slow sunday morning iii
Here I am again, sipping coffee in my room on a lovely blizzard morning. I'm in my bed right now, which has all white sheets that have been victimized several times by this habit of mine, and they're only 2 months old. Maybe I'll have coffee coloured sheets by the time this school year is done.
No life altering thoughts to report this morning, just the beauty of the impending winter. My window, in it's square-framed glory, has a striking resemblance to that of a Tom Thompson painting. For you non-Canadians, Tom Thompson was a major influence of the Group of Seven, a Canadian landscape artist collective that was most active in the 1920s.
In high school, I would often visit the city art gallery every week or two whether there was a new exhibit on or not, simply because it was free to go for anyone under 25. A lot of times, my day didn't feel over yet at just 3pm, but I didn't care enough to wrangle friends to hang out, so I spent my own time in there. I saw a lot of different styles and approaches to art this way through whatever exhibitions they had: some shocking, some revolting, some plain beautiful.
Some things were permanent there, though, one being the collection of Group of Seven paintings that spanned through probably a quarter of the second floor. These paintings are so ingrained in my memory from all the times I had just passed through that I could replicate the exact order in which they are displayed if I thought hard enough. In high school, I often passed these rooms by to find the more "exciting", experimental art, but as I've grown and moved around, ridden the train back and forth and seen my country's natural beauty in every season, I've gained a much stronger appreciation for their work.
Note: This is not to say I don't like more experimental art anymore. If anything, I love it more now that I understand and appreciate the value of traditional approaches. I can see the method behind the madness more, so to speak.
Some personal favourites that I track down whenever I'm home are these paintings:
- Housetops in the Ward, A.J. Casson (this one is my all time favourite)
- A Clear Winter, Arthur Lismer
- Winter Afternoon, City Street, Toronto, Lawren Harris
After scouring the internet, I unfortunately can't find my second all time favourite. What's even worse is I have no idea which group member painted it. I can give you direct instructions on how to find it though, should you ever find yourself in the Art Gallery of Ontario.
- You walk in, immediately go up the central stairs to the second floor.
- Walk straight ahead into the gallery rooms, go on the left side of the wall separator, carry on to the back room where the Lawren Harris mountain paintings are.
- Turn to your left and walk through the next two rooms. Appreciate the fall forest paintings that you'll see on the way. No idea which one of the group these are, beautiful none the less.
- Walk into the room on the left, it's the only direction to go. Gaze at these paintings as well, but know they are not your final goal. Walk into the room on your right.
- Here you are. Take a look to your direct left, and the first painting will be Housetops in the Ward by A.J. Casson, which you should already be familiar with. Follow the wall down, it's not on this wall but the next.
- Count each painting on this back wall. Not the first, not the second, not the third, but the fourth painting will be the one you're looking for. It's a vibrant emerald green. At first, I thought the painting was of water streams splashing into each other, but after analyzing it some more, I realized that it's dense forest leaves blowing in what seems to be intense winds. They collide into each other and form this ripple that cuts its way through the middle of the painting in a bright green-yellow slash.
- Sit back on the bench and stare for a while. Then we can debate whether it's water or leaves, and then we can debate whether it matters at all.
Walking through the gallery in my head isn't nearly as fun as the real thing, and now my coffee is lukewarm. Such is life.