years. Although we did not get where we are by accident, we know clearly now that we need to unify and begin the hard work, as a country, to heal and move away from this dangerous trend. It is time to hold our families and communities close as we enter a new era of working together, especially as creative artists.

As we experience the recent surge of the escalating COVID-19 pandemic along with these extremist threats of insurrection, let us not give in to the feelings of both fear and anxiety of these unpredictable times. Although these are completely natural emotions, let us strive to stay connected to God whom is not only in control but is our source. Let us make a special effort to connect with our families who will give us their embrace and our community who can offer safety as we realize we are in this together as we extend our creative hands of help.

Please stay safe and connected my friends,

Michael E. Vermette