Tom Thomson's "Northern Lake, Early Winter" Spring 1917

This is one of my favourite paintings to discuss in "Tom Thomson Was A Weatherman". The sketch was not included very often in the PowerPoint presentation as there are no tornadoes or whizz-bang sunset colours. This painting was not a favourite of the audience. The meteorology and science are subtle but with some Creative Scene Investigation, much can be discovered about this nature-scape. Tom painted what he witnessed! The truth and accuracy of his observations can be revealed by examining the details. 

Tom didn’t sign this sketch either. There is no “TT-1917” estate stamp mark or damage. Tom was simply making a weather observation. He seemed to be torn between focusing on the weather or the patterns in the water: a weather scape of a nature scape. The horizon is pretty much in the middle of the panel which is something I avoid. However, there are lines everywhere in this composition and long streaks all tell interesting tales.  

 Happily, the atmosphere and the lake are both fluids. The cloud patterns revealed the circulations in the sky while the ice was a longer integration of the movements of the waves and currents. Curved lines in the clouds and in the ice reveal the same basic flows. Let’s take a close look at "Northern Lake, Early Winter, Spring 1917".

Northern Lake, Early Winter, Spring 1917
Oils on wood panel
8.5 x 10.5 inches (21.6 x 26.7 cm)
Tom's Paint Box size

The location of the inspiration is always the first place to start in any investigation. Tom did not have to travel far to find painting material in the spring of 1917. Hiking and paddling can be challenges in the spring anyway and doing either takes time away from actually painting. The landforms included in Tom’s sketch are definitive and having paddled Canoe Lake, I have some idea about where Tom might have stood. 

This vista matches the landscape only a few hundred yards northeast of Mowat Lodge looking across the outflow of Potter Creek from the Canoe Lake western shore. The accompanying graphic correlates the details of the western shore of Hayhurst Point and the eastern shore of Canoe Lake. The lines seem to match very well so Tom was looking south-easterly and he would easily be back in time for lunch. 

The mid-morning light would only touch the tops of those clouds when viewed looking in that direction. Note how the cloud pieces appear brighter on their left sides. The cloud bases were dark and optically thick. There are interesting and important variations in those dark tones. Afternoon lighting would have illuminated the entire leading face of that cloud bank so that timing was not an option. 

We know Tom was not far from Mowat Lodge. He would finish this weather observation well before the next meal. The was no need to miss a meal made by Annie Fraser and that repast was certainly lunch and not supper. 

The cloud elements have the size of altocumulus. A thumb will cover the weakly convective cloud pieces if you hold your hand out at arm’s length. These clouds are riding the mid-level isentropic surface (constant energy path) of a warm conveyor belt on their northward trip. 

Evoking the conveyor belt conceptual model places this weather scape into an important context that can be easily understood. The leading edge of the altocumulus is a deformation zone. That first band of thick cloud is actually a large swell within the atmospheric ocean. Swells in the atmosphere were described in "Wind Waves and Swells and Lines in the Sky" as well as several other places within the Art and Science Blog. The crest of the atmospheric swell occupies the upper half of the weather scape. The grey cloud in the distance is actually in the trough region of the swell where there was no altocumulus cloud. Tom could see the grey bases of the cirrus cloud through the trough which was absent of altocumulus cloud. That is exactly what he painted. 

If the clear area of the Swell Trough is limited to the size
included in Tom's painting, the Lifted Condensation Level (LCL)
is below the average amplitude between the swell crest and trough.
The bands of cloud within the swell crest were wider that the
cloud-free areas in the swell trough. 

As a review, the details of atmospheric swells, wind waves and their association with the deformation zone are summarized in the accompanying graphic. Tom painted the first swell crest behind the deformation zone. 

The detailed bands as painted superimposed within the swell crest are particularly interesting. These result from the strong wind diverging from the col ( green oval in the centre from which the winds diverge) of the deformation zone. The wind superimposes shorter wavelength and smaller amplitude wind gravity waves on top of the large swell crest. 

Tom observed that banding and included it in his weather scape. The wind wave troughs are highlighted on Tom's banding with light blue lines in the upper half of the following graphic. The wind wave crests occupied by thicker cloud and ascending air are darker and labelled with dark text in the lower half of the graphic.

There are two options for locating Thomson within the weather scape of the approaching warm conveyor belt and explaining the cloud structures that he observed. The col in the deformation zone was not overhead as the atmospheric frame winds are a minimum near the col which separates the divergent flows of the deformation zone. The wind waves require the stronger winds located some distance away from the col in order to develop. 

Option 1 would require Tom to be under the anticyclonic confluent asymptote of the warm conveyor belt. The cloud is more stratiform within the anticyclonic companion and more conducive to gravity waves. There also tends to be less cloud within this relatively gently descending portion of the circulation. The wind waves would tend to tilt away from the observer as well due to the stronger relative winds found along the receding confluent asymptote. Note that the winds decrease toward the anticyclonic circulation centre, N.

