Memories of Canada

Years ago, I visited Toronto, where my aunt Jan lived and worked as an arts administrator. Jan and I shared a birthday, and she looked after me when I was a baby and she was 17, so we had a special bond. I am glad we shared those three weeks together in the fall of '88, because she was the second of my 'significant carers' in childhood whose life was later claimed by breast cancer.

While in Ontario, we drove around admiring the fall colours/colors, and I made contact with Marge and Ed, whom I had first met on a bus journey to Istanbul the previous year. They lived in Kingston, Ont. and took me to the National Gallery in Ottawa, and to the Houses of Parliament. I managed not to fall asleep during a debate, as I did in my one and only visit to the UK parliament, but cannot remember anything of the politics of the visit. The National Gallery, however, impressed me with its amazing work by the 'group of seven' artists from the Algonquin area of Ontario. One of the group was Tom Thompson. Their depictions of fall colours were startling in their intensity. See below for more about the Algonquin painters.

These thoughts crowded back in today, as we strolled among the autumnal glades of acers at Westonbirt Arboretum, at the edge of the polo-playing, neat and tidy part of the Cotswolds. CleanSteve and I had met up with the Wiltshire blipper Lozarithm, making this my second blipmeet in 24 hours (the first was with Cowgirl last night on Westbury station, platform 3!) The colours of the leaves were jewel-like. But the sky was leaden. So I've gone for an abstract effect here, and cross-processed the colour, using the photogene app, which I am beginning to sound as I am selling! Nothing to do with me, honest.

I was hoping for a stained-glass impression, and I am not sure that I have got it. The trees at this time of year do remind me of cathedrals, and I love to stand beneath their branches, watching the leaves flutter, one by one.

Had better go now, because I feel a New Seekers song coming on! If my sister TML is reading this, she will know which one. CLeanSteve and I have become friends of the arboretum, which means we can now visit whenever we want: bliptoe through the bluebells; frame the frost; and gambol in galoshes, savouring the swirling mists.

From Wikipedia:
The Group of Seven - sometimes known as the Algonquin school - were a group of Canadian landscape painters from 1920 to 1933, originally consisting of Franklin Carmichael (1890-1945), Lawren Harris (1885-1970), A. Y. Jackson (1882-1972), Frank Johnston (1888-1949), Arthur Lismer (1885-1969), J. E. H. MacDonald (1873-1932), and Frederick Varley (1881-1969). Later, A. J. Casson (1898-1992) was invited to join in 1926; Edwin Holgate (1892-1977) became a member in 1930; and LeMoine Fitzgerald (1890-1956) joined in 1932.
Two artists commonly associated with the group are Tom Thomson (1877-1917) and Emily Carr (1871-1945). Although he died before its official formation, Thomson had a significant influence on the group. In his essay "The Story of the Group of Seven", Lawren Harris wrote that Thomson was "a part of the movement before we pinned a label on it"; Thomson's paintings "The West Wind" and "The Jack Pine" are two of the group's most iconic pieces.[1] Emily Carr was also closely associated with the Group of Seven, though was never an official member.
Believing that a distinct Canadian art could be developed through direct contact with nature,[2] The Group of Seven is most famous for its paintings inspired by the Canadian landscape, and initiated the first major Canadian national art movement.[3] The Group was succeeded by the Canadian Group of Painters in the 1930s, which did include female members