Tom Thomson's "Canoe Lake Spring", 1917

The low horizon identifies this sketch as another weather observation.  The bold brushwork is also reminiscent of the other work from that last spring of 1917.  There is a story to be revealed cleverly hidden in the clouds. The provenance of this painting is also fascinating. Please read on.

Canoe Lake Spring 1917 Oil on board
 8 1/2 x 10 1/2 in. (21.6 x 26.7 cm)
Tom's paint box size 

Location is an important part of every Creative Scene Investigation. Tom did not need to stray far from his favourite campsite to record this particular weather observation. Tom was standing on the southern edge of Hayhurst Point looking southward just a very short stroll from his camp.

The shore and islands of Canoe Lake as viewed from the southern
point of Hayhurst Point in various Thomson paintings

Thomson's location and view superimposed on a
Canoe Lake Map from 1921. The location of the remains
of Mowat Lodge that Thomson knew is clearly identified.
Mowat Lodge burned to the ground in 1920. 

With location confidently established, the points of the compass are readily available to apply to the other clues to be found within the energetic brushwork. The details of that analysis may be found in the following graphic. 

With the location and the cloud types established, there are two possibilities for Thomson's location within the weatherscape (yes, I am making that word up). Those locations are identified by the yellow stars labelled 1 and 2 in the following graphic. 

Was Tom at location 1 or 2 in relation to the low-pressure area and the fronts? The wind would have a west-to-east location at both locations relative to the low-pressure centre, the red "L" in the graphic. The westerly component of the wind was consistent with the shape of the cumulus in Tom's weather observation. The wind was clearly blowing from the right to the left in Tom's weather observation. Tom was looking southward so the wind had a westerly component. 

Location 1 would also have the wind blowing into Tom's face and perhaps trying to push the ice sheet into the shoreline of the point of land. Location 2 would have Tom protected from the northwest wind by the higher terrain of Hayhurst Point. The wind on his back-right shoulder would tend to move the ice away from the point as Tom observed. 

Option 2 would be the more pleasant plein air experience but it is impossible to really know for certain. The ice pack on Canoe Lake still looked very extensive. The early spring runoff from Potter and Joe Creeks and the southerly shoreline exposure could explain the open water at the point. The positioning of the ice sheet does not necessarily require prolonged exposure to a particular wind direction and is certainly influenced by currents as well. 

If I was going to guess, I would certainly pick Option 2. The cumulus in Option 1 would be more likely to be precipitating with the added lift found near the warm front. The clouds as painted reveal no evidence of virga. The clouds at Option 2 would be under descending air behind the cold front. The cloud bases would be shaped by cold air advecting over the rugged terrain of the Algonquin landscape.

Canoe Lake Spring 1917 as it would have appeared
in Thomson's Paint Box 

Apparently, Thomson made himself that sketch box in 1914 to hold his classic 8½ × 10½ inch (21.6 × 26.7 cm) panels. The lower half of the box served as a palette, while the upper half served as a support for canvas or wood panels. That is the paint box that I include in these posts to illustrate what it must have been like to be a plein air painter.

There is no mention of any inscriptions for "Canoe Lake Spring 1917". I wonder what the back of this painting really looks like? 

Provenance:

• Winifred Trainor, Huntsville Estate of Winifred Trainor?;
• Terrence McCormack, Vestal, N.Y. 
• Galerie de Walter Klinkhoff, Montreal? 
• Masters Gallery, Calgary, 1981? 
• Private Collection, Calgary

Note the spelling within the above provenance should be McCormick, not McCormack.

A remark relative to this painting is that Walter Klinkhoff bought four sketches by Thomson from Terrence McCormack, Vestal, New York. This may be one of them.

My friend Roy MacGregor tells the more complete back-story behind the provenance of about thirteen paintings that were once owned by Winnie Trainor. Roy knows the Thomson story like no one else! His grandfather’s brother, Roy McCormick married Marie Trainor, Winnie’s younger sister. Yes, Winnie Trainor was the sister of Roy’s great-aunt. They were family. Winnie lived nearby the MacGregors in Huntsville when Roy was growing up and playing hockey with Bobby Orr. Roy's grandfather, Algonquin Park Chief Ranger Tom McCormick, even knew Tom Thomson, but I digress already that is another story. May I recommend you read any of the books by Roy MacGregor if you are a fan of Canada. 

In a Globe and Mail article published on June 1st, 2005 and titled "That six-quart basket held $4.8-million worth of Tom Thomson's art", Roy relates that Tom and Winnie were indeed engaged and the honeymoon cabin at Billy Bear Lodge had been already booked in the late spring of 1917. Theirs was a tragic story of lost love - a lifetime of opportunities and happiness that would never be fulfilled or enjoyed. I won’t venture into that heart-breaking sadness but Winnie did possess those thirteen or so original Thomson paintings before Tom passed on July 8th, 1917. 