Option 2 associated with the cyclonic companion of the warm conveyor belt would require the wind waves to tilt toward the observer. There is also typically more cloud and more convection within this active and unstable region of the weather system. The winds also decrease toward the cyclonic circulation centre, X.

Geographical view of Tom's vantage within the weather scape of the
Conveyor Belt Conceptual Model

I feel that Option 1 is the best solution to satisfy the requirements. Tom was painting the anticyclonic companion on the warm conveyor belt looking east-southeasterly.  

Similar swirls occur in the patterns of the chunks of ice and I suspect that Tom was very interested in those as well. The surface winds can create elongated lines exactly like deformation zones in the sky. The processes are the same and they also induce vertical currents in the water. The points of land and shoals influence these lines as well. The diffraction of waves around a point of land is an important consideration. There are so many factors to study in order to fully understand the lines in the water hat I just wish to scratch the surface, so to speak. 

The surface winds on that spring day were funnelling along the south-to-north orientation of Canoe Lake. There is an extended fetch from that wind direction. There were no white caps included in the painting so Beaufort Scale 3 with a wind of 7 to 10 knots seems to fit the weather scape. 

That portion of the conveyor belt conceptual model is the realm of the cold conveyor belt. Only a weak cold conveyor belt would permit a steady southerly breeze. This fact requires that the weather system on that day was a typical mid-latitude storm that was moving steadily with the jet stream across the landscape. 

The blue arrow of the Cold Conveyor Belt (CCB) undercuts both
the Warm (WCB) and Dry (DCB) Conveyor Belts. A weaker weather 
is associated with weaker conveyor belts.

If the speed of the weather system is faster than the speed of the Cold Conveyor Belt (CCB), the surface wind (green block arrow) will be in the same direction as the motion of the 

system. A system moving from the southwest across the landscape will have a southwesterly surface wind as a cold conveyor belt.

Weather and nature can be much more complicated than simple vector addition but hopefully, this clarifies the concepts. For more details on how we can discover this please refer to "Weather Lessons for Everyone from the Cold Conveyor Belt Wizard"  

The system crossed the area without hesitation. The precipitation, if there was any would have come and gone quickly. Stronger westerly winds would signal the passage of the cold front and the system. Since Tom was painting the anticyclonic companion, we can be certain that the cold front was perhaps just a few hours away to the west. 

Reading these swirls and lines is essential for a canoeist especially if they do not want to scratch their hull on the Canadian Shield granite. For deeper water and to avoid the shoals, paddle along the flow separating the surface swirls. 

As my Thomson friend aptly observed: "I was not previously familiar with this sketch, and have really enjoyed spending some time looking it over.  The composition is wonderful in the way it leads the eye around and back into the image, regardless of whether one looks at the sky, the water, or the land.  There is a great sense of movement and a vivid feeling of the weather Tom was experiencing."

The take-home message is that Tom faithfully painted what he saw. He was not making this stuff up! The weather and the water were the stars of his compositions and not backdrops. Careful interpretation of those lines allows us to almost stand beside him, shoulder to shoulder and better understand what inspired the man to paint what he did. 

Finally, the title for this painting assigned by Thomson's friends in the Studio Building during the spring of 1918 may also be flawed. Tom was painting on location in the spring of 1917 using Mowat Lodge as his home base. This is not an "early winter" weather observation and that portion of the title is certainly erroneous. 

"Northern Lake, Early Winter"  Spring 1917
as it would have appeared in Tom's pochade box.

Inscription verso: 

in red pencil, Laidlaw 1; 

u.l., in ink, AM; 

u.l., in graphite, RA.L.; 

u.m., in blue pencil, 14; 

l.m., in graphite, No. 55 Mrs Harkness;

u.r., in graphite, Rom Joly?; 

u.m., in orange/red crayon, Laidlaw; 

u.r., in deep red crayon, 1 (circled); 

l.l. label, no number / TT

Thomson Collection @ Art Gallery of Ontario

Provenance:

Estate of the artist

Elizabeth Thomson Harkness, Annan and Owen Sound

R.A. Laidlaw, Toronto

Private collection, Toronto

Sotheby's Toronto, 6 May 1991, no. 121

Private collection, Toronto

Thomson Collection @ Art Gallery of Ontario

As the provenance states, Robert Laidlaw did purchase the untitled painting from Tom's eldest sister probably in 1922. Recall that Robert A. Laidlaw was the wealthy friend of Lawren Harris who made the family fortune from the "R Laidlaw Lumber Company". Mr. Laidlaw made several purchases of art based on Lawren's advice. The painting was later sold and remains in other private collections. 

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. 

Tom Thomson's Spring Break-up Spring 1917

The colours employed in "Spring Break-up, Spring 1917" are very similar compared to the previous post and "The Rapids Spring 1917". Tom was using the same palette of hues. The weather and location also look very similar. 

