Barren Canyon, Stormy Day
Tom Thomson painted a night scene called Petawawa Gorges, Night in Barren Canyon., close to this same spot. I wasn’t able to camp in the canyon in order to paint a similar scene at night, but fortunately for me, although at the time when it was raining and hail was falling on me I didn’t feel fortunate, I was in the canyon during a storm. The canyon is a remarkable place to be in any weather, but particularly memorable in a storm. I was able to tie my canoe to a tree along the shore and quickly paint this scene. A short time later the sky cleared, but for that short period of time I had the sky I wanted.
That winter in the studio I decided to paint this scene as a large studio painting. I wanted to experiment with the mood of the painting a bit and this is what I came up with. I liked the idea of the light hitting the point just beyond the canyon. I also did a small study testing the lighting of the scene. It is also on here on display.