Tom’s Tornado Three - Some Art

Tom Thomson's Plein Air Sketch Box
with Thunderhead inside

In "Tom’s Tornado!" we described the basics of how and why Tom recorded a tornado. The science of that tornado was described in "Tom’s Tornado Two - Some Science". In this post we will summarize the science and add in the art and the plein air experience of that afternoon in May 1913. 

 Early spring is a prime time to create supercells in southern and central Ontario. The strong spring sun provides the heat energy. The jet stream still packs the energy from the northern hemispheric winter  temperature contrasts. That same moderate to strong jet stream can guide energetic low pressure areas north-eastward from the Gulf of Mexico. Those southerly winds can bring abundant heat and moisture with them. The melting snow and rejuvenating evapotranspiration of the local vegetation can provide added moisture to help fuel the convection.  The lakes are still cold while the surrounding land surfaces can warm considerably under the strong spring sun. The resultant lake breeze fronts are crucial for focussing the development of the supercell thunderstorm. 

May 20th, 2022 Version of the Miller Threat Area 
coinciding from when I wrote this Blog

As a severe weather meteorologist, it was my profession to work up the “Miller’s Severe Convective Threat Diagram” in order to predict where and what type of convective threat might exist. The severity as well as the probability of that convection were also big questions to answer. There were those singular spring days when those threat boxes started in Windsor and stretched north-eastward across Lake Simcoe into Algonquin and western Quebec. That spring afternoon before the biting bugs emerged was a favourite time for Tom Thomson (and myself) to paint en plein air. 

I was struck as if by lightning when I first saw “Thunderhead” in an art book. As a meteorologist, the image of the tornado was obvious. During that part of my meteorological career, science was making giant leaps forward in understanding the mechanics of the thunderstorms that generated tornadoes. The term “supercell” was coined in 1985 to label a severe thunderstorm with a rotating updraft. The tornadoes that can be associated with supercells were also being better understood with the new Doppler radar tool. The fundamental signatures of tornadoes were being identified and incorporated into a refined conceptual model. The amazing accomplishment was that Tom had observed and painted those “new” signatures in 1913! (Thunderhead, 1913. Tom Thomson Canadian, 1877 - 1917 oil on canvas board 17.5 x 25.2 cm - 7x10 inches. Purchased 1946. National Gallery of Canada (no. 4631)) 

Tom's sketch box (shown upside down) could be set on his lap
or anywhere that he wanted to paint.
Finished sketches were held in slots
within the box. Simple, safe and easy is how to best
paint en plein air - less to carry and portage!

Tom would have been paddling with his sketch box looking for something to paint before the bugs started to really bite and the fishing got better in the spring of 1913.  A year later he would hurl that sketch box into the woods in a fit of frustration for not being able to paint very well! Tom was en plein air with A.Y Jackson in that fall of 1914. Jackson retrieved Tom's sketch box and cobbled it back together so it could be used again. Lucky thing that he did because Tom's best art was still to come. Jackson would enlist and leave to fight in WW1 after that Algonquin painting trip never to see Tom again.

It has been estimated that a plein air artist makes a couple of hundred thousand decisions in the course of completing a typical work. Tom’s decision as what to paint that afternoon was easy. The weather provided a tornado. The entire supercell would not fit on his 7 by 10 inch panel so he focused on the wall cloud. After that, Tom just painted what he saw in those moments of awe. Remember that making a record of his life experiences and observations was something that his quasi uncle Brodie had advised. Tom included specific tornado characteristics that would not appear in any textbook for another 50 years or more. At the same time, Tom had to make some decisions required to stay alive and out of harm’s way…  or maybe he was just very lucky and had accidently paddled to the best observation point on the southern flank of the supercell. The warm southerly wind being drawn into the heat engine of the storm would have given him a tail wind and the paddling in his dove grey canoe tinted with cobalt blue oil paint, would have been easy. 

I completed two 11 by 14 inch interpretations of “Thunderhead” trying to place the same pressures during their execution as would have been felt by Tom. Both of these paintings, numbers 0886 and 0887 in my catalogue, took me 35 to 45 minutes to complete and I did not have a F2 tornado approaching dangerously close to give me added concern! My simple goal was to have fun and to see by experimentation how long it might have taken Tom. The tornado may have encouraged him to paint even faster and sometimes faster is better. Less is more. I bet that Tom was done in under 30 minutes on his smaller panel. 

There is even more to be discovered in the painting when one tries to copy it yourself. I saw some olive green in the painting for the first time while I was painting my interpretation. Green in a cloud is indicative of very high moisture content in the atmosphere. 

Tom Thomson 1913 "Thunderhead" 7x10 inches

When I teach plein air painting, I emphasize to give highest priority to blocking in the subject pieces that are changing quickly. The things that won’t change can wait. Time is of the essence. Everything in the sky was changing and that had to be Tom's top priority. The foreground would still be there after the tornado had passed - or at least one can hope for that! The wave action in the lake from the strong southerly inflow to the tornado could be remembered. 

In addition, Tom must have been painting this in bright sun and very warm conditions with the wind blowing on his back. The darker oil colours were virtually dry when he rolled on the cerulean highlights of the wave crests and signed his name. He could have even added these the next day of course but I am assuming he painted all of this on location.

Tom regularly did not include titles or even sign his art. Tom's faithful patron Dr James MacCallum (an ophthalmologist) and his friend and supporter Lawren Harris did most of the naming … neither were meteorologists so "Thunderhead" was a leap for them and perhaps more catchy than "Wall Cloud". 

Tom signed this painting so he was pleased… and probably relieved to be alive. What continues to amaze me is that the story of Tom's dangerously close encounter with a tornado did not follow the painting. Thankfully Tom's oils and brush strokes can still speak eloquently more than a century later.  The brush might be mightier than the pen… and certainly the sword. 

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water … another painting and more science next time. 

Phil the Forecaster Chadwick

PS: For the Blog Version of my Tom Thomson catalogue raisonné, Google Search Naturally Curious "Tom Thomson Was A Weatherman - Summary As of Now" or follow this link “http://philtheforecaster.blogspot.com/2022/10/tom-thomson-was-weatherman-summary-as.html”