Tom Thomson's “Rising Mist - Heavy Skies” Autumn 1916

Tom Tomson - Painted on both sides of a sketch box panel,
Rising Mist – Heavy Skies Oil on wood panel (beveled edge) 
Landscape with Snow, Fall 1916, verso 
 Alternate titles: Spring Landscape with Snow;
10 1/2 x 8 1/2 in (Thomson's Sketch Box size)

Every painting should be a learning opportunity. Artists only improve by pushing paint around and trying to get better. Sometimes you use whatever you have in that valiant effort. Artists do not normally have much so sometimes you use both sides of a panel. That is exactly what Tom Thomson did in 1916 nearing the height of his artistic creativity. 

In early autumn 1916, Tom observed: "Rising Mist - Heavy Skies" (central landscape-oriented image above). A month or two later, the snow was falling and he needed a panel so he recorded “(Spring) Landscape with Snow” on the flip side (portrait-oriented image above right). Artists do that kind of thing to practice and get to learn. Tom neither signed nor named either of these sketches and that is when the intrigue began. The titles even changed with time as various experts weighed in on the unknown.

A.J. Casson

The art of Tom Thomson did not really start to sell until decades later. Criminals took notice in the 1950s. There was considerable money to be made through Thomson forgeries. A.J. Casson, the last surviving member of the Group of Seven declared "Rising Mist - Heavy Skies/Landscape with Snow" as a genuine Thomson. Joan Murray deemed the panel "a clumsy forgery" painted in the 1950s. Blair Laing, Toronto's prominent dealer of art to the Canadian Establishment did not reveal any reasons for his own disavowal. "There's nobody special whose opinion on Thomson I'd value more than my own." Oh my… now you might understand why I just deal with the science and facts. 

This painting was the first Thomson to undergo a detailed physical and chemical analysis in late 1989. The Canadian Conservation Institute analyzed it using infrared spectroscopy, X-rays and other techniques. The full force of technology was being applied to discover the truth. They concluded the panel was almost certainly a Thomson. Can anyone be 100 percent certain even if Tom had signed it?

The current consensus is that these are indeed Thomson’s sketches from late 1916. Tom was known to be at Basin Depot in Algonquin on October 4 to pick up his mail. Tom sent a letter to Dr. MacCallum saying he was hoping to be "laid off soon" from his job as fire ranger out of Achray on Grand Lake. Tom also invited MacCallum to come up to Achray by train the following week.  Tom was probably at Grand Lake well into the fall. Tom did not return to Toronto until early November.  

None of the previous investigations included the science of meteorology but I am about to change that. The weather is consistent with the consensus but let me focus on “Rising Mist - Heavy Skies”. 

Mist-Heavy Skies-Fall-1916

Tom's weather observation reveals some basic meteorological truths.

The fog and stratus clouds that comprise this skyscape are front-lit. Clouds that are fully illuminated by the sun are brightest in their center and less so on the outer edges where the number of scattering droplets decreases. This is Mie scattering and occurs when the size of the scattering particles is comparable to the wavelength of the light. All wavelengths are scattered and the resultant combination is white light.  It also explains why homogenized milk is whiter than skim... 

The Mie Scattering solution to Maxwell's equations

The sun was shining on Tom's back and it probably felt warm on that very chilly sunrise. The distant hills that were not in the shadow of the stratus, displayed vivid colour. It would have been a calm, clear, and cold night. Chilled air would have been draining down the valleys toward the lake surface. The lake must have been still relatively warm after a summer of heating. How do we know all of this? 

That is Arctic Sea Smoke in Tom's painting. Sea smoke, frost smoke, or steam fog develops when cold air moves over warmer water. The chilly air mixes with the shallow layer of saturated warm air immediately above the warmer waters of the lake. The  mixture of air is cooled below the dew point and can no longer hold as much water vapour. The surplus water vapour condenses out as water droplets and releases the heat of vapourization back into that mix of air. This added heat energy fuels the convection that propels those parcels of air upward. As a result sea smoke may have a turbulent appearance as it rises convectively in spiraling columns - just as Tom observed. The net result is that heat energy leaves the lake in the form of fog and stratus. 

