Tom Thomson and Algonquin Park

Algonquin Park has been a place to be enjoyed as a recreational destination for many years. Tom Thomson made his way to the Park for the first time in 1912. He was working at an artistic design firm as a draughtsman and did not consider that painting would ever be taken seriously. He enjoyed the fishing and did some sketching on the first trip.

Thomson is not one of the Group of Seven artists, however he did work alongside them. The Group was formed after his death. He died in the Park in 1917 under mysterious circumstances.

He would go into the Park in the very early spring, sketch and make very quick paintings on wooden boards he could slot into his painting kit. In the winter he would go to his studio in Toronto and use the painted sketches to create the grand canvases. 

In the summer/fall of 2014 the National Gallery of Canada had a special exhibit on Tom Thomson. We already have one of his most famous paintings here full-time, The Jack Pine. His other iconic large painting, The West Wind, is held by the Art Gallery of Ontario. It was part of the exhibit, the two paintings were in the same room with each other. In the corner they had his painting kit. Also, the sketches he had done for each of these paintings were alongside them so we could see the differences between the inspiration and the final masterpiece.

The following photos were taken in the special exhibition section. However, I have noted which gallery owns the paintings, so if you are going to a gallery, you may be able to catch a glimpse of them.

The Jack Pine, NGC

The West Wind, AGO

Spring Ice, NGC

Pine Island, Georgian Bay, NGC 

Northern River, NGC

Autumn`s Garland, NGC

One of the people that was a patron for Tom Thomson and some of the budding Group of Seven painters, was Toronto physician Dr. James MacCallum. He had a cabin on Georgian Bay where he thought the artists would have plenty of subject matter with the landscape nearby. The artists got together and painted a group of scenes that were hung around a room in the cabin. All the paintings in that room are in the National Gallery and they've constructed a room to view them in where they hang exactly as they hung in the cabin.

A portrait of Tom in the cabin painting

How the paintings went around the chimney

In another room they have an extensive collection of Thompson's sketches. Here is a picture of his sketching kit (that I've found online):

I spent quite a bit of time looking at the various sketches they have. Some are very evocative of the Park. He truly captures the beauty, the various seasons, the nature. I think a visit to this gallery is a great way to feel like you are in the Park especially when it's way too cold to paddle.

No trip to the National Gallery is complete without a stop at the gift shop. The following swag came home with me. A coffee table book (that was greatly reduced in price), a lovely china mug, and a jigsaw puzzle that took me FOREVER to make. It is a beautiful picture, beautiful quality, but 1000 pieces of crazy-making frustration.

There are a couple that have paddled extensively in Algonquin Park and they blog about their adventures. One of the things they have tried to do over the years is to figure out where exactly in the Park some of Tom Thomson's pictures were painted. 

Here is a link to one of their blog posts where they tried to find if "View From a Top of a Hill" was painted on Grand Lake. 

I enjoyed reading the book, "Canoe Lake" by Roy MacGregor. Here is the synopsis from Goodreads: "A troubled American woman travels to a small Ontario town, determined to find the mother she has never known. As she searches through dusty records and stirs up old memories among those around her, three young people emerge from the mists of the past…a beautiful woman named Jenny, a shy local boy named Russell, and a dark-eyed painter named Tom, who changes the course of Jenny and Russell’s lives. Historical reality and conjecture are skilfully interwoven with intrigue and suspense as these three move unwittingly toward tragedy."

It's a fictionalized account of what may have taken place.  

I read it alongside another one of Roy's book: "Northern Lights". Click here for the Goodreads synopsis. This version is not fictional, it's a collection of various facts around the mystery of Tom Thomson's death. I was able to borrow this book from the library.

Overall, Tom Thomson was painting the beauty of the Park for only 5 years. We can only imagine how great a loss this was. If he would have had another 20 years to paint and evolve and enjoy both the recognition and the financial benefit of the great works he was capable of, we would all be richer.

"Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."

"Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." This is a quote from William Morris.

I read a decluttering book in September. As I cast my eye around my living room I realized that the four very large paintings of loons (and one lone wolf) I had from an Inuit artist were too big for my wall. These four paintings are gorgeous, they are originals, I had them framed by a museum quality framer (ouch, $800) quite a while ago. And they aren't my property. They belong to a friend who was letting them roll around his basement floor because he didn't have any plans for them. It was a shame to see such beauty treated that way and I convinced him that "we" should get them framed, which "we" did.

Okay, this is Mr. Winston, the paintings are behind him

And Winston is a thing of beauty so he gets to stay.