Winnie treasured Tom's sketches that were not signed and not defaced by the well-intentioned but damaging TT-Estate Stamp. The paint-box-sized sketches were "usually kept wrapped in newspaper and stuffed in a six-quart basket".  As Roy wrote in 2005:

"Whenever she travelled, she would cart the paintings -- we think there were 13 of them -- across the street and hand them to another town spinster, Addie Sylvester, the local night telephone operator who lived with about three dozen cats. 

Addie would stash the Tom Thomson originals back of her wood stove until Winnie returned and remembered to go and collect them."

Roy relates that "when Winnifred Trainor died in the summer of 1962 - a cousin (Terence McCormick was Roy's mother Helen’s first cousin and his second cousin.) inherited her property, including the paintings -- she had not even allowed herself the luxury of hot running water."

In 2005, that six-quart basket had held $4.8 million worth of Tom Thomson art.  In 2023, the price for that basket would be closer to $20 million and that number might be too low. If you think that price is ridiculous or maybe even insanely high, consider Tom Thomson's "Nocturne" with an auction estimate of $900,000.00 - $1,200,000.00 that sold for $1.5 million on June 15th, 2022. 

                        Tom Thomson's "Ragged Oaks, 1916"                          

Tom Thomson's "Ragged Oaks, 1916" is on the Cowley Abbott Auction for  June 8th, 2023 with an estimate of  $1,000,000.00 - $1,500,000.00. The auction house even includes the zeroes for the pennies as if that really matters. I would gladly spend another buck in a bidding war for a Thomson painting.  There are certainly auction and handling fees on that of that figure. Imagine!

In any case, “Canoe Lake Spring 1917” was almost certainly one of the thirteen carried around in that six-quart basket.  I always lament for artists who could have used just a fraction of those funds to purchase art supplies and maybe even food. Tom never saw a penny of that cash.  As Tom wrote to his patron Dr. John MacCallum on October 6th, 1914: 

"If I could only get $10 or $15 for it, I would be greatly pleased -- but if they don't intend to put in so much, let it go for what they will give."

That $15 price tag for a Thomson in 1914 bucks equates to about $450 cash in today's dollars. The painting is now worth $1.5 million. You do the math on the value of investing in art... I know several terrific artists who would gladly get you started on a path to increase your portfolio of valuable assets that you can even enjoy on your wall. 

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick

PS: Tom Thomson Was A Weatherman - Summary As of Now contains all of the entries to date. 

PSS: Thank you to Roy MacGregor for his guidance on this post and the high-quality image of Winnie. 

Tom Thomson's "Tea Lake Dam" 1917

Many of Tom's paintings places were best accessed by canoe using Canada's first highways. It would have been a leisurely paddle of about 8.5 kilometres from Mowat Lodge to the Old Tea Lake Dam. The runoff and current would have even assisted his paddle in the spring of 1917. The trip might have taken a couple of hours of gentle stroking. The scenery and inspiration would have been breath-taking at every turn. There would have been many distractions along the way. Life like art and canoeing, should not be a race. Enjoy the ride. 

The direct paddle path via (bold yellow line) from Mowat through
Canoe, Bonita and Tea Lakes to the Old Dam that holds all of that 
water back. 

The title simply refers to the Old Dam at Tea Lake. The vantage was just downstream from that dam along the Oxtongue River. The dam controls the water levels of Tea, Bonita, Canoe and Smoke Lakes. The truth is that the painting was all about the weather with the horizon well below the lowest third of the artist's "rule of thirds" grid. The real story not told by the title might surprise you. 

Tea Lake Dam
Spring 1917, 1917.33
Oil on wood panel 8 3/8 x 10 5/16 in. (21.3 x 26.2 cm)
 Tom's paint box size 

What does Creative Scene Investigation (CSI) have in store to tell us? Tom was painting with the afternoon sun on his back on a day which probably began with full sunshine and the promise of a bluebird sky. The morning skies would have been clear and the winds light from the south - a perfect day for a paddle. Unfortunately, there were no convenient shadows available in the painting to precisely time the painting but it takes hours of daytime heating to generate the convection that Tom observed. Any shadows would have been unlikely to see with them trailing away from Tom's view with the sun on his back. 

A 1946 Algonquin Watershed Map illustrating the viewing
direction for "Tea Lake Dam" to the northeast

Creative Scene Investigation Analysis from Tom Thomson Was   
A Weatherman PowerPoint

The story behind the weather is typical for a sunny spring day. 

The clouds which are the subject of his painting were fuelled by the strong spring sun. It was the kind of a day where the recently exposed dark soils of the landscape soak up the sun's energy. Dust devils spinning up 80 kilometre per hour winds are common on such days. 

