Wintery View from Red Bench, Crawford Notch, NH

The following is the seventh journal entry on February 23rd, of Michael E. Vermette's Artist-in-residency at Crawford Notch at the Appalachian Mountain Club's new Outdoor Highland Center in Crawford Notch State Park and the White Mountain National Forest, New Hampshire. The duration of his residency was a week long, between February 19th to February 25th, 2017. In this time he created 11 painted oil sketches that were made completely outdoors en plein air within the region. Sometimes near the lodge, other times hiking up to 5 miles to and from a site on snowshoes with his studio on his back, he painted in the coldest weather and in the most challenging conditions. On the first day he featured a presentation of the White Mountain Painters and the following week an Open Studio exhibition of his work, displaying two new paintings each day between 4PM and 6PM for the guests at the AMC Highland Center. This is his story.

CONFIDENCE OR CONVENIENCE?

The next morning I hiked around Ammonoosuc Lake prompted by a conversation I had at last nights diner with a volunteer who guided a group to Red Bench off the Ammonoosuc Lake trail. I had heard that Red Bench had an excellent view of Mount Washington and she confirmed it. I also dined with a family from Maine who shared their plans to x-country ski today. The trail divides to the right and left when you reach the lake, and since I always took the right trail on previous occasions, I decided to hike around the lake on the left side. You could see through the leafless trees that the railroad bed was close to the lake, something that I never knew before. At the end of the lake where I painted in the Fall a few years ago, the view was not very interesting with no open water, reflections and just a lot of snow as with a field. Also, Clouds had moved into the valley and obscured any mountain views. So I continued further onto the Red Bench trail which I had never hiked on before. The Red Bench trail is not a very long trail. It crosses the railroad bed that had a foot or so of snow that was groomed for skiers and that seems to go on for miles. The trail parallels the railroad bed and continues back into the woods and ascends to a small bluff that has a good sized red painted bench with a spectacular view of Mount Pierce, the Presidential Range and Mount Washington to the left.

The clouds obscured most of the mountain range that morning as I set up and continued to paint my oil sketch. The sun broke through brilliantly and illuminated the forest snow with bluish green turquoise tones as with blue ice. I used the tree to my right as my vertical in the composition and described the pinkish gray tones of the forest as a busy thatch shape of brush and tree. Eventually the mountains all appeared and I could see why the view was so popular. I took many reference photos for a future painting, but didn't try to alter my sketch by including Mount Washington. I also took pictures of the father in the family I met last night as he skied by and waved. I thought this would make an excellent addition to the larger painting I wanted to do back in the studio. There is just so many layers of angles that recess in space that framed the skier beautifully. The viewer can watch while skiers go by all day without even being detected. It is amazing just how peaceful it is to sit and paint on a bench that is completely shaded with a commanding viewing angle that yields a high alpine horizon line.

During my development of this painting I began to think of my Open Studio sessions that I have been hosting as the artist-in-residence at the AMC Highland Center. They are two hours in length from 4 PM to 6PM and just before dinner. Last night's Open Studio was particularly memorable because of how rich the conversation was in regard to my process of making an oil sketch. There is always a few things that I like to point out in regards to how my paintings are constructed, as an impasto plein air painter. I like to point out that the whole painting sketch is made from my palette knife and my fingers now and then. I talk about the substrate that I paint on and the medium I mix into my colors to give them viscosity by which I paint my impasto style. 

First I'll begin by informing my visitors about the highly prized surface that I paint on. These wood panels were made of a 1/8 birchwood panel that has been cradled with a frame and glued to the back of the board to prevent warping. Then I prepare the wood with a stone coated surface called gypsum or Terra Alba chalk (which is an alabaster stone powder) mixed with animal glue. The gesso also has a equal measure of Zinc White pigment added to it to make the many layers that I apply semi-transparent. That stone coated panel is a great feature in itself, in that it produces a luminous panel, but what I like most about this surface is the ability it has to soak up water like stucco. I have painted with much success in the rain, snow, sub-zero frost all settling down on the surface of my substrate while painting, all with little or no affect to the oil paint's ability to stick to the surface, and I might add, producing sometimes some amazing results. Acrylic gessoed surfaces just do not have this benefit. They repel the paint making it slide off the substrate and causing the painter to quit for the day. Gypsum Gessoed boards are simply the best plein air surface for extreme weather conditions because they gives the artist an edge over surfaces that are simply non-absorbent.