Steam Fog and Heat leaving the Singleton Swimming Pool,
September 22, 2022... I was still swimming though...

Tom did not bother to either sign or name these sketches. They were simple weather observations to him. Their sole importance was the task he set for himself to record the nature of the weather and how that might be displayed by shapes, colours and texture in lavish oils. It was both a challenge and fun to be outside, en plein air, surrounded by the weather with no biting bugs. 

Upon further investigation in the early 2000s, the Thomson scholars changed their minds and deemed that the estate stamps on each side of the panel were indeed genuine. Tom’s friend, J.E.H. MacDonald had designed the stamps – one in metal and another in rubber after Tom died. The stamp was pressed into the paintings that Tom had left behind in Toronto to identify them as authentic. Sadly, sometimes these stamps caused damage to the art. These original stamps remain locked in the National Gallery in Ottawa. Apparently, some forgers constructed and used fake Thomson stamps in the 1950s to make their crimes a bit more believable…  

All of this might have been avoided if Tom had simply scratched his name in the wet oils when he was done with his weather observation. I use a toothpick or nail to inconspicuously brand my works - sometimes a twig I find at my feet... 

"Rising Mist – Heavy Skies" as it
would have appeared in Tom Thomson's
plein air sketch box.

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

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”

Tom Thomson's "Georgian Bay, Summer " 1914

Not every Tom Thomson sky is a storm. But every sky still has a story to tell. This is a subtle tale of altocumulus cloud lines shaped by the atmospheric frame winds...

The summer of 1914 was one long adventure for Tom Thomson. Tom spent two of those summer months at MacCallum’s cottage in Go-Home Bay, Georgian Bay. It was there that he recorded this weather observation before he escaped back to camp in Algonquin in early August.

Georgian Bay, Summer 1914, Oil on panel, 8.5 X 10.5 inches

On the back of the unsigned painting is some very important information. 

"Inscription verso: u.edge: AM / View from Pine Islands looking west toward Hope island / Beckwith & the watchers - July 1914 - about 6 pm / MacCallum; l.r.q., VIEW FROM PINE ISLAND 13;* L.R.Q., No. 142"

A Tom Thomson expert and a friend of mine commented: "MacCallum wrote the identification of time and place when he and J.E.H. Macdonald sorted and identified the works left in Thomson's (shack) studio after he died.  The AM might have been initials of someone to whom MacCallum thought the painting could be sold.  Other notes and numbers may be from times the painting was exhibited - apparently galleries often numbered the paintings in their shows or sales.  u. edge - upper edge; l.r.q. - lower right quarter.  There is an estate stamp, too."

The information that makes sense to me allows one to fairly accurately place where Tom Thomson was standing when he completed this sketch on the July evening in 1914. Tom was probably located on the southern most of the Pine Islands looking toward the southwest. Dr. McCallum identified the time as being "about 6 pm". All of the islands in that field of view can be accounted for using Google Earth. 

The story written in the sky is subtle. I considered a couple of other possible options but the following fits the most pieces into the meteorological puzzle. First, it is important to recognize the altocumulus cloud as being within the free atmosphere, removed from interactions with the earth. The meteorology that needs to be applied is the Conveyor Belt Conceptual Model and not that of the Planetary Boundary Layer. 

Rising air is required to to sustain the altocumulus clouds. If I take out my trusty Coriolis Hand (your right hand if you are in the northern hemisphere)  and point your Coriolis Thumb upward in the direction of the rising air, your fingers must curl in the direction of the air flow. The cyclonic companion of the deformation zone was overhead. Notice how the cloud amounts diminish to the west? This can only be a single location within the Conveyor Belt Conceptual Model. All of the rest follows from this bit of knowledge. 

