"The Beehive, Acadia National Park, Maine"
Michael E. Vermette captured this fresh plein air oil sketch in October at Acadia National Park of the Beehive in front of a beaver pond. At a respectable 520 feet to the sumit, the Beehive mountain rises above the tree line near Sand Beach on the eastern side of Mount Desret Island. When you arrive at the parking lot of Sand beach and look back towards the entrance you will see that the Beehive is the dominant geological feature that you see looming over the tree tops. From the parking lot there is the Great Head trail that passes by a beaver Dam pond where Michael painted this study en plein air as a part of his Artist-in-residency program in 2006. Michael painted 51 such studies in that residency and the Beehive is one of the oils that are still available.
Michael says, "I actually looked for this location because I had painted it a few years earlier in watercolor. This painting I searched out because it has this wonderful dark reflective beaver pond in the foreground, an amazing tree line with fallen birch trees by the beaver, and the pinkish orange granite Beehive mountain rising up and interacting against the bright blue sky. Like so many painting locations, this one can be easily passed by since you have to hike into the woods and off the beaten path to get this view. It is one of my favorite views in the park."
This is an oil painted study made on location in Michael's impasto style of thick strokes of paint on a solid alabaster stone-coated birch cradled panel, as used by the Italian masters. He uses palette knives just as these masters did who totally left out the use of turpentine and other solvents because it dulled their colors and eventually caused them to crack. They discovered that by Mixing black oil wax medium to their oil paint it not only improved the viscosity of the paint, but it increased its richness and offered an amazing velvety sheen in appearance that would never crack. Michael makes this medium himself and uses it in his impasto paintings just as the Italian master's did. It is extremely archival. He mixes it with his pure Williamsburg handmade painting pigments to the consistency of peanut better and it supports the integrity of every one of his expressive painterly marks that he doesn't try to hide in the painting.
As with other great impasto painters from Titian to Van Goah, Michael uses a descriptive stroke that describes lines of rhythum, motion, and shape in describing the character of one of the Beehive mountain in Acadia National Park. He paints in an impasto (thick) style using assorted palette knives and occasional thick loaded brush strokes and an Italian Black Oil Wax medium that he makes himself and that sets him apart from other artists. He adds this medium to the oil paint to not only increase the oil paint's viscosity but to actually preserve the character and luster of every stroke of the artist. You might say that michael's sole is evident in his paint strokes. The Black Oil also improves the color to a brighter velvety semi-transparent glow. This painting is painted on a highly prized Gypsum Gessoed (Alabaster Stone coated gesso formula) over a kiln dried birch panel that is cradled to never warp which he prepares himself. This painting does not come framed but is ready to set in beautifuly in a plein air or floater frame for a lifetime of enjoyment as a jewel on your wall.
Michael also says, "I am intrigued with the timelessness in change in my paintings. They show a love of color and light with emphasis on the expressive painterly mark and form, which evoke a recognizable feeling, a nostalgic memory, or even emotional qualities such as the smell of salt and balsam in the morning ocean air."
Carl Little writes in Volume 30 of The Island Journal, " Michael Vermette, who emulates the vision of one of Monhegan island's great painters of the past, James Fitzgerald (1899-1971), adds impasto oomph to iconic views"
Michael E. Vermette double majored in Painting and Printmaking at the Maine College of Art, receiving his B.F.A Painting degree in 1980. He received his Certification in K-12 Art Education in 1986 through the University of Maine at Orono. A full-time artist and part-time art educator, Michael has been painting in oil, watercolor, and pastel for over fifty years and has won numerous awards for his work, including the Marilyn Sabin, Lauran Coleman and the Beverly Awards at the 12th,13th and 14th Biennial North American Open Shows of the New England Watercolor Society where he has been awarded signature membership. Most recently, Has been been awarded the honor of being the 1st Allagash Wilderness waterway artist-in-residency for the summer of 2020 where he painted 51 small studies in just two weeks. Michael is also the 2018 first place winner of the former Castine Plein Air Festival, and a 2015-2017 winner as well. He won Best of Show in the Kennebunk River Club Art Exhibit and Sale for his watercolor, "Sea Dog". Michael leads several oil and watercolor plein air painting workshops in Maine and New Hampshire throughout the year. He is a Monhegan Artists' Residency Fellow and the 2011 Baxter State Park Artist-in-Residence in Maine. He was also an Artist-in-Residence at Acadia National Park twice in 1999 and 2006. His watercolors, oils, and pastels are in private collections throughout the country and internationally. In Maine, his works have been shown at various galleries and is currently represented by the Frame and Art Gallery in Yarmouth, The Lupine Gallery on Monhegan Island, and the Gleason Fine Art Gallery in Boothbay Harbor, all located in Maine.
