The 2004 Tom Tomson show at the Winnipeg Art Galery is alive with splashes color of the famous artist who revolutionized Canadian art. Let his work inspire you.

Autumn Color

Are you hesitant when you splash color onto a piece of paper or onto a canvas? Don't be. Have a look at Mother Nature in autumn and see how she splashes color on a landscape. If she can do it, so can you and I.

I have experienced the most glorious autumns, traveling along the north shore of Lake Superior in Ontario. There, Jack Frost arrives in August already to paint the green leaves of the trees over with vibrant reds and yellows. That is a great time, because most families are returning from their summer vacations then.

Don't forget to hold your mouse over each picture to read the title and date.

Painters' Summer Retreat

Almost a hundred years ago, that beautiful piece of God's earth was discovered by a group of painters from Ontario's south. One of them, Tom Thomson, had been working there as a fishing guide in the summer, and he convinced his friends that the beautiful scenery would inspire them to be better painters. One of his friends, Lauren Harris, came from the rich "Harris Farm Machinery" family, and he was able to help the others to survive without earning money all summer long. Farmers will recognize the name of the "Massey-Harris" tractors. The Massey family also produced a great artist, the actor Raymond Massey the monster brother in one of my favorite movies, "Arsenic and Old Lace."

Back to Lake Superior. Tom Thomson, unfortunately, was murdered at much too young an age, but he accomplished a lot in his six summers of painting, and his seven friends carried on after him. They formed the "Group of Seven," the most famous group in Canada's art history.

Their work, like that of their friend Tom, looks at nature in a new way, not through the eyes of a camera but through the eyes of an artist. These discovered the power of color, and most of their paintings are made up of splashes of color.

Tom Thomson Exhibition

The Winnipeg Art Gallery is hosting a Tom Thomson exhibit from September 26 to December 7, 2003, showing his work as well as that of his friends. I wish you could see the paintings, but most of you live too far from Winnipeg, so in this article, I am showing you some of Tom Thomson's work to encourage you to splash vibrant color onto paper or onto canvas as he did.

None of the pictures here are in the exhibition.

Money, Money, Money

On Sunday, November 2, 2003, I attended an opening at the Loch Gallery in my neighborhood in Winnipeg, and there several of the small paintings of the Group of Seven were hanging on the wall. They all had a red dot taped to the nametag which means that they had already been sold. One of my friends tried to find out how much the pictures had cost, but no one would tell her. If you ask for a price of a Group of Seven picture, you can't afford it.

So what! You and I can create splashes of color just as glorious. Let's do it.

The Winnipeg Art Gallery

The Winnipeg Art Gallery

This is an unusually beautiful building, and you can get to its website by clicking on the link.

© Traute Klein, biogardener