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| Smoke Creek - Algonquin Park Other side of Hwy 60 overpass Sepia Watercolour Sketch Circ. 1999 |
Tom Thomson's Algonquin
In 1998 I thought to make a book of sketches about Algonquin Park. We had been going up there for years, and although I hadn't done much landscape sketching, or painting, I decided to give it a try. You may have read somewhere in one of my the 200 plus postings, that I didn't get much, in fact no support from publishers regarding this project, and ended up pursuing it on my own. Eventually, the various sketches and so on would be used in a CD-ROM, and ultimately, years later a book that I published using Blurb Publishing in California. Anyway, back to 1998. I began the project in April. Back home in Horseshoe Valley the snow had melted and it was well into spring weather, so I headed up to Algonquin Park. Surprise, surprise, there was still snow on the ground and the lakes were pretty much still frozen over. It was a long drive so not to have the time spent wasted, despite a freezing north wind blowing across the lakes I decided to make some sketches. At Tea Lake where the water flows under the highway overpass into Smoke Creek, I made the following sketch of Tea Lake.
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| View of Tea Lake from Smoke Creek, Algonquin Park. Watercolour Sketch 1998 |
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| Tom Thomson's oil sketch of the same scene. At the time that I made my quick sketch I knew little about Tom Thomson, although I've since learned quite a lot coming to realize that his home base so to speak, was just around the corner at Canoe lake. When I saw Thomson's sketch made decades before mine I realized that he probably stood at the same spot that I made mine. I've since over the years returned to this site and have made a number of sketches. I often make multiple sketches on an area as over a period of years, the view changes as does one's style. It's interesting to observe personal growth. |
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Tea Lake from Smoke Creek, Algonquin Park. Graphite Drawing on beige paper 2021 |
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Tea Lake from Smoke Creek. Pen and Ink Sketch. 1998 |
I'm certain that I have more sketches of this area and as I find them I may pop back and include them in this posting. In the meantime you may be interested in reading up on Tom Thomson, his mysterious death, and how, with the help of his friends, the Group of Seven, became iconic.
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Tea Lake From Smoke Creek - Pencil Sketch |
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Tea Lake. Pencil Sketch 2015 |
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As the title on the sketch indicates this sketch was made in 2015 just below the Tea Lake Dam. The dam of Thomson's era has been replaced with a more modern structure. It's a favourite fishing spot for trout fisher persons just as it was during Thomson's day. In fact it is reported that this is one of the last places that Tom was seen before heading back to Canoe Lake where his destiny was to play out. |
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Tea Lake from Hwy 60, The Corridor. Pencil Drawing  Tea Lake Pencil Sketch |
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