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”