A summer storm was exiting southern Ontario to the east. Tom Thomson was painting the "hang back" portion of the cyclonic circulation around the low pressure area. The most distant band of altocumulus was the cyclonic mid level confluent asymptote of the deformation zone - the green arrow turning cyclonically southward from the col in the following graphic.

I attempted to recreate the weather scenario as best fit the cloud patterns. The low and strong winds were well east of Go Home Bay but the hang back deformation zone still trailed to the west of Christian Island. Fair weather was on the southwestern horizon. The strong winds in the core of the storm were still shaking the inversion of the warm conveyor belt like a blanket. Those gravity waves were the swells that Tom observed. 

The banding in the clouds contained within that deformation zone was the result of atmospheric swells that originated from the centre of the storm far to the east. These clouds are all at nearly the same mid level in the atmosphere. 

The atmospheric swell is the large purple wave in the accompanying graphic. The smaller amplitude and shorter wavelength wind waves are typically  superimposed on the swell and can create some interesting patterns. In the following diagnosis of Tom's observation, the swells are the large bands of cloud areas. The crest of each swell is identified by thicker cloud. The trough of each swell has less cloud or even clear skies depending on the level of the lifted condensation level. 

Swells occur in all fluids but have been largely ignored in the atmosphere. I have been attempting to change that for decades... without much success. I never stop trying though. 

Swells from a fishing boat that crossed the south shore
of Singleton Lake about 15 minutes previously

The wind waves in the portion of the swells within the red circle in the accompanying graphic are perpendicular to the orientation of the swells. The wind waves could explain the patterns in the altocumulus although Tom did not record them as neat and regular waves. I doubt that even Tom noticed the secondary wind waves that chopped the altocumulus into periodic chunks. I connected the cloudier bits with the dashed grey lines but I am far from convinced and I can be pretty gullible! A few cloudy areas line up but that could just be chance!

Try to Connect as Many Wind Wave Crest as Possible ... it is feasible but quite unlikely
that Tom would observe and then 
record this level of cloud elemental detail. 

“Georgian Bay” was challenging to diagnose - there is a lot of science in those brush strokes. More than half of the small, plein air panel belongs to the sky and the weather. The selected name that focusses on the lake is really not  appropriate. The motivation for Tom to paint the patterns in the sky cannot be found in "Georgian Bay".  

The original can be seen at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg (1974.9.7). Upon Tom's death in 1917, this painting became the property of Tom's eldest sister, Elizabeth Thomson Harkness of Annan and later Owen Sound. The painting was then passed to Margaret, the ninth of the ten children born to John and Margaret Thomson. The families were big in those days!

Margaret grew up in Leith, near Owen Sound and enjoyed the same upbringing as Tom surrounded by music and the arts. Margaret Thomson Tweedale had moved to Toronto by the time she gifted "Georgian Bay" to the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in 1974. Margaret passed in 1979 but remained  fiercely protective of her brother Tom's reputation.  

I try to carry on with Margaret's protection of Tom in my own small way... it is important to know the full story that inspired Tom's art and I can help with that ... 

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

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”

Tom Thomson's "Misty Sky, Summer " 1914

 

The summer of 1914 was one long adventure for Tom Thomson. On May 30, Tom was at Parry Sound and then two days later, he was north on the French River where he camped with Dr. MacCallum. He then spent the next two months at MacCallum’s cottage in Go-Home Bay, Georgian Bay. In a letter to "Fred" (probably his friend and future Group of Seven artist, Fred Varley) dated July 8th Tom wrote:

Tuesday night / Go Home P. O. / Georgian Bay / c/o Dr. McCallum

Dear Fred,

This is only to be a short note. I am leaving here about the end of the week and back to the woods for the summer. Am sorry I did not take your advice and stick to camping.

This place is getting too much like north Rosedale to suit me — all birthday cakes and water ice etc. [...]

Say, Fred, it will be fine to be camping again.

Tom Thomson

By early August, Tom was paddling back to Algonquin Park, travelling north along the French River to Lake Nipissing, then via South River to camp again in his new found home. 

A.Y. Jackson joined Tom in mid September and together they canoed around and painted at Canoe, Smoke and Ragged Lakes. They would be joined for a week in early October by Arthur Lismer, his wife Esther, and their daughter, Marjorie, Frederick Horsman Varley (aka Fred) and his wife, Maud. 

Misty Sky Summer 1914 Oil on composite wood-pulp board
8 1/2 x 10 7/16 in. (21.6 x 26.5 cm)
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (1526). Purchased, 1918

Bob and Diana McElroy feel that the landscape of  "Misty Sky Summer, 1914" "looks like Algonquin and summer seems a reasonable guess at the season, given the shade of green at the edge of the lake.  The dead trees sticking up here and there look like a wetland of some sort." I have paddled extensively around Go Home, the French River, Lake Nipissing and throughout Algonquin and I agree with their assessment. Back in the logging days of Algonquin Park, the ravaged forest canopy would likely show solitary, standing spires. Tom was painting the land and skyscape that he loved. 

What inspired Tom Thomson to record this observation in oils? 

This is a rain shower. Convection is almost the direct opposite of mist and fog. A cumulus congestus cloud is responsible for this precipitation. It is unlikely that this was a cumulonimbus judging from the associated clouds. Such convection typically requires daytime heating to release the instability in the air mass. A morning view looking eastward is not impossible but the strong likelihood is that this is a late afternoon view looking at the setting sun. This is supported by the strong wave action made possible by stronger winds aloft mixing down to the surface in the unstable air mass revealed by the convection. Looks like the wind stirred up some dust that got mixed in with Tom’s oils before he slid this sketch into his paint box. 

Some rain shafts were clearly make it all the way to the ground while others look like they evapourated into thin air – which they often do. Virga is simply precipitation leaving the base of the responsible cloud that evapourates (from water droplets) or sublimates (from ice crystals) before reaching the ground. 

The rainbow colours surrounding the aureole of the sun were certainly what  piqued Tom's interest to paint this observation. This is an example of a solar corona. The diffraction of light is a function of the wavelength which causes the colours to separate. The aureole of the sun is the central, blindingly, bright disk ringed with red. A second ring of red is shown in the accompanying example in which the sun is blocked out to produce a striking image of just the solar corona. This is one of those rare times when Tom painted looking into the sunlight. 

The size of a corona is determined by the size of the diffracting water droplets. The diameter of the corona increases as the droplets become smaller. The diffraction process also produces the most colourful corona when the droplets are uniform in size. The colourful circle surrounding Tom's sun is not the result of refraction through ice crystals which results in haloes but diffraction from relatively small and uniform water droplets. 

So what do we know? 

• We can see the sun so we know where it is… although the backlit rain shaft and convective clouds reveal the same truth. 
• The small and uniform rain drops from the convection result in coloured diffraction rings. The central bright area slightly enlarged is the sun. 
• The bottom of the convective cloud is band of grey on the upper third of the panel (good for artistic composition). Note the secondary convection lifting from the shelf in the upper right.
• Friction in the planetary boundary layer (PBL) slows the surface wind. The winds at and above the lifted condensation level (LCL) are relatively unaffected by friction and are stronger. The earth-bound rain shafts have a distinct slant from the right to the left. These towering cumulus were moving with the upper winds and have a component of motion toward the left or south. 
• Lots of wave action with 25 knot winds via the Beaufort Scale.  

Tom was not paddling anywhere that stormy afternoon and was very probably kept at his campsite by the strong winds. The weather created a perfect opportunity to just stay at camp and paint. The weather even provided the subject matter. Life could not be better... 

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

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”