Science and art require an open mind accepting facts only and being hesitant to believe anything else. Tom Thomson painted what he observed even down to the orientation of the snow drifts and ridges and the number of trees in each copse. Perhaps Creative Scene Investigation applied to the soul mate of  "Spring Break-up, 1917" might reveal something about both works. 

Spring Break-up, Spring 1917
Oil on wood panel 8 7/16 x 10 1/2 in. (21.4 x 26.7 cm)
Tom's Paint Box Size 

The following graphic matches the features included in "The Rapids" with similar ones displayed in "Spring Break-up".  I employ different coloured fonts and arrows to match these characteristics. For example, each painting includes a single tree and a group of two trees in the same relative positions geographically. The front-lit cumulus clouds also appear in both paintings. 

The following graphic remaps the vista view of the identified features and projects them on a top-down view similar to what one might see on a crude topographical map. This projection also suggests that given the lack of shadows included in "Spring Break-up, Spring 1917"  the timing of this painting was close to solar noon. 

The geography of the area around Mowat Lodge and the flow of the rapids suggests only one location that might match the terrain. That painting location is directly across Joe Creek from the likely location identified for "The Rapids Spring 1917".  which was painted in the mid-morning hours on the west bank of Joe Creek. The weather conditions were very similar for both plein-air paintings. 

The evidence suggests that after completing "The Rapids Spring 1917" in the mid-morning hours, Tom crossed to the eastern shore of Joe Creek to record "Spring Break-up, Spring 1917". It is probable that he crossed Joe Lake Dam to do so. The fast flow of Joe Creek would have made any ice crossing hazardous should there have been enough ice remaining. The sun would have been on Tom's left shoulder and there were no biting bugs. It would have been a wonderful midday plein air experience. This is an example of how Creative Scene Investigation might yield complementary information regarding different paintings should they have been indeed painted on the same day. 

As mentioned in "Tom Thomson's The Rapids Spring 1917", my Thomson friend also suggested rapids along the Oxtongue River downstream from Tea Lake Dam as possible locations for this painting. Tom certainly might have hiked the 5 kilometres down the Gilmour Road to Tea Lake Dam to paint. Paddling would have been a much easier trip but the lake was likely still iced in. The orientation of the Oxtongue River provides a score of more possibilities for the painting site given the above constraints. Did Tom make that spring walk down Gilmour Road to create a couple of paintings? Always open to positive suggestions!

As my Thomson friend observed: "I still favour below the Tea Lake dam as the best guess at a location though as you say we will never know for certain.  I suppose farther down the Oxtongue is possible, but it's not obvious what sort of access he might have had in early spring conditions.  The Gilmour road crossed the river at the Tea Lake dam then continued on away from the river more towards the east. Still, as you say, it is good to include possible alternatives." An open mind will always learn. 

If conditions are favourable, a diligent and focussed plein air artist can easily complete four or more paintings in a day without even breaking a sweat. I have been known to finish a dozen canvases on particularly productive days when I was deep into the artistic zone. 

Sadly, Tom did not indicate any sequential order in his artistic journey. His panels had no date or number and were shuffled like a huge deck of cards in the Studio Building. His artistic journey was actually progressively orderly and sequential as time and increasing experience mandate. However, the study of that shuffled deck of panels is more like a confused break dance with steps out of order or missing completely. 

The first step in archiving any art journey would be to restore some sequential order to the paintings. Without some information, this is quite impossible or at least a huge challenge. My contributions with regard to these two paintings may be helpful but inconsequential in consideration of the 400 or so plein air panels that Tom produced over his too-brief artistic journey. Perhaps unfairly, I feel it is part of the artist’s responsibility to guide the patron along their journey. That trip can be a graceful waltz of discovery and learning and need not be chaotic missteps of a break-dance. Just saying.

Tom Thomson and friends in Algonquin Park, October 1914
(left to right)
 Tom, F.H. Varley, A.Y. Jackson, Arthur, Marjorie, and Esther Lismer.
Photograph likely taken by Maud Varley who was also there. 

The provenance of this particular painting is also very interesting. "Spring Break-up Spring 1917" would end up with the lady holding the baby in the accompanying image. Even baby Marjorie visited Algonquin Park in the autumn of 1914 to paint with the fledgling "Algonquin Group". Although the war in Europe had erupted in August, Thomson and A.Y. Jackson (1882–1974) met up for an early autumn canoe trip in Algonquin Park. When they returned to Mowat Lodge, Tom and A.Y. were joined by Arthur Lismer (1885–1969) and Fred Varley (1881–1969), along with their wives. The trip was the first occasion that three members of the future Group of Seven would paint together. It was also the only time that they would paint with Thomson. Tom was a real outdoors expert in their eyes and not just an artist. Lismer's wife Esther would end up with the painting upon his death in 1969 from whence it would go into a private collection in Montreal. 

