![]() Two of the men are older, and Vermette captures them perfectly through fantastic technique coupled with virtuoso observation. ![]() Most impressive is his large “Three Lobstermen,” in which the men, backs to us, have a conversation over the bed of a truck piled with traps. While I usually associate Vermette with his sculpturally thick oil technique featured in half the works in this show, his watercolors are stronger here. It is an unusual and extraordinary painting. This might sound over the top, but Vermette is an extremely talented painter, and this large watercolor is just as dominated by the gorgeous autumn leaves that transition from incredibly realistic at the bottom of the painting to almost completely abstract at the top. A mustachioed, uniformed and camouflage-clad guide is shown about halfway through skinning a bear with a big knife. Vermette’s “Maine Guide Skinning a Bear” just might be the most testosterone-infused painting I have ever seen. “Women of Monhegan” makes for an interesting contrast with Michael Vermette’s exhibition “Katahdin & Monhegan.” While the women’s work yields no hint about their gender, Vermette’s paintings are about as manly as can be. The composition is nicely balanced between the solid white house and the spatial complexity of the foreground. It is a richly colored view from the water past a pair of beached rowboats up to a geometrically simple house. This watercolor matches a sprightly style with a fine sense of volume and finish. Marilyn Swift’s “Vaugh House, Swim Beach” also stands out. ![]() Rather than a struggle, the loose strokes reveal the joy of painting. ![]() I also particularly enjoyed Kate McGloughlin’s “View from Tribler Cottage.” It is a tiny oil painted in an unselfconsciously smeary style (as if Morandi painted on Monhegan). The paint is joyously thick, and the raking light of early morning glows gloriously on the steep roofs. My favorite is Alison Hill’s “Path to the Lighthouse.” It is a deliciously painted oil on canvas of red-roofed white houses along a Monhegan path. ![]()
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