The moisture from the spring melt was the other fuel source for those low-based convective clouds. Heat and moisture from the surface landscape billow upward within convective bubbles. Those parcels of air cool at a rate defined by the laws of thermodynamics and start to form clouds at the "Lifted Condensation Level"  (LCL) for the air mass. This LCL is the same or at least similar everywhere within the air mass. Note how very close to the ground the level-cloud bases were in Tom's weather observation. Those cloud bases were less than 2000 feet above ground level and the atmospheric dew points would have been higher than 16 degrees Celsius. This reveals that there was a lot of moisture and fuel available for convection that spring afternoon. 

It should come as no surprise that the inscription on the back written by Dr. James MacCallum mentioned a "thundercloud in spring". The oils could not contain the sound of thunder but the cloud structure certainly does. The tell-tale anvil of the cumulonimbus cloud was well outside the edges of the small panel and stretching toward the northeast. The distant cumulus clouds were aligned along the inflow to the storm. The large cloud in the foreground with the dark base was along the flanking line of that spring thunderstorm that had just exited to the northeast. 

The conceptual model for the common multi-cell thunderstorm follows. The flanking line is where new cells develop on the southwestern edge of the multi-cell thunderstorm structure. If Tom was able to paint the thunderstorm as mentioned by MacCallum, the only suitable location was at the western edge of the flanking line after the storm had passed. The prominent cloud featured in Tom's observation would be the "new cell" identified in the conceptual model included below. 

This multi-cell thunderstorm conceptual model is a good summary.
Multi-cell thunderstorms are characterized by multiple updrafts forming
new mature cells as each downdraft (and precipitation) dissipates
the previous cell. Cold air outflow from each dissipating cell
triggers new cells along the leading edge of the flanking line of the
outflow. This thunderstorm type is more long-lived than an ordinary,
 pulse-type, single-cell thunderstorm. Multi-cells are very common in the spring.

A Top-Down View of the Multi-cell Thunderstorm Conceptual Model locating
Thomson's probable vantage at the southwest flank of the thunderstorm
that had just passed their (Thomson and MacCallum ) location. The elements 
included in Tom's composition neatly fit into this conceptual model.

Tom's patron Dr. James MacCallum wrote the inscription on the back of the panel. Those details as recorded required intimate knowledge of the event. There is a reference to finding "a poacher's bag with beaver-skins" in the trees or bushes in the foreground on the right side of the creek. It is unclear whether that was Tom or James who found that bag but the reference that the painting was "sketched just before his drowning" surely refers to Tom Thomson. It certainly sounds as though the good doctor accompanied Thomson on this spring paddle down to the Old Tea Lake Dam.

Tea Lake Dam
Spring 1917, featuring the "new convective cell" on the southwestern
flank of a multi-cell thunderstorm after the storm had passed to the
east over Bonita and Canoe Lakes. Tom painted the natural world
and actual weather events in real-time. 

Inscription verso:

• three graphite sketches of birds (barn swallows?); 
• t., in graphite, Thundercloud in spring at chute where Muskoka River flows out of Lake / looked at from the left side the rush of water and the feeling of daylight is / very marked as well as the feeling of spring - In the trees or bushes in the foreground on right / side of creek I found a poacher's bag with beaver-skins +c - sketched just before his drowning / JMM.;
•  Backing label, Dr James MacCallum
• McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg

Tea Lake Dam, Spring 1917 as it would have appeared
in Tom's pochade box

Provenance:

•  Dr. J.M. MacCallum, Toronto 
• Mrs. W.T. Goodison, Sarnia, 1925 
• Mrs. C.A. Lorriman, Sarnia?, by descent 
• Roberts Gallery, Toronto 
• McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, (1970.1.4). Purchased with funds donated by R.A. Laidlaw

Recall that Robert A. Laidlaw was the wealthy friend of Lawren Harris who made the family fortune from the "R Laidlaw Lumber Company". The Laidlaw Foundation founded in 1949 was established with the purpose of providing financial support for charitable, conservation, educational, and cultural organizations in the Ontario region. This explains how "Tea Lake Dam" ended up at the McMichael. The title might be misleading but it does not get in the way of enjoying Tom's observation of the back-side of a multi-cell thunderstorm on a very unstable spring day. 

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick

PS: Tom Thomson Was A Weatherman - Summary As of Now contains all of the entries to date. 

Tom Thomson's "Open Water, Joe Creek" 1917

Many people feel that the last spring of Tom Thomson was by far his most creative and original. I agree. Everything natural seemed to excite and inspire Tom. He was very much alone and going to new places with his brushwork. You can't go anywhere original by following others. The sky is the limit for a solitary artist.

The story behind "Open Water, Joe Creek" is actually quite interesting. Both the sketch's sky and landscape portions hold the keys to unlocking the tale. 