          Spring Break-up" as it would have appeared in           
                    Tom Thomson's pochade box                                      

Inscription verso:

• in ink, Given to A. Lismer 1919 by Dr. MacCallum; 
• Painted in Algonquin Park Spring of 1917 
• Private Collection, Montreal 

Provenance:

• Dr. J.M. MacCallum, Toronto
• Arthur Lismer, Toronto and Montreal 
• Mrs. Esther Lismer, Montreal 
• Private Collection, Montreal

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 The Rapids Spring 1917

If only Tom Thomson would have left a few notes! Anything would have helped. 

Ranger Mark Robinson and his son
Jack at Joe Lake Station circa 1915.
Jack would assist his Father in
the search for Tom Thomson
in  July 1917

Those who travelled with Tom would also likely have known these rapids and where they were located.  Mark Robinson, Tom's friend and Algonquin Park Ranger would certainly have been familiar with this vista. The location of those rapids was certain to be common knowledge which is no longer very common. This plein air sketch is a good illustration of the application of Creative Scene Investigation. But a century later there is not much to go on... the hills stay the same but the forest grows back and cloaks the details... 

The other motivation to include this work in "Tom Thomson Was A Weatherman" is that this painting went to his friend and painting buddy A. Y. Jackson. As A.Y.'s niece Dr. Naomi Jackson Groves related to Joan Murray in April 1971: "A.Y. Jackson said he chose this work after Thomson's death because he could never paint a river the way Thomson did." That statement reveals a lot about both of these giants in the Canadian art world. 

The Rapids Spring 1917
Oil on wood panel 8 1/2 x 10 1/2 in. (21.6 x 26.7 cm)
Tom's Paint Box Size 

Tom did not travel far to paint that last spring. The ice of the waterways was dodgy at best because of the currents. There was not enough open water to paddle - at least not yet. Tom was staying at Mowat Lodge and was painting every day to record the arrival of spring. 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.” 

"The Spring Rapids" was surely one of those sixty-two panels. 

Knowledge of the exact location is very important and something I do not have. Perhaps someone will have that information and be able to share it but until that time, let's glean as much as we can from the details that Tom painted into his weather observation and see where it leads. 

The location of the sun as revealed by the shadows are the only clues we have except for the front-lit cumulus clouds. I typically find it helpful to correlate the geometry of what we know and orient those for the possible times of the day. 

If this observation is a mid-morning plein air effort, the following graphic summarizes the known facts. Note the colour of the lighting was not skewed to either sunrise (yellow) or sunset (red).  The fact that there were significant shadows bespeaks that it was not solar noon. A mid-morning painting requires that Tom was looking east to northeasterly.

 

If this observation was painted in the mid-afternoon, the following graphic applies. An afternoon plein air painting requires Tom to be looking south-easterly more or less. 

Tom Thomson was likely looking
       northeasterly in the mid to late morning   
to record his weather observation.

If we combine the geometry of the two above options with the geography of the area around Mowat Lodge, there would appear to be only one possibility. Both Potter and Joe Creeks flow southward into Canoe Lake. Only the orientation of a morning painting session satisfies that constraint. Perhaps Tom was looking northeasterly across Joe Creek just downstream from Joe Lake Dam. The other location would be just south of Canoe Lake Station but the orientation of any fast water to be found there does not work with the direction of the shadows. Someone with more intimate knowledge of the area might hold that answer. 

My CSI estimate would be mid to late morning for the timing of this plein air work. Tom was looking in an easterly to northeasterly direction across the rapid downstream from Joe Lake Dam. 

Gilmour Road 

My Thomson friend also suggested rapids along the Oxtongue River downstream from Tea Lake Dam as possible locations for this painting. The Gilmour lumber company built a road from their headquarters in Dorset all the way to a supply depot they established near the outlet of Tea Lake to supply their camps farther into the Park.  The road was extended all the way to their mill on Canoe Lake. Tom could have hiked this road even if Canoe Lake was still iced in. Mowat Lodge to Tea Lake Dam is about 5 kilometres and a reasonable walk for a fit person accustomed to walking in the bush. The orientation of the Oxtongue River provides a score of more possibilities for the painting site given the above constraints. The question is did Tom make that spring walk down Gilmour Road. Always open to positive suggestions!

The back story of these Creative Scene Investigations is from when I was a meteorologist with Environment Canada. I used to travel quite a lot teaching meteorology with international colleagues. I would arrive early at the airports as a contingency for the probable travel challenges and a precaution against never being late. I never missed a flight. There was typically significant time to ponder the questions of the day. Sometimes I would reflect on a particular painting by Tom Thomson and what he might be saying with his brush strokes. There was never a moment to waste and those opportunities created material for the "Tom Thomson Was A Weatherman" presentations which I had started doing in the mid-1980s. 

