"Rogue Wave At Otter Cliff, Acadia National Park, Mount Desert Island, Maine"

Watercolor on Heavy Weight Twinrocker Cold Pressed - 18 3/4 inches x 24 3/4 inches x 240 lb Heavy weight handmade watercolor paper - Sold

$290.00 USD

Representation

Michael E. Vermette Fine Art
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207-827-7573

Artist Comments

"Rogue Wave at Otter Cliff, Acadia National Park, Mount Desert Isle, Maine"

Michael E. Vermette captured this image en plein on the first day of his Acadia National Park residency in 1999 during a hurricane called "Hugo" in Maine. He is using an impressive range of color tones that are translucent and pure, yet boldly presented as the drama played out on e wave after another. This huge rogue wave reached nearly all the way up the cliff as michael capture it from the lower rock ledges of the cliff itself. Pictured here as a powerfully dramatic headland with calm seas, this watercolor has a beautiful qualities such as a wonderful grain evident in all the wash layers and a pure understanding of color value relationships.

Michael says, "I couldn't wait to get to the coast and paint during the aftermath of Hurricane Hugo on the first day of my artist residency in Acadia National Park in the Fall. I started out at Thunder Hole like most spectators do, but soon saw the huge waves buffeting Otter Cliff and knew I needed to paint there. I got close enough to paint these dramatic waves reaching up the huge monolith, one after another. I was in a safe place on the lower rock ledge of Otter Cliff, but also close enough that the subject influenced the painting. The sun broke through in the afternoon, lighting up the top of the cliff and accenting the sky with dashes of bright blue, a sign that the storm would transition and soon end."

This is an watercolor painting made on location after Michael's Monhegan Island Residency also in 1999. Michael's pure and bold range of transparent washes are truly evident here as he uses his descriptive stroke that describes lines of power, motion, and shape in describing the very character of a rogue wave against Otter Cliff. Yet, he is able to paint with a subtlety that captures even the lightest veils of light upon the huge vertical headland defying the sea. He painted this study on a handmade Twinrocker heavy weight watercolor paper. He uses only pure Holbein watercolor and Daniel Smith mineral watercolor pigments to achieve the color and the textural grain that is most prized by watercolor painters who have painted on this amazing paper, specially designed and sized for the watercolor medium. He also wets the back of the paper to create even more of a richer statement of color in his washes.

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 expects to paint another 50 small studies. Michael is also the 2018 first place winner of the 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. Because of the very high quality of the painting the starting price is set at 1/4 of the painting's worth. Because of this high quality and the confidence with quality custom shipping, I do not allow money back returns at this time.

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