Open Water, Joe Creek
Alternate title: One sketch Spring 1917
Oil on wood panel 8 7/16 x 10 9/16 in. (21.5 x 26.8 cm) 
Tom's Paint Box Size

The Global Positioning System (GPS), is a satellite-based radio navigation system that I use to locate my painting locations with an accuracy of a metre or so. It is as important to me to remember where I was inspired to create a painting memory as well as when that occurred. GPS allows me to retrace my steps in space and time to recall past adventures. Clearly, Tom did not own a GPS but using CSI, we are still able to locate his vantage when he observed "Open Water, Joe Creek". 

Happily, "Joe Creek" was included in the title probably assigned by Tom's friends, Lawren Harris and J.E.H. MacDonald when they met in the Studio Building in the spring of 1918 to sort through the pile of panels left there. The water-stained map from one of my paddles of Canoe Lake provided the remaining information that was needed.  Tom would have been located 75 to 100 metres north of the "Guide's Cabin" on the west bank of Joe Creek. He would have been looking across the creek to another of his favourite campsites, number 14 on the map. 

The main current of Joe Creek is identified as the blue arrow
in the above graphic. That ice is the first to be removed
from the channel by the strong flow of meltwater in
the spring. The remaining areas of ice as recorded by
Tom in his painting are depicted as white in the graphic.

The open water which caught the attention of Tom, Lawren and James would have been the main channel of Joe Creek. The spring melt would have augmented that current eating away at the ice from the bottom up. Crossing a strong channel even in the middle of winter is never safe unless you are prepared and perhaps wearing your bathing suit. The channel as painted was wide open and ready for the paddle. 

Significant ice still hung on along the near shore and in the bay across the creek. There would have been a back eddy on the edge of the current as well creating a lull in the flow of water and encouraging the ice there to linger. 

The sundial of the birch tree shadows provides the other vital clue of time. The shadow of the birch in the front left starts at the base of the tree and trails across the snow surface to the left. With the knowledge of the location, even without having to revert to the GPS, the map reveals the relative orientation of the shadows to the direction of true north. The timing of Tom's painting was just after lunch on a fairly sunny day. 

The sun was on Tom's right shoulder as he painted, looking across Joe Creek toward his popular campsite. The forest around that camp was in colourful and bright buds as the trees responded to the call of spring. The clouds above the horizon were also brightest in their central sections and darker around the edges. We could have deduced that the altostratus clouds were clearly front lit as was the scene even without the shadows trailing across the snow. 

Note that Tom accurately recorded the variations in the colour of the sky from the pale whiter blue of the horizon resulting from Mie scattering to the deeper blues of higher elevations and Rayleigh scattering. 

There is more to this story, and the altostratus clouds hold that key. Although there were no obvious gravity waves in those elongated bands of altostratus, they were clearly associated with the deformation zone process. These clouds were shaped by the relative winds in the free atmosphere above the planetary boundary layer. One band of cloud stretches from edge to edge of the panel and that must certainly be the result of a deformation zone. 

The deformation zone conceptual model is repeated below. The green arrows of the confluent asymptotes stretch outward from the central col, "C". A single line in the sky reveals all of the meteorological features which are important if you wish to truly understand the weather. The added information of the relatively clear skies overhead suggests that the associated vorticity minimum (the blue "N") was stronger than average. Tom was still enjoying the remains of a significant high pressure centre in advance of an approaching warm conveyor belt of weather.  

Tom's location relative to the Deformation Zone Conceptual Model
The mid-level deformation zone depicted correlates very well with
 the very elongated band of altostratus cloud that Tom observed.

Tom was painting on the leading edge of the mid-latitude weather system. The cloudier centre of the warm conveyor belt was still to the west. There were no clouds overhead or to the south of Tom's location allowing the sun to bathe his scene with light. The moisture of the anticyclonic companion of the warm conveyor belt had simply reached the deformation zone and was shearing off to the east along the confluent asymptote downwind from the col. 

The multiple bands of altostratus  can be explained as 
 swells in the atmospheric ocean. Tom's location and
field of view are the yellow star and accompanying
blue (left) and red (right) arrows.

Further as described in detail in "Tom Thomson's Spring in Algonquin Park, 1917", sometimes the absence of a clue is the clue itself! There were no obvious low clouds within Tom's field of view except perhaps the two pieces of cloud in the upper left (refer to the above graphic). Those clouds lack the brightness, flat bottom and hard edges of cauliflower cumulus so I took them as being pieces of altostratus. It is a possible alternative to identify those two clouds as cumulus but personally, I do not think so. But I cannot be certain. The lack of low cloud on the horizon places that area within the shadowy realm of the deformation zone shadow of the warm conveyor belt. 

There are no low cloud clues be seen in the scene and Tom could not include the wind direction or speed in his brush strokes. With no low clouds to diagnosis, I must remain suitably vague about how deep Tom was into the warm sector of the approaching weather system. 