           The Rapids Spring 1917 as it would have       
appeared in Tom Thomson's paint box. 

Inscription verso: 

• u.l., in graphite, 42; 
• u.l., in ink, OWNED BY A.Y. JACKSON (underneath in graphite, A.Y. JACKSON); 
• u.c., in graphite, Reserved Studio Bldg. L.S. Harris (circled); 
• u.r., in graphite 25 SE(VERN ST?) / TORONTO; 
• u.r., in red pencil, T.12 / A.Y. Jackson / Toronto; 
• c.r., in ink, "THE RAPIDS;
• " c., in ink or black paint, S.B.; 
• l.c., PAINTED BY / TOM THOMSON / PROBABLY IN THE SPRING OF 1917; 
• l.l., label, AGT Dec. 31/40 A.Y. Jackson Private Collection, Toronto

Provenance

• Estate of the artist Elizabeth Thomson Harkness, Annan and Owen Sound 
• A.Y. Jackson, Toronto 
• Dr. Naomi Jackson Groves, Ottawa, 1945 
• Private Collection, Toronto

     Note the photo of A.Y. Jackson at work on a sketch      
projected behind Naomi Jackson Groves in this
presentation of "The Art and The Man"

The name "Dr. Naomi Jackson Groves" in the provenance is also prominent in Canada as a painter, art historian and linguist. Naomi wrote a series of books about her uncle, Group of Seven artist  A. Y. Jackson. Naomi Groves (1910-2001) was the daughter of artist H. A. C. Jackson (1877- 1961) who was the older brother of  A. Y. Jackson (1882-1974).  Naomi's art shows the influence of her famous uncle. The Jackson family contributed much to Canadian society. 

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 "Lowery Dickson's Cabin" 1917

Artists were the first historians to scribe their marks on cave walls.  The oldest known cave painting was of a wild pig recorded at least 45,500 years ago in Indonesia. Art tells the story of their life and times. The tales would be lost and forgotten without those scratches. 

This is another motivation for these blogs to re-read the narrative as recorded by the artist. I also wish to include the wisdom of others who have their own interpretations that shed some light on what the artist might have been thinking.  Artists record their era and sometimes the historians that follow make mistakes that can only be revealed by re-examining those earlier records.  Such is the case with "Lowery Dickson's Cabin". 

Tom Thomson could have greatly assisted if only he had recorded some basic facts about his art. He even omitted to sign his sketches.  Tom did not even attempt to put a name to them. The lack of any information made the work of his friends, Lawren Harris and J.E.H. MacDonald that much more challenging when they met at the Studio Building in the spring of 1918 to organize, authenticate and name Thomson's art. 

Lowery Dickson's Cabin
Alternate titles: Artist's Hut; The Artist's Hut Spring 1917
Oil on wood 8 3/8 x 10 1/2 in. (21.3 x 26.6 cm) 
Tom's Paint Box Size

My friend, "Tom Thomson's Last Spring" locates this sketch and wrote poignantly and very plausibly about what might have occurred that April day in 1917. I repeat portions of that story here with permission from "Lawrie Dickson’s Shack":

"I was sketching from a knoll overlooking Potter Creek. The ice was pretty much out near the shore and around to Joe Lake Dam. There was still lots of ice in Canoe Lake (it wasn’t officially iced-out, according to our criteria established a few days ago). I had a nice view of Lawrie Dickson’s shack. It was pretty close to the shore. The birches were submerged in the high water which was less than two feet from his door.

As I was sketching, lo and behold, who strolls into view? Annie and Daphne. Annie had a red coat and a pink hat on, and Daphne had on her blue coat and white hat. I shouted for them to stop. I raised my paintbrush and they knew exactly why I issued to order. I quickly mixed up the colours and painted them into the picture. It took me less than two minutes, and when I was finished, I waved my hand and let them on their way."

We met Daphne in the story behind "Path Behind Mowat Lodge, Spring 1917". Tom's gift to Mrs. Crombie includes a lot of interesting science as well but that is another story. Both Daphne and Annie play important roles in the Tom Thomson history. 

Joan Murray wrote in her remarks about this painting: 

"The sketch, once titled The Artist's Hut, actually belonged to Lowery Dickson, who was a retired shantyman (another name for a logger or lumberjack), according to R.P. Little in 1955. Little identifies the figures as Mrs. Fraser (green) and Mrs. Crombie (red). In a letter to the National Gallery of Canada, 26 March 1949, Dr. Little writes that he helped build the cabin and "was there" (see the Accession file on this sketch). The spelling of Mr. Dickson's name follows the advice of his great-granddaughter, Maggie Fulton."

My Thomson friend adds a fresh perspective and some clarity to the clothing painted by Tom. 

"Another thought I had is that the lady in the red coat is not wearing a pink hat - she has a red hat and is wearing a pink shawl or scarf around her shoulders.  The pink brushstroke is too long to be a hat and is too low on her body.

I looked at the photo of Daphne Crombie and others in the sleigh in front of Mowat Lodge.  There she is wearing a fringed shawl or scarf around her shoulders.  Of course, she is also wearing a white hat, as the blue-coated lady in the sketch is."

The observations of my Thomson friend support the identification of the walkers made by "Tom Last Spring". An important correction is that Annie was wearing a matching red hat to compliment her coat. A pink scarf as suggested by my Thomson friend also makes better fashion sense. 

"Tom Last Spring", Joan and my Thomson friend are all extremely knowledgeable about the life and times of Tom Thomson. I will not even attempt to further untangle who was wearing the red coat and why R.P. Little saw green. The colour of the coat is not as important as who was taking a stroll. I will just focus on the meteorology and perhaps add some details that might otherwise have been missed.  

Features from 1915 Mowat and vicinity
superimposed on a 2023 Google Earth Image

Zoomed in Version of the 1915 Mowat Features including
Lowery Dickson's Cabin and the Red and Blue Coats
 on the road to Canoe Lake Train Station. Tom was positioned
on higher terrain overlooking the landscape

"Lowery Dickson's Cabin" actually has a lot of content which is pertinent to discovering the story behind the history. The sun was in the southwestern sky during the spring afternoon. The warmth would have felt wonderful on Tom's back while he painted. The breeze was blowing out of the northwest. A mild, weather system had passed through the day before.  A high-pressure centre was building across the landscape. Life was good at Mowat Lodge while World War One still raged in Europe.  

Actually, the sliver of stratocumulus tells the rest of the story. The blue sky and the absence of all other clouds also speak volumes. Tom was painting between weather systems and the typical parade of storms that Ontario enjoys in the spring of the year. The weather systems are guided by the jet stream in a steady progression. Tom was painting under the dry conveyor belt (DCB) of the Conveyor Belt Conceptual Model. The blog "Dancing with the Weather" describes the entire Conveyor Belt Conceptual Model in more detail. 

The Dry Conveyor Belt is explained in detail at the following link. Southward-bound air following the constant energy surfaces (see "Isentropic Surfaces - Science and Art Merges" for more details) must descend toward the equator. The air parcels warm as they descend and the sky is generally clear as the pressure rises at the surface. Dry descending air warms faster than moist air parcels which must spend some of that energy to vapourize their water content. The result is a warm layer known as a subsidence inversion. This atmospheric lid is a very dry and very effective at restricting the vertical development of all cloud originating from below.  The Dry Conveyor Belt becomes progressively cloud free on its isentropic trip due to ongoing warming descent and evapouration of any initial moisture it might have contained when the southward journey started. I jokingly refer to this type of cloud as being the result of "skull-crushing subsidence". 

The following graphics will hopefully explain better than mere words what those flat-topped stratocumulus clouds were saying. Meteorological science allows us to deduce much about the weather situation on that spring afternoon. 

The subsidence inversion typically occurs within the dry conveyor belt
located between two weather systems - area shaded in white.

A view looking eastward at a retreating Warm Conveyor Belt 
weather system focussing on the descending flow associated with the
Dry Conveyor Belt and Tom's probable location within that
weatherscape.

Every cloud pattern has a story to tell. Lewis Fry Richardson focussed on the swirls and wrote a poem (included in the following graphic) that describes how energy and swirls cascade from large to small scales. During my meteorological career, I tended to focus on the lines in the sky that must be created by those swirls. The linear features were always more obvious to me at the forecast desk. Each deformation zone allows the meteorologist to precisely understand the location and relative strengths of four, related swirls.  The area to the right as you look downstream along the dry conveyor belt must be filled with vorticity minima (N's) or anticyclonic swirls due to wind shear. Although there is not much if any water vapour in that descending mass of air to reveal those swirls, the anticyclonic rotations have profound influences on the edges and shapes of any clouds in the flow. 

The bird's eye view of satellite imagery allowed me to connect the dots of clouds and moisture to make meteorological sense of those atmospheric circulations and anticipate the impacts on the weather. Fog forecasting could be really successful using these techniques. For the purpose of "Lowery Dickson's Cabin", there are several deformation zones which would explain the hard cloud edge that Tom observed. I can't select between them without more information but the challenge to try is always fun. This information will not appear on the exam...

I am not certain of the train schedule on that spring afternoon in 1917 but perhaps Annie and Daphne were enjoying the stroll knowing that Shannon Fraser would be waiting at Canoe Lake Station for the arrival of possible Mowat Lodge clients. Shannon would certainly offer them a wagon ride back to the Lodge when they encountered him and there was only one way to and from Canoe Lake Station.

Tom Thomson driving the team of horses with                
Shannon  Fraser located in the right foreground.         
The picture was taken from the front porch of
Mowat Lodge with a wagon full of smiling guests.      