The paintings were always on loan to me. These days I no longer spend any time with this friend and I was probably holding onto them more out of greediness than true appreciation for their beauty. A decision was made, they would go back to their owner. I channeled the "Let it go" philosphy of the decluttering book. I contacted him and offered to give them back in exchange for my half of the framing cost. He was there within a week to claim his paintings, and I waved goodbye with one hand and clenched onto the $400 with my other hand. I had a plan!

I love looking at the photos I take on my canoe trips. I have most of them on my work computer and they are on rotation so I see a different one every few seconds. Ah, the joy I get in seeing those pictures, reminding me of the precious moments that were spent on the lakes (and even portages become fond memories after time passes).

I decided to choose a number of photos, have them printed out, frame them, and hang them where the four large paintings had been on my living room wall. Okay, this was easier said than done. I've got hundreds of pictures and I love them for the memory they bring, not necessarily for the photographic value. I think I have a pretty good eye for taking pictures (of things and places, not people). I don't alter my pictures in any way, no editing or photoshop for my sexy lakes!

It took me a while, but I whittled the selection down into a special folder on my computer at home "Possible Prints". I asked a friend for advice on a photo editing software (free, of course). I tweaked the pictures slightly. Made sure my horizons lined up (very obviously needed in a lake picture, LOL), I did a little colour enhancement. But mostly, it's just my pictures. The product she recommended was FastStone Image Viewer.

Then I had to decide sizes. My $400 went a long way at Ikea with the Ribba frames. I bought one large one, four that would hold 8x10 pictures, four that would hold 5x7 pictures and two of the long frames that also hold three 5x7 photos. For the latter two frames I decided one would hold sunset pics, the other waterfall pics. Themes!

I was able to place my order online with Costco to print out the photos and within 24 hours the prints were ready for pickup. Unfortunately, I chose the wrong print size for the largest picture and had to re-order that. No worry, with a turnaround time of less than 24 hours, I wouldn't have to wait long.

Yesterday while reading one of my favourite bloggers, she was talking about how to decide where to hang multiple photos on your wall at home. How timely! Her suggestion (which she got elsewhere) was to make a brown paper cutout representing each one of your photos. As I had been opening each Ribba frame to put the picture in, I had to remove a piece of paper the size of the frame. I had tossed these pages into my paper recycling bin, but was able to fish them all out and tape them on the wall with masking tape.

Mock-up

Also, when framing each picture, I wrote in pencil on the mat where the picture was taken and the year. I decided I wanted the display to look more like a gallery. I'm going to line all the photos up along a top line, which isn't too high. See the picture above for an idea.

Once I got all the pictures in the frames and started to hang them, the fun started. I'm being sarcastic here. This was the hard part! Trying to get each picture in the frame without any little piece of dust pressed between the glass and the mat was a struggle. I hung the biggest picture first. I moved on to do the 8x10 frames on each side of it. The top ones went on pretty good (all with tweaking - nothing ever seems to be at the right height.) 

Note, when I say 8x10, it is the size of the picture inside, the frame is bigger. When I started to put up the 8x10's on the bottom, uh-oh, they didn't line up properly. What? It took a bit of head scratching to realize that the paper cut-outs were indeed slightly smaller than the frame. Ohhhhhh. 

Also, as you can see in the photo above, there is a lovely heating control on the wall that breaks up any perfect alignment that I might be able to do. That's okay. We all need an excuse to not beat ourselves up over imperfection.

When working with the four 5x7 frames, I discovered there weren't two grippers, only one, so I couldn't string a wire across the back to hang the picture. The one gripper has a hole in it, but the Ribba frames are too deep for any sort of nail or picture hanger on the wall that can use the hole to suspend it.

So far, missing two 5x7 frames

I worried a bit about my choices. But when I think about how much it cost to get the prints made and how quickly it can be done at Costco, I realize I can just pick another photo to replace a picture with. The overall cost for the prints was $20.99 the first time, and $6.77 for the largest print the second time. Plus I have an extra, fairly large print I can maybe hang at my cubicle at work. The Ikea frames were $115. For under $150 I replaced the four paintings and I have $250 to put towards some new gear! I think I need to get a Henessey Hammock for myself. 

LT is coming over on Saturday to inspect my handiwork. I'm sure he'll suggest the pictures are hung too low. He's very tall. When I go to the bathroom at his house, all I can see of myself in his bathroom mirror is the top of my head and my bangs. 

See here to look at the pictures I chose.