Tom's location within the Conveyor Belt Conceptual Model

If the surface winds were strong easterlies, Tom would have still been within the cold conveyor belt of a strong, slow-moving storm and the warm front was to his south. The cold conveyor belt slows and veers to the south as the system intensity decreases and/or the system motion guided by the jet stream increases. The science of these deductions may be found in greater detail in "Weather Lessons for Everyone from the Cold Conveyor Belt Wizard".  

If the winds were southerly at Tom’s location, Tom was either within the cold conveyor belt of a weak, fast-moving system or more likely, the warm front was to his north (the yellow star in the above graphic) and he was in the warm sector of the system. There is no way to know for certain.

The provenance of this painting is interesting as it includes Barker Fairley who was included in the famous photograph taken at the Arts & Letters Club of Toronto in 1920. Barker Fairley (1887-1986) was a British-Canadian painter and scholar who was an early champion and friend of the Group of Seven. That image featured six of the members of the Group of Seven just as they were getting started. Barker was seated between Harris and Johnston.  Franklin Carmichael was missing.  This was a very serious group intent on creating a Canadian expression of art. 

Six of the seven who would form the Group of Seven were seated at the Arts & Letters Club
in Toronto around 1920.
From the left: F.H. Varley, A.Y. Jackson (in front), Lawren Harris (with cigarette),
Barker Fairley (non-group member with pipe), Frank Johnston, Arthur Lismer
and J.E.H MacDonald (with hand to his chin). Franklin Carmichael was missing.  
Photograph by Arthur Goss courtesy of the Arts & Letters Club.

"Open Water, Joe Creek" as it would have appeared      
in Tom's pochade box in the spring of 1917

Inscription verso: 

• l.l., TOM THOMSON; 
• u.m., in ink, OPEN WATER / JOE CREEK; 
• u.l., in graphite, Not for Sale;
• c., in graphite, Not for Sale-JM.;
• r.c., in graphite, FAIRLEY; 
• c., in ink, BARKER FAIRLEY; 
• u.m., label, Open Water-Joe Creek / 14 (circled);
• label, AGT Dec 30/40; 
• u.r., label, SMITH COLLEGE / MUSEUM OF ART / LOAN 61:41 Thomson Collection @ Art Gallery of Ontario. 

An image of the actual back of the panel would assist in making this all much more clear. I take a high-quality image of the verso of each of my paintings.

Provenance 

• Estate of the artist Elizabeth Thomson Harkness, Annan and Owen Sound 
• Barker Fairley, by 1940 
• W. Allan Manford, Toronto, 1970 
• Private collection, Toronto 
• Thomson Collection @ Art Gallery of Ontario

Time and place are important to deciphering the story behind any creation. Art needs to be placed into its proper and complete historical context to be fully understood. The clues required to do so can be hidden in plain sight but the required sleuthing is often not easy... 

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick

PS: Tom Thomson Was A Weatherman - Summary As of Now contains all of the entries to date. 

Tom Thomson's Spring in Algonquin Park, 1917

Widely quoted art curators estimate that Thomson created 400 oil sketches on small wood panels and approximately 50 larger works on canvas. Tom did not routinely sign, name or keep records of his art so those numbers are only estimates. No one really knows! 

In a Taylor Statten interview with Tom's friend and Algonquin Park Ranger Mark Robinson in October 1956, Mark relayed a memory of a conversation that he had with Tom in May 1917: Tom said:

“You know, I have something unique in art that no other artist has ever attempted, I have a record of the weather for 62 days, rain or shine, or snow, dark or bright, I have a record of the day in a sketch. I’d like to hang them around the walls of your cabin here.” 

About only half of the 62 panels have been documented. Tom was known to burn paintings that he did not like. Mark Robinson also enjoyed embellishing his Tom Thomson stories in his later years but they were based on truthful interactions. 

The exact number of Thomson originals will never be known. There are certainly many forgeries in the art world, including many purporting to be original Thomson works. The lack of accounting and Tom's penchant for giving panels to anyone who admired his art facilitates the sudden appearance of a "new and undiscovered Thomson". The potential of a Thomson forgery can be very lucrative for the criminal. The art market fluctuates but the price of a Thomson original is certainly in the millions of dollar range. 

"Spring in Algonquin Park, 1917" was one of those 62 paintings from the last spring. Harris and MacDonald would have made a record of it in the spring of 1918 when they were going through the stack of Thomson panels left in the Studio Building. It must have been a daunting task to document and name that pile of paintings!  Here is the Creative Scene Investigation story of that particular work. 

Spring in Algonquin Park Spring 1917
Oil on wood panel 8 3/8 x 10 1/2 in. (21.2 x 26.7 cm)
Tom's Paint Box Size 

Creative Scene Investigation typically starts with location and viewing angle in an attempt to establish the time of day or vice versa. The geography of "Spring in Algonquin Park Spring 1917" is readily recognizable. Tom did not need to go very far at Canoe Lake to find inspiration. This view is from the southern tip of Hayhurst Point. Tom's favourite campsite was just up the slope to the north of this location. The islands included in Tom's painting are characteristic of Canoe Lake and are easily identifiable. Tom was looking southerly toward the sun although the clouds shielded his eyes from any glare and harmful ultra-violet of the light. 

Was Tom using his campsite on those chilly nights of April 1917? 

The yellow star indicates the painting location while the 
yellow arrows enclose the view included on the panel.

If Tom was staying in and enjoying the relative comforts of Mowat Lodge, he would have needed to cross the dodgy ice of the north basin of Canoe Lake where the ice was also in competition with the spring outflows from Potter and Joe Creeks. Such a crossing although possible, would have been very dangerous. 

The prevailing southerly winds that funnel up the length of Canoe Lake had pushed the ice floes onshore and probably jammed the north basin of the lake. Tom included large chunks of ice still bobbing in the open water. Travelling conditions would have been tricky with a canoe and treacherous on foot across the ice. 

The meteorology of the painting is that of a warm conveyor belt. The backlit altostratus cloud was the darkest in the middle. The high concentration of ice crystals makes the central portion of the cloud most opaque even though Mie scattering from large particles does scatter most of the energy in a forward direction, in this case toward the observer. The fringes of backlit clouds are always brighter with fewer particles on the thinner edge of the cloud effectively scattering light forward.  

The yellow star and associated arrows locate Tom's position
relative to the conveyor belt conceptual model. The red,
orange and yellow flows rise along the constant energy 
surfaces which slope upward toward the north. The red
line of the surface warm front was well south of Tom's
viewing location. 

A large mass of altostratus cloud such as Tom observed can only exist for a good meteorological reason. The atmosphere was gently rising over a large area. Anyone with a barometer would also have measured the pressure falling at the surface. A spring weather system was approaching. 

The air was certainly rising due to a southerly flow of heat and moisture riding the upslope of the constant energy surfaces in the atmosphere. The edges of the cloud in the painting stretch west to east as one would expect of the associated approaching deformation zone. Unfortunately, there are no apparent gravity waves from which one could glean more details of cloud-level winds. The cloud Tom painted fits nicely into the conveyor belt conceptual model of mid-latitude weather systems. 

Sometimes, it is what you don't see that can reveal the most in Creative Scene Investigation. There were no low clouds included in this painting! Clouds within the planetary boundary level also rely on lift, moisture and heat to develop. Recent rainfalls and strong winds can raise surface air parcels to saturation through turbulent mixing. Daytime heating can warm the surface which heats adjacent air parcels. These packets of air then rise buoyantly to the convective condensation level of the air mass to form cumulus clouds. Neither process was evident which tells a lot. 

In this case, I suspect that in addition to the altostratus cloud pictured, there was also a layer of a higher cirrostratus cloud. Even a cirrostratus cloud can block the spring sun enough so that the cumulus convective process could not get initiated. Daytime heating also takes time to act so that could further point to a painting effort taking place in the morning. 

The yellow star locates Tom's position with respect to the 
deformation zone shadow - the dashed green double-headed
arrow. The region shaded in cool blue hues is void of daytime
heating-induced cumulus clouds. A line of cumulus often
reveals a convergence line of the warm side of the 
deformation zone shadow. 

The accompanying graphic explains the concept of the "deformation zone shadow". Cumulus clouds tend to not develop in the region shaded by the cloud of the approaching warm conveyor belt. Turbulent stratocumulus can still develop if the winds of the cold conveyor belt are sufficient to lift surface moisture to saturation. In addition, a subtle temperature gradient can develop across the "shadow" of the deformation zone with cooler surfaces in the shade and warmer surfaces on the sunny side. The result can be cooling and warming of the respective zones of overlying air which can lead to a convergence line. The convergent flow promotes a line of cumulus paralleling and on the sunny side of the deformation zone shadow. 

The subtle meteorology of the deformation zone shadow is heavily influenced by the characteristics and heat capacity of the different surfaces. The results in the real world will never be as ideal as the movie playing in my night shift mind but I still try to connect the dots of cumulus to make sense of it all. 

After becoming aware of this interesting meteorology, I watch for it with the approach of every warm conveyor belt and the associated deformation zone shadow. I often notice a zone of turbulence as the deformation zone shadow passes my location. Once within the shadow of the warm conveyor belt cloud, the momentary turbulence is lost and the characteristics of the cold conveyor belt resume. Whether the turbulence is the result of the meso-temperature gradient and thermal wind or the pressure gradient force (PGF) between the meso-high and meso-low is an interesting question that requires investigation. The subtleties are complicated further by the complexities of the real-world terrain. 

