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| Quote by Lawren Harris on the wall of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection |
My work is often compared to the paintings by the Group of
Seven. For a long time I wondered if all
landscape painters in Canada
were compared to them simply because we paint landscapes? I think it's more than that. Then of course, I thought people were just
being nice and paying me a huge compliment?
But I think it's more than that too.
Once in a while I do see glimpses of their influence in my work. My mentor Shane Garton recently commented on
my blog "Next time you are at the easel Caprice, imagine as you are
painting that one by one your favorite artists are quietly coming in looking over
your shoulder. The studio is full...then slowly as you progress into your work
they leave...gone. Then magically as you lay down the final strokes...even you
leave. You then see your work and are amazed and ask yourself...wow, where did
that come from?" I love the idea
that each one of my art heroes is with me while I paint!
What is it that draws us to the paintings by the Group of
Seven? So much has been written about
them that I hesitate to write more but thought I would write from a painters
perspective. Since visiting the
McMichael Canadian Art Collection last month, I've had many of the paintings I
saw swimming in my mind. Something magical
happens when you see their original paintings rather than seeing them in a book. It's a strange sensation but I really feel
like I got to know them just by being with their work.
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| From my notebook...notes on my impressions of Emily Carr painting! |
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| "Edge of the Forest" by Emily Carr McMichael Canadian Art Collection |
For one thing, their brushstrokes were simply amazing and
each painter had their own individual style.
It was a thrill to be able to view the paintings right up close and
memorize individual strokes! How did
they do that? Tom Thomson's paintings
have such thick paint that you would expect it to almost fall off the canvas. On the other hand, Lawren Harris must have
done layer after layer of thin paint.
His strokes are barely visible but still handled with so much
grace. In books his paintings look very
hard-edged but in real life his ability to handle paint in such a spectacular way
is very near to genius. If you look at
the crazy notes I took during my visit to the collection, you will see that on
occasion it was a single stroke in a painting that drew my attention. In the Emily Carr painting called "Edge
of the Forest" I took note of a single bright blue
stroke in the middle of the trees. How
did she come up with that? It's a stroke
I would have never noticed if I had not been sitting in front of the
original...in fact, as I look at the reproduction, I can't even see this one
brilliant stroke!
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| 3 versions of "Mt. Lefroy" by Lawren Harris McMichael Canadian Art Collection |
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| "Mt. Lefroy" by Lawren Harris McMichael Canadian Art Collection |
"Mt.
Lefroy" was not on display at
the McMichael this time, but I had the priviledge of seeing the large original
at the Glenbow Museum
in 2002 during the "Group of Seven in Western Canada"
exhibition. This painting continues to
be one of my favorite Harris paintings. For some of the other painters, I found that I
preferred the small study over the large studio painting. An example of this would be these 2 Tom
Thomson paintings:
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| "In Algonquin Park" by Tom Thomson McMichael Canadian Art Collection |
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| "In Algonquin Park" by Tom Thomson McMichael Canadian Art Collection |
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| Two small Tom Thomson paintings McMichael Canadian Art Collection |
The Tom Thomson exhibit was a thrill. I had the pleasure of seeing a larger exhibit
of his work at the Vancouver Art
Gallery in 2003 but the McMichael
presented his work in a more intimate way.
Some of my favorite pieces that were on display were his tiny on
location paintings. I know they would have been done very
quickly possibly only taking minutes of his time. Thomson had some art education but it was
his raw talent that makes his works stand out above so many others. Very difficult to believe one man could
produce so many masterpieces in only four years when his untimely death took
him way too soon. Thomson's death is one
of Canada's
greatest mysteries. He was an
exceptional outdoorsman and was most comfortable alone in nature. He was an experienced canoeist and swimmer,
yet somehow drowned in a lake that he was extremely familiar with. There was a large bruise on his head and many
that new him felt that foul play was involved.
Thomson died in 1917 and therefore was not an official member of the
Group of Seven since it was not formed until a few years later.
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| Lawren Harris painting in his studio. |
I am currently re-reading one of my favorite books called
"Inward Journey: The Life of Lawren Harris" by James King. Since returning from the McMichael
Collection, I like to try to put myself into the mindset of the painters. I try to imagine their lives and what it
would be like to be a painter during two World Wars and the great depression. How on earth did they do it? I love to imagine the Group all working
together in the Studio Building
in downtown Toronto. Lawren Harris painted while wearing his suit
and tie...always a gentleman! He even
wore his tie on his hiking trips through the Rockies!
Can you imagine doing that? At the
McMichael, they had Lawren Harris' paintbox and brushes on display. I wished I could have touched them and maybe
some of their paint magic would flow into me!
J.E.H. Macdonald's paint box that he carried for miles through the bush
was on display as well. What a thrill to
imagine that strapped around his shoulder as he travelled to painting locations
throughout Canada!
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| J.E.H. Macdonald's Paintbox |
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| Lawren Harris' painting supplies |
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| Here I am having some one-to-one time with my favorite paintings! |
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