 Shannon customarily greeted the trains dressed in his trademark suit and fedora hat.  Audrey Saunders, "The Shannon Frasers," Algonquin Story, 1963 as shared in Death on a Painted Lake tells the following: 

'One of the standing jokes in the Canoe Lake community was Shannon Fraser’s optimism about the number of guests he expected on the next train. His neighbours loved to ask him how many guests he was going to pick up, whenever they saw him on his way to the station, driving along the old mill road.

“A big party comin’ in today,” he would invariably tell them. Returning later with an empty wagon and a broad grin on his face, he would explain: “I guess they must have missed that one.”

Lowery Dickson's Cabin
Alternate titles: Artist's Hut; The Artist's Hut Spring 1917
as it would have appeared in Tom's pochade box.

Inscriptions verso: 

• u.l., graphite, 11A; 
• u.l., in graphite, NG; 
  
• u.l., in graphite, THE ARTIST HUT; 
• u.r., in graphite, Rom Gold; 
• c., label, c.l., Elsie Perrin Williams Memorial Art Museum, London, Ont. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (1528) 

Provenance:

•  National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (1528)

A line of stratocumulus and the absence of other clouds can really reveal a lot. Too bad the cave people did not also sketch images of weather... those would have been some wall scratches that I would have certainly enjoyed deciphering. I am certain that deformation zones and swirls existed back in cave people's day. Art, science and the weather have not really changed much at all over the eons. 

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 "Birches" 1917

The story behind "Birches" is an interesting tale and it has nothing to do with the trees. I hope you read on.

Birches
Alternate title: Northern Sunset Spring 1917
 Oil on wood panel 5 1/16 x 7 3/8 in. Smaller than
Tom's Paint Box Size of 8 7/16 x 10 9/16 in. 

The scrap of wood was about 3 inches narrower in width and height compared to Tom's typical paint box size. The oils along the short edges were smeared a bit as though the panel had been slid into a carrying case. I wonder what arrangement Tom had engineered to hold this tiny piece of wood in place while he recorded the weather observation. 

Terrain matching from Hayhurst Point looking south

It appears as though Tom did not move around too much during that last spring of 1917. A case can be made that the distant hills depicted in other sketches closely resemble the terrain of "Birches". Travel in the spring can be challenging with the ice being unsafe to walk on and with not enough open water to paddle anywhere. Tom might have simply stayed at his favourite campsite recording the awakening of nature after a long winter. If this terrain is indeed a match, then Tom was looking southerly from the crest of Hayhurst Point mere feet from his tent and favourite campsite. 

As spring progressed and milder temperatures arrived, Tom would search out the lingering patches of snow to include within his compositions. The last remnants of winter were invariably found on the north-facing flanks of hills and deeper within the shadowed forest. Such was the case with "Birches 1917". As you will discover in the following graphic though, I was more interested in the clouds. 

PowerPoint slide from Tom Thomson Was A Weatherman

The final touches to the CSI solution to this plein air sketch can be found in the least conspicuous portion of the observation - the clouds hidden behind the sparse veil of birches. Tom carefully stroked those oils between the birches. The details of colour and tone were important to him. The clouds were an important part of the observation of nature and not just window dressing for the landscape. The conclusion may be uncertain, but the search reveals some interesting meteorology and Creative Scene Investigation considerations. 

The Conveyor Belt Conceptual Model
featuring the Warm Conveyor Belt and 
the Cyclonic and Anticyclonic Companions.
The black dashed line is a typical cross-section
along the Anticyclonic Companion of the
Warm Conveyor Belt with the associated clouds.

These clouds are characteristic of a warm conveyor belt - the prima donna flow of the Conveyor Belt Conceptual Model. The line in the sky dividing the stratiform cloud from the clear blue heaven was certainly a deformation zone (see "A Closer Look at Lines in the Sky"). The orientation of a deformation zone approaching from the south is typically curved from the northwest through to the southeast with the col being in the middle of the divergent flow. The accompanying graphic of the Conveyor Belt Conceptual Model illustrates this orientation. The anticyclonic companion of the warm conveyor belt is typically the first to arrive. See the dashed, black line of the cross-section. It is characterized by stable, stratiform clouds - cirrostratus followed by altostratus. The stability of this portion of the warm conveyor belt encourages gravity waves to develop within these clouds.  Cirrus and cirrostratus clouds on the leading edge of the warm conveyor belt can be thin and diffuse. The particles comprising the altostratus cloud are more numerous making that cloud more opaque. 

The clouds were uniformly bright and warm in colour. How does one explain those qualities? The cloud did not show any change in shade toward its outer edges. The warm shades of light are achieved when Rayleigh scattering removes the cool shades of blue from the direct sun beam passing through a long expanse of atmosphere. The light illuminating the clouds is not as vivid as those of either sunrise or sunset. The timing of this plein air session thus had two options: either mid-morning or mid-afternoon. 

