Warm Sector Cumulus Streets

I turned the easel to look southeasterly at the cumulus clouds embedded in the southerly flow. Streets of cumulus and cumulus fractus were aligned with the increasing southerly winds. I had to weigh my easel down as the wind became increasingly gusty due to the thermal bubbles rising being replaced by higher momentum air descending. The showers arrived just as I was finishing up. Oils on light burnt sienna oil tinted foundation on commercial canvas - 11 X 14 (inches)

" Unstable over Burks Falls"

Some cumulus clouds developed with daytime heating in a westerly flow aloft. I presume this flow was associated with the katabatic (inactive) portion of the warm front. There were some floccus clouds as well revealing the instability present in the warm air mass. The warm front was evidently very close to Burks Falls! The surface air certainly felt hot and sticky. The weather was setting up to turn cooler with the arrival of a cold front and thunderstorms.

Oils on dark burnt sienna oil tinted foundation on commercial canvas - 11 X 14 (inches)

"Spruce Forest"

This time I wanted to focus more on the trees than the forest. The spruce trees are characteristic of this area of Ontario and was my main attraction for this painting. The patch of daisies seemed to expand during the day.

Oils on medium burnt sienna oil tinted foundation on commercial canvas - 14 X 11 (inches)

"Singleton Granite"

Forest Edge Daisies and Tom Thomson

I turned the easel another 45 degrees and stood on the edge of the group of daisies. Linda likes daisies. A butterfly landed on the canvas apparently thinking the daisies were real- the best complement I had that day. I also rescued a bug from the oil with the butt of my brush. A family of ravens were carrying on a lengthy conversation. Oils on medium ultramarine blue oil tinted foundation on commercial canvas - 14 X 11 (inches).

Tom Thomson died 95 years ago today. Roy MacGregor and I share the same opinion - arrived at quite independently. Of course no one will ever know for sure and in reality, it doesn't matter as it cannot change the fact that Canada lost its greatest artist. Tom's genius was found in his art. How, when or why he died is irrelevant except that we lost the art he was certainly destined to produce. For what it is worth, here is my much abbreviated opinion based solely on discarding the half truths and lies from the story of those days in July 1917. Tom's watch (water proof watches weren't invented until the 1920's) stopped at 12:14 when his body hit the water. That was 12:14 am early Monday morning and not 12:14 pm Sunday afternoon. He arrived back from fishing unnoticed late Sunday evening - had a scuffle with Shannon Fraser over money or perhaps Tom's philandering. The impact of Tom's left temple on Shannon's fireplace grate was deadly. In fright, Annie and Shannon dumped the body in Canoe Lake using Shannon's fishing wire and a weight to hold him down forever - "No body - no crime". Tom wasn't supposed to surface ever again but fate and Dr. G.W. Howland trolling for trout with his daughter must have dislodged the body. Tom was buried in the Canoe Lake cemetery and is still there today.

Daisy Path

It was hot when I turned my easel around to paint looking north along a forest path. A "flock" of daisies showed the way into the spruce forest interior. Oils on medium ultramarine blue oil tinted foundation on commercial canvas - 14 X 11 (inches)

Little Clear Morning

This is the view looking northeasterly across Little Clear Lake, Limberlost. The water surface was like a plate glass mirror. It was only rippled when a family of geese swam in front of me on their way to the far shore. Later in the morning the northwesterly wind rippled the surface. Daytime heating is responsible for eroding the radiational inversion and making the atmospheric boundary layer unstable. This allows the air mass circulations from aloft to penetrate to the ground. This cycle happens nearly every day...