I always was interested in this subtle meteorology and how the environment reacts to differential heating. By the way, you will not find this in any textbook but I digress...

The above graphic also suggests that Tom was looking at the anticyclonic companion of the approaching warm conveyor belt since the cloud was altostratus versus altocumulus. 

Low clouds are useful clues to gauge the properties of the cold conveyor belt even if they were not present. "Weather Lessons for Everyone from the Cold Conveyor Belt Wizard" is a summary of those techniques that can estimate the relative speed and intensity of an approaching weather system. In this case, the cold conveyor belt was not sufficient to generate turbulent stratocumulus. This implies that the approaching weather system was of rather ordinary intensity and speed across the landscape. 

Tom carefully blocked in the larger trees of his composition and then painted the clouds in between those forms. For the smaller branches, he simply dragged the darker brush strokes through and on top of the thick oils. There are no rules in art, and the artist is free to apply the paint in any way they deem fit!

The takeaway message here is that the characteristics of the clouds were important to Tom and he took great efforts to paint them as he saw them. 

I know this is a lot to read into the clouds that are partially hidden by a screen of birches but Tom Thomson painted what he saw. He did not make the weather up and was faithful to the details in a broad-brush kind of way. Understanding and interpreting those details can lead to some interesting insights and that is simply where I come in. 

Inscription verso: 

u.r.q., label, Toronto January 28 - 1928 This is one of Tom's pictures which was given to me by Father today at Owen Sound. It was one of the pictures taken by Father from Mowatt [sic] Lodge, Algonquin Park, in 1917 when Tom died, and it was painted in the spring of 1917. I asked Dr. McCallum of Toronto over the phone today whether it would be possible to have Tom's seal affixed to this sketch. He suggested writing the above to establish its authenticity G.W. Thomson 15 / 3 / 47 Above copied from original back cover McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg (1980.5).

George Thomson (Tom's brother - born February 10, 1868, Claremont, Pickering, Died: 1965) was the "Father"  identified in the Inscription written by his son George W.[sic]  Thomson in 1928. George Junior wished to have the Estate Stamp applied to the panel to authenticate it as a Tom Thomson original. Perhaps forgeries were becoming an issue even then. Tom Thomson forgeries were certainly rampant in the 1950s.

My Thomson friend pointed me in the direction of the back story of Tom's oldest brother. George Thomson had a business partnership with Frank McLaren and they operated the Acme Business College (1892-1906). George married Frank's daughter, Margaret Euphemia McLaren on March 28th, 1893. George was three years younger than Margaret. They had a son, George McLaren Thomson on February 1st, 1894, but unfortunately, Margaret passed away just six months later.  George would remarry in 1914 to Jean Telford. George Senior would move to Owen Sound in 1934 and later pass away in 1965 at nearby Leith at the age of 97. George was out sketching with his brother Fraser at Lion's Head and Barrow Bay on the Bruce Peninsula halfway between Owen Sound and Tobermory the day before he died. George Senior was buried near his brother Tom's gravesite.

George McLaren Thomson had at least 2 sons with Lilias Henry. They lived in Washington, United States in 1900 and Calgary,  Alberta in 1926. George Junior died on 18 September 1972, at the age of 78, and was buried in Brantford, Ontario, Canada. 

Spring in Algonquin Park Spring 1917 as it would        
have appeared in Thomson's Paint Box

It is unclear how Junior George McLaren (his mother's maiden name) Thomson developed a middle initial of "W" instead of "M".  They are certainly the same people in spite of this small discrepancy. Sorry, but I do not have a solution except for upside-down dyslexia and an error in transcription. I am just the weatherman...

Provenance 

• Estate of the artist 
• George Thomson, New Haven, Connecticut and Owen Sound 
• George W. Thomson, Brantford and Sudbury, 1972, by descent 
• McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg (1980.5). Purchased 1980

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick

PS: Tom Thomson Was A Weatherman - Summary As of Now contains all of the entries to date. 

Tom Thomson's "Spring Flood" 1917

With "Spring Flood", Tom was letting his hair down and his brush go wild en plein air! As my Thomson friend observed, " It must have been a great day out in the breeze, feeling spring advancing, watching the amazing clouds moving across the sky and hearing the rush of meltwater down the creek.  A feast for the senses." And therein lies all of the justification that one needs to take your brushes and paints outside. 

Spring Flood
Alternate titles: No title; Spring Spring 1917
Oil on wood panel 8 3/8 x 10 9/16 in. (21.2 x 26.8 cm)
Tom's Paint Box Size 

The yellow circle on my water-stained copy of the
Canoe Lake Map is the suspect area for this painting.