The concept of front and back lighting of clouds will assist us in discovering which option is most likely. (also see "Where is the sun?")The following graphic summarizes those considerations using cumulus clouds. 

A front-lit cloud is brightest in the massive central region and slightly darker on the edges. A back-lit cloud is darkest in the middle and outlined by significantly whiter edges. Those attributes are determined by Mie scattering from the relatively large cloud particles and the optical depth of the cloud mass. Back-lit, very thin clouds can be uniformly bright as they are optically thin and the sparse cloud particles preferentially forward scatter light to the observer - Mie scattering.

The mid-morning solution requires the cloud to be front-lit as illustrated in the following graphic. The sun in the eastern sky would have a clear path to illuminate the leading edge of the deformation zone clouds. The cirrus, cirrostratus or altostratus would be fully front-lit and bright with an orange tint just as Tom painted. Varying thicknesses of front-lit clouds all appear the same.

Morning illumination of the scene with front-lit, optically thick, opaque clouds

The mid-afternoon solution requires the cloud to be back-lit as illustrated below. The sun in the western sky could be potentially blocked by the thick cloud of the warm conveyor belt. The cloud behind the deformation zone would have to be thinner and more diffuse cirrus or cirrostratus so that Mie scattering did not appreciably dim the cloud and the relatively few cloud particles could still forward scatter enough light to the artist. Any variations in the optical thickness of those clouds would show up with thicker clouds being darker in the centres. These clouds all look quite uniform.  Hmm.

Afternoon illumination of the scene with back-lit, diffuse cirrus or cirrostratus

Unfortunately, there were no shadows to further aid in the diagnosis of this painting. The sun angles of both options would require the shadows to stretch laterally to Tom's view so they would not be clearly visible across the snow surface anyway. 

Sometimes it is the absence of something which is the important clue. There are no low clouds! Tom would have included any low cloud in his weather observation had it been present. 

There was not enough wind to generate turbulent stratocumulus. It was possible if not probable that the wind of the cold conveyor belt was calm or even light easterly in advance of the approaching weather system. 

Further, the lack of low cumulus clouds supports the mid-morning timing and insufficient daytime heating to generate those ground-based convective bubbles. The significant cold and reflective snow cover also impedes the efficiency of solar radiation to generate winter cumulus clouds. The deformation zone shadow as described in earlier posts (see "Tom Thomson's Spring in Algonquin Park, 1917") would not have been a factor with the sun on Tom's left shoulder. 

The lack of low clouds also makes the afternoon timing of this painting less probable given that several hours of sunshine, heating and wind would have been available to induce some kind of cloud to develop. 

Both solutions are viable from a scientific point of view but in spite of  "Northern Sunset Spring 1917" being an alternative title, I feel that a mid-morning painting session was much more likely. As mentioned in previous blogs, Lawren Harris and J.E.H. MacDonald faced a formidable challenge when they met at the Studio Building in the spring of 1918. They aimed to organize, name and authenticate the tall stack of panels. I am simply trying to add some science and other possibilities to the discussion in a positive manner.  

Birches Spring 1917 as it might have appeared in Thomson's Paint Box.
It was painted on a small scrap about 3 inches smaller in both width and
height as compared to Tom's typical paint box panels. 
I wonder what the story was behind that piece of wood? 
                                                                                                            

Inscription verso: 

• u.r., loaned by / Mr. J.T. Thomson...Brownsburg, Quebec, 1973; 
• (1970) in ink on brown paper backing, Property of / Mr. & Mrs. Geo.T. Thomson Dec. 1917 One of the two sketches sent / to me by Grandfather, / among the sketches left by / Tom Thomson at his / death in 1917; 
• G. M. Thomson; in graphite, Northern Sunset by Tom T.; 
• u.c., label, G.M. Thomson/ 38 Wellington St. / Brantford, Ont. McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg (1979.15) (1979.15). 

Provenance:

• Estate of the artist George T. Thomson, New Haven, Connecticut and Owen Sound, 1917 
• George M. Thomson, Brantford, by descent 
• James T. Thomson, Beaconsfield, Quebec, by descent 
• McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg (1979.15). Purchased 1979

Note that this particular inscription correctly identifies George McLaren Thomson as the son of Tom's oldest brother George as opposed to that found on the back of  "Spring in Algonquin Park, 1917"

Time and place are important clues to deciphering the story behind any creation. The hints can be subtle, sometimes based on what one cannot see. This solution may not be certain, but I feel confident in the Creative Scene Investigation approach. Tom was a morning person and probably made this weather observation on a chilly morning in late winter 1917 from the top of Hayhurst Point. There was a weather disturbance on the southern horizon. Tom saw that storm coming and recorded that weather forecast in oils on a small scrap of wood. 

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.