The other thing I like to talk about is the medium that I add to my pure oil paints. First I begin with the purest high quality oil paint that has nothing in it but pure pigment and only linseed oil. Then I add Black Oil Wax medium that I make myself from a very old master formula. This medium that I make myself is nothing like what is sold on the market today such as Maroger's medium. In the book, "The Secret Formulas and Techniques of the Masters" written by Jacques Maroger, the former technical director of the laboratory of the Louvre Museum in Paris, and President of the Restorers of France, offers the famous formula for making Black Oil Wax medium. The medium is perfect for those who prefer rich painting consistency, faster drying time and are adventurous with the palette knife. After a series of trial and error formulas Maroger finally produces the wax medium that I use even today. It has linseed oil, bees wax, and Litharge (1/10 of the rust of lead). Many of the black oil wax mediums made by different companies today all have these ingredients but they add turpentine or a damar varnish as a fourth ingredient and call it Maroger's medium. But this is not what I make or the Black Oil Wax medium that James Fitzgerald used as well as the early Venetian painters such as Rubens, Titian and Rembrandt; who not only painted on wood panels, but also tin and copper plates. My medium and the medium they used does not darken the colors, it makes them brighter, translucent and creates a luster to the paint. My wax medium also has no solvent in it that dulls and cracks the oil paint over time. The medium I make myself is flexible and will never crack. And because of the small percentage of lead in the medium I use gloves, because one should avoid contact until the painting is dry. Then it is completely safe. And as thick as I paint, it skins over and is dry to the touch overnight even in the dampest weather. It omits no odor that is harmful such as all solvents do affecting the heart and central nervous system. Turpentine, varnishes and other solvent based dryers can also penetrate the skin and enter the blood stream making it much more dangerous in the long term. 

My Black Oil wax medium is simple and safer if treated with respect, it also acts as a tack improving the adhesion of paint over paint so that you don't have to paint thin to thick. This adhesion quality is why the Venetian painters used Black Oil Wax medium when they painted on tin and cooper. Many times I have painted thick over thick with virtually no mixing of color from underneath coming through. Most people who talk negatively against this medium have never tried the authentic Black Oil Wax Medium that the masters used and are basing all their observations on the Maroger's medium that is on the market today. I have tried these ochre colored brands myself and have found them worthless and too expensive anyway. It is even a different color than my dark coffee colored medium. My black oil wax medium feels different, is thicker and is also archival giving it added permanency to the paint. 

The other thing I like about using this medium, is that I can extend oil paint up to half medium to half oil paint. I can virtually extend one tube to make two tubes of expensive paint for the cost of one, making the mixtures more semitransparent without any wrinkling in the drying process. Many people think I go through a lot of oil paint. But in actuality I use a whole lot less than they would think and probably no more than they do. The visitors at the AMC Highland center were amazed as they would check out the dark coffee colored medium that always disappears in the enlivened paint mixtures that I demonstrated with my assorted palette knives. And these facts that I shared intrigued them and gave them insight that allowed them to gain a better understanding of how quality materials actually make painting more adventurous, successful and enjoyable. Black Oil Wax medium if it is made right, will bring the fun back into oil painting, making the paint the consistency of smooth peanut better. I make three different thicknesses for different seasons. For this residency I used a thiner version that refused to freeze solid in sub-zero climate and worked beautifully.

They say that a truly creative person rids him or herself of all self-imposed limitations. And though I believe that's true, there is so much more to achieving happiness as a painter. The method of making a highly prized plein air substrate and my own Black oil wax medium is nothing I learned from College. This knowledge was learned by pursuing excellence in my own painting by interviewing people who knew a master painter or by reading from various different art material books. More importantly in the end, it came by rediscovering the revelation and technical invention that brought excitement back to the process of oil painting. Although it has taken years to perfect the making of these preparation techniques, I never viewed an unsuccessful batch or surface as a failure. It all just brought me closer to success and into the process that the old master's actually used. 

Choosing art materials off the shelf in an art store that are substandard in quality is limiting yourself. Sure you can paint right away without having to prepare first, but it robs the painter in a few ways. It takes away the confidence of knowing just what you are painting on and leaving it up to someone else to conserve and restore your painting down the road. It does not give a sense of anticipation in the preparation for the adventures in future painting experiences. My residency is certainly an adventure and I have had just as much thrill preparing my materials as I have painting on them in plein air. But even more importantly, buying substandard materials off the shelf doesn't make painting easier and more focused, but it actually adds to the distraction that the artist has to overcome on location. I can't tell you just how many times I have seen painters quite because of equipment and material failure due to having to fight the elements of nature. And since plein air painting in nature is the best teacher you can possibly have, you will never know just how good you can be if you don't use the best quality materials. Besides, you just can't capture everything you need with a photo that you work up later in the studio. Sometimes you just have to get a little cold, a little wet, and even a little worn down to capture nature at its best. But all that stamina comes not from a sense of duty, but one of happiness that comes with knowing your materials will hold up in even the most challenging elements. Confidence is not gained from convenience, but confidence is gained in quality; and this is the place where heaven comes down and kisses your painting.