The exact location of this view would be helpful but that is beyond my expertise. I suspect it is depicting the low ground bordering Potter Creek where it enters into the north end of Canoe Lake and is joined by the outflow from Joe Creek. Trees line the edge of Potter Creek which was overflowing and racing down the channel to carve into the rotting ice on Canoe Lake as described in "Tom Thomson's "Cold Spring in Algonquin Park" 1917". The shrubs on the far shore of Potter Creek were coming alive with colour and the warmth of spring. This vista would have been a very short stroll from Mowat Lodge. I am certain that some Thomson experts would know the answers to this question and I welcome any and all suggestions. Regardless, I will focus on the weather as this is a fine example of Creative Scene Investigation (CSI) as well. 

Sometimes CSI is best applied by simply jotting down the obvious clues and then assembling the pieces of the puzzle even before you have a clear idea of the final picture. That is the case for this riot of fun, colours and energy. Tom was clearly energized and I would not want to detract from that excitement with too much science. 

So what can we see?

• Long and energetic brush strokes commensurate with the strong, spring updrafts and wind. I highlighted a few of those bold strokes that were inches in length until his brush ran out of oil.
• Vigorous, convective updrafts are very unlikely in the morning. This is an afternoon weather observation after a significant period of daytime heating.
• Updrafts curl from right to left. Friction reduces the wind speed near the ground. The wind increases above the treetops. The resultant wind shear reveals the wind direction to be from right to left.
• Patches of blue mean that the sky was not overcast above the turbulent cumulus fractus cloud pieces within the planetary boundary layer. 
• Strong orange hues are characteristic of a late afternoon sun when Rayleigh scattering depletes the blue out of the spectrum.
• The trees and hills were front-lit and full of colour. The sun was on Tom's back in the late afternoon. 
• The turbulent cloud elements were front-lit and quite bright in their central masses. 
• Tom was looking easterly.
• The wind was southerly and gusty as the convective clouds were chaotic and torn apart into shreds.
• The title talks about flooding which correlates with melting snowpack, warmer temperatures and perhaps a warm rainfall event preceding the painting session. Warm rain is extremely effective at melting the snowpack and could have occurred with the warm front that preceded the warm sector that Tom was painting within. 

The CSI picture is that of a late afternoon view looking easterly in the warm sector of a wet, windy, convective and very unstable weather system. The warm, afternoon sun was on Tom's back and there were no biting bugs in the air. This would have been a wonderful plein air experience. The gold star places Tom at a  potential location for this weather observation within the conveyor belt conceptual model. 

Spring Flood as it would have appeared                         

in Tom Thomson's pochade box.

                          

Inscription verso (back of the painting): 

• u.l., in graphite, R.A.L. / reserved / Lawren Harris / for R.L.;
• u.r., in graphite, RALaidlaw;
• u.r., in red pencil, Laidlaw;
• u.r., in red pencil, 40 (circled);
• l.r., in graphite, No 40 Mrs Harkness
• McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg (1966.15.23)

The inscriptions on the back of these panels make a lot more sense if you read them a line at a time. My Thomson friend pointed that fact out and sleuthed from the exhibition history of  "Spring Flood" that it was exhibited as number 40 with "No title" in the October–November 1949 display entitled "Sketches on Exhibition at the Art Gallery of Toronto" at the Art Gallery of Toronto. 

 The story behind the provenance is also revealing. When Lawren Harris was sorting through the stack of panels with MacDonald in the spring of 1918 (as described in "Tom Thomson's Spring 1917"), he had an eye open for those that might go to prominent art enthusiasts. "R.A.L" was Robert A. Laidlaw. The Laidlaw brothers, Robert and Walter were wealthy financiers and industrialist friends of Lawren. The brothers followed that good advice and purchased at least 25 of Thomson's paintings. Those paintings have since been dispersed to various galleries and collectors. 

It also makes sense to read the provenance a line at a time: 

• Estate of the artist
• Elizabeth Thomson Harkness, Annan and Owen Sound
• W.C. and R.A. Laidlaw, Toronto, 1922
• McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, (1966.15.23). Gift of R.A. Laidlaw, Toronto, 1965

It would have been a tremendous amount of effort to compile this information before the age of computers and the internet. There would have been years of effort to track down and note these details which would have appeared to be trifling and inconsequential at the time. These facts are important parts of the story of Tom Thomson and his art and much of that effort is certainly attributable to the work of Joan Murray. The following from Google aptly describes Joan: "Canadian art historian, writer and curator who is an advocate for Canadian art and curators." Joan was certainly a champion for Tom Thomson. 

As the provenance states, Robert Laidlaw did purchase the untitled painting from Tom's eldest sister in 1922. Robert gifted this gem to the McMichael in 1965 where I eventually met up with it and enjoyed it nose to nose. And that's the end of that story...

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick

PS: Tom Thomson Was A Weatherman - Summary As of Now contains all of the entries to date.