Michael E. Vermette
Fine Art

"Little Hunter's Beach, Mount Desert Island, Maine"

Little Hunter's Beach, Mount Desert Island, Maine by Michael E. Vermette, Oil on Oak Panel, 8inches x 10inches x 1/4-inche
Oil on Oak Panel on Gypsum gessoed solid oak panel - 8 inches x 10 inches x 1/4-inche - Available
$200.00 USD

Representation

Michael E. Vermette Fine Art
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207-827-7573

Artist Comments

                                                               "Little Hunter's Beach, Mount Desert Isle, Maine"

 There is actually two hunter's beaches on Mount Desert Island in Maine. Hunter's beach is the one in the national Park with a rolling cobblestone beach that sounds like an audience of 1000 people clapping their hands in this natural rock tumbling beach as the tide moves in and recedes. the rocks are so round and beautiful that the rangers have to keep a lookout for visitors stealing them by the cooler full. But in contrast and not so accessible, is the quaint Little Hunter's Beach that is located closer to Northeast Harbor. This wonderful beach has a magical spruce forest trail and unique bridges and stairs that lead the visitor to the pinkish-orange beach. Here you will find, along side the trail in, a stream that disappears underneath the sand beach as it goes out to sea. In this small study Michael painted as a part of his Acadia National Park residency in 2006, micheal chooses to paint the stream flowing toward the sea and under the beach. In the distance you can clearly see Baker's Island, the sight of the first Lighthouse in the area in history near the cranberry islands. 
 Michael says, "This is one of the most private beaches to enjoy in Acadia and its environment. In this painting my subject became the geodetic feature that so amazed me, being the stream disappearing underneath the sandy beach and reappearing just before it contributed into the Atlantic Ocean.It was a bright sunny September day and I love how the placement of the blue water bodies augment the glowing pinkish-ochre color of the beach sandwiched between them, which is made up of crushed shell, amazing in itself." 

 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. These masters 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 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 demonstrates a composition that is made up of a fresh water stream, sand beach and the Atlantic Ocean that lead the eye out-to-sea to an off shore island in the distance. His handling of color depicts the light of a bright sunny afternoon using an accurate color palette and descriptive strokes that describe natural lines of power, motion, and shape in rendering the character of the sand beach between the ocean and stream right out to the off-shore islands in the distance.  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. It also improves the color to a brighter velvety semi-transparent glow. This painting is also painted on a highly prized Gypsum Gessoed (Alabaster Stone coated gesso formula) over a kiln dried solid Oak 1/4-inch panel  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." 

 

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