Tom Thomson's Approach to Plein Air

This "living reference" post will be updated as more information becomes available. It is a "work-in-progress" and should be considered as a draft while I locate images and facts that for now are just memories, somewhere, not sure where...  

Sketch or Pochade Box

The French word for "sketch" is "pochade". A pochade box is used for outdoor painting (en plein air), designed to be convenient and easy to transport while containing storage for paints, brushes, palettes, and other essentials.  Painting outside allows the artist to capture the essence of the landscape, with a focus on colour and atmosphere, with nothing between the inspiration and the eye.  

A well-designed box can be used as a portable easel as well as for storing unused and completed panels. Modern pochade boxes can be mounted on tripods so they can be employed like studio easels. 

Curators at the National Gallery of Canada believe that Thomson hand-crafted his own pochade box. Tom probably copied the design from the one that his friend A. Y. Jackson used. Dr. James MacCallum, Tom's patron, had introduced him to A. Y. Jackson in October 1913.

That pochade box was made to hold three of the 8 ½ x 10 ½ inch panels in slots in the lid, the “French Size”. The lid is deeper than the box, with the lower part being used as the palette. Paints, brushes and media would have been carried in another container. The use of this hard-to-clean "lid palette" explains the thick oils used in much of Thomson’s work. Tom's greys were unique and composed of many drying oils salvaged from the palette. Half-dry paint draws the oil medium from the fresh paint squeezed out above.

 A. Y. Jackson recalled that in the fall of 1914, Thomson threw his pochade box into the woods out of frustration. Jackson retrieved and repaired the box along with Thomson's self-doubts. 

Posture

Tom Thomson apparently preferred to sit while painting en plein air. His older brother George employed a field easel and did most of his plein are painting standing. 

Tom's pochade box did not have a method to support it from a tripod. The box was positioned conveniently on his lap, thus requiring Tom to sit. 

Arthur Lismer did a painting of Tom Thomson in 1914. It shows Thomson squatting on a rock while painting. My friend Geoff Taylor, the author of "Tom Thomson's Last Bonfire"  has completed some research and feels that "it is likely from the second trip Lismer made to Algonquin in that year (the same trip it is said he so influenced TT's painting style)." 

Lismer 1914 Sketch of Tom Thomson
 sitting on the ground while plein air painting.
What painting did Tom complete?

My Thomson friend Diana McElroy notes: 

"Although I have seen Lismer's sketch of TT painting many times, I don't think I had ever noticed how intently Tom is looking at the scene before him.  Despite the lack of specific detail, one can still make out the gaze of someone who is 100% focused on the scene before him.  Anyone who has observed artists facing a real-life subject of any kind, in any situation, would recognize that look."

More to come.

Plein Air Panels 

"Boathouse" as it would have
appeared in Tom's pochade box.

Tom preferred the French size 8.5 x 10.5 inch panels, the Goldilocks dimensions for plein air painting, not too big, not too small, just right. The artist does not need to pack a lot of oils. You don’t require or have much time to capture the moment of inspiration. The idea can be laid down in minutes with bold and colourful strokes. Often, that is all that the weather, lighting, inspiration and biting bugs allow. 

Thomson's rough cut panels from the lumber mill measured 8.5 x 10.5 inches, more or less. That size was determined by the dimensions of his pochade box described above. The extra half inch in height and width allowed for the smearing along the edges that must occur when slid in and out of his pochade box. Tom's panels essentially provided a painting area of 8 x 10 inches, which is still a standard size for artwork and frames. Perhaps Tom planned to cut the smeared excess off if the painting was to be framed after the oils cured? An untrimmed 8.5 x 10.5 inch panel would require a more expensive custom frame, which is a downside of those dimensions.

To prepare Tom's panels, the long boards likely would have been first cut with the grain (Step 2 in the following graphic). Handling the long plank makes this cut more challenging to make exactly, and it defines the 8.5 inch height dimension of the panel. A fraction of an inch would not be significant to the mill workers, thus explaining the almost 9 inch height of the "Boathouse" panel.  

The width of the panels across the wood grain would be cut from the long boards. These cuts could be quite precise, especially if a blocking jig was employed (Step 3 in the graphic). The jig would be set just once at 10.5 inches between the edge of the saw blade and the blocking jig. Panels with the precise width could be quickly cut until the long board was used up. The exact width of the panel is more crucial to allow the panel to be easily slid in and out of the pochade box. 

Thomson's finished plein air panels were likely to be accurately 10.5 inches wide, oriented along the grain of the wood. The 8.5 inch height of the panel was more likely to show some variation. 

If Thomson used the panel in a landscape format, the longer dimension and the grain would be along the width as described in the Catalogue Raisonné for the  "Boathouse" panel.  The same panels were also employed in portrait formats where the height is the longer dimension. The orientation of the grain would align along the longer dimension as indicated by the double-headed arrow in the accompanying graphic. 

Tom Thomson and his artist friends, who would form the Group of Seven used panels made at the veneer mill at South River near the entrance to Algonquin Park.

Other Painting Surfaces

Thomson painted on whatever supports were available to him, especially when his supply of birch panels ran out. Thomson painted a lot on composite wood pulp (possibly bookbinder’s) board, which he either shellacked or varnished. Other supports include plywood, cedar, veneer, commercially prepared “Birchmore” board, artist’s canvas board, Winsor and Newton paperboard, as well as canvas or paper mounted on plywood. A few of the smallest paintings were done on pine or cedar from flour or orange crates. 

More to come as required.

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick