"View From The Pump Station of the Meadow, Monhegan Island, Maine
Oil on Gypsum Gesso Panel on Oil on Gypsum Cradled Panel
- 8 inches x 10 inches x 1-inch
- Sold
$200.00 USD
Representation
Michael E. Vermette Fine Art
Visit Website
207-827-7573
Artist Comments
"View from the Pump Station of the meadow, Monhegan Island, Maine"
Michael E. Vermette captured this fresh plein air oil sketch in July on Monhegan Island in Maine at the pump station looking across the meadow, facing west towards the village. This painting is one of 74 painted that he made over the summer that particular study is a part of Michael's Monhegan Island portfolio. In this painting he shows the piping network of the island's water supply, which is actually underneath the meadow and water of the pond. The sandy bottom actually acts as a natural filtration system. This painting has the pond reflecting blue sky in the foreground, the hay and wild flowers of the meadow in July, the village and then the island of Manna in the distance. Over the island he paints a very unusual multi-colored sky that occurred as the morning sun burnt of the fog.
Michael says, "This painting was painted in the morning with front light, and the sun at my back. This placed the emphasis on flattening the image into patterns of unusally beautiful colors and shapes that were composed in rows receding back in space. It becomes a collage of interesting shapes that represent the view from across the meadow in the summer month of July."
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 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 power, motion, and shape in describing the pattern of the village as seen from the far end of the meadow from the pump station. 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 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"
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