My two favourite Canadian artists died 99 years apart: Tom Thomson, father of the Group of Seven movement, and my own father, David Humphreys. Both worked en plein air, taking their materials into the hinterland to capture the ever-changing scenes of northern Ontario. French for “outdoors,” the en plein air method began with the French Impressionists, once oils became available in easily portable tubes. Both he and Thomson primarily sketched in oil on small wood panels en plein air, creating their larger, more refined pieces in the studio. And yet, the beauty of their en plein air sketches—Humphreys’s, Thomson’s, and the Group of Seven’s—is their raw, untamed immediacy, mimicking the landscapes they depict.

Source: The Star July 11, 2021 09:00 UTC