Artist inspiration and artist influences. No biographies, dates or scholarly research here -  this is a personal response to the work of Tom Thomson by Australian artist Fiona Morgan.

After the Sleet Storm

It's only quite recently that I have become aware of the paintings of Canadian artist Tom Thomson.

Algonquin Park

Decorative Landscape Birches

Apparently he holds legendary status in Canada in a similar way to Tom Roberts here in Australia. His paintings were done at a culturally important time for the nation and manage to embody a kind of national spirit. Not being Canadian I did not see or feel this when I discovered his paintings, it's something that has been brought to my attention in research. Instead I was instantly grabbed by three standout elements of his work.

Early Spring

Early Spring

Pattern. Many artists rearrange what they see in front of them to form a pleasing composition (and this is something many amateurs don't seem to understand). Tom Thomson takes this to a greater extreme than most, actually making it a feature instead of a subtle way to improve a painting.

Evening, Canoe Lake

In the Northland

The patterns are the strongest design element. There are shades of Japanese design and Art Nouveau in his arrangements. The patterning is so strong that you can change the colours in his images and the overall design stays strong. The patterns are so strong and such a feature that they become decorative. I mean this as a compliment, not in a snooty nosed derisive manner. I love the decorativeness of his patterns, the way he has rearranged the landscape before him into beautiful shapes.

Maple Saplings

Northern River

Apparently he was a self taught painter, with a background as a graphic designer. His era was the early 1900's, when graphic design was illustration and poster design. It was a goldern era for illustration, where high technical skill was normal and the ability to compose or design in an eye-grabbing manner and lead the viewers eye around, was expected. I see a strong similarity between the poster design of the era, and the design of his paintings. It's a large part of my admiration for his work.

Pine Trees at Sunset

Sombre Day

Colour. The way Tom Thomson uses or chooses colour makes me swoon. Restricted palette. Subtle groups of related colours. Bright yet not dancing around with it's pants off. Wonderful contrasts of lights and darks.  I am working toward somewhat toning down my palette, and I consider the balance he has found to be an ideal to work towards.

Spring Algonquin

The Birch Grove, Autumn

Texture. Something I love when I discover it and would like to do more of myself is putting texture in the paint. This is a hallmark of Van Gogh's work, and also an aspect I admire of Criss Canning's paintings. The brushstrokes are part of the patterning. The paint is highlighted. His works are paintings, not images.

The Drive

The Pool

To me his work is so strong and compelling that I had great difficulty in choosing which paintings to include in this post. His work completely knocked me out when I first discovered it, which is not something that happens often anymore. And funnily enough, this painter has once again highlighted to me my soft spot for landscape paintings. Hmmm....

Woodland Waterfall

More Tom Thomson links

http://www.tomthomson.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Thomson

The Creative Cauldron series of posts explores and showcases the visual styles, techniques, attitudes, ideas, artists and paintings that have had the most impact on me. 

The rest of the series is accessible via the Creative Cauldron page. Have a meander if you please, and remember to check out my artworks on Flickr, and have an insider peek at life as an artist on Facebook.

Seven paintings all framed up and ready to be loaded into the car before they were hung at Gourmet Cafe @ The Mill in Bendigo this afternoon. These have replaced the paintings that were hung there as part of Art In The Streets.

Unusual. Easy. Light. Leisurely.

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on linen.  The spaghetti squash is, to me, a cartoon of a vegetable. It always makes me giggle. It's an amusing absurdity, a cheeky poke at serious food. In Japan it's name translates as golden thread melon, which is a supurb description. Here the golden thread melon has cheekily unspurled itself in squiggles all over this painting.

Original artwork can be purchased in the Official Art Store. This particular piece is currently drying and will be available shortly for $AU150. You are welcome to arrange to come and look at paintings, just contact me.

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The meatless meals recipe

A small example of a spaghetti squash or vegetable spaghetti. They are usually around 20cm or 8" long.

Vegetable spaghetti was big in the 1970's. If you've never cooked it before, the flesh falls apart into spaghetti strands as it comes out of the shell with no coaxing needed at all. It can just be boiled and served as a gluten free or paleo diet spaghetti, but.... well, it doesn't have a strong flavour and boiling it doesn't do it any real favours. Like tofu, it soaks up the taste (and juices) of whatever it's cooked with, so I prefer tomato juice and spices over water. Stuffing the spaghetti squash makes use of this tendency. Serving it with plenty of sauce would work too. This particular stuffing is Lebanese inspired, mild and fresh, with a satisfying 'every mouthful is different' blend of rough chopped ingredients.

By the way, if you can grow pumpkins, you can grow vegetable spaghetti. Same family, same vigorous and prolific tendencies. Just save the seed from one before you cook it.

one spaghetti squash approximately 20cm long and 12cm in diameter

dash of oil

To make the filling:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 large onion, minced or sliced fine
200g tomato, finely diced
1 3/4 cups cooked lentils
2 tablespoons crushed nuts
1/2 teaspoon treacle or honey
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon powder
1/2 teaspoon allspice powder
salt and pepper to taste
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh dill
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
optional squeeze of lemon juice

Cut the ends off the spaghetti squash, then cut it in half, down the middle of it's longest side.

Scoop out the seeds.

Place both halves face down on an oiled oven tray and bake at 190C / 375F for 40 minutes.

To make the filling, soften the onion in a frypan with a little oil.

Then also soften the tomato in with the onion.

When these are done, put the lentils, nuts, honey, cinnamon, allspice, salt and pepper in a large mixing bowl with the softened onion and tomato. 

After 40 minutes of baking, remove the spaghetti squash from the oven, scrape all the flesh out into a large mixing bowl, making sure to keep the shell intact.

Mix the vegetable spaghetti and the stuffing together.

Put this mix back into the shells of the spaghetti squash.

Continue baking at the same temperature for another 20 minutes.

Top with dill, parsley and mint before serving (and a squeeze of lemon juice if you please).

This will make a meal for 4 with the addition of a salad or roast potatoes or similar side dish. It looks like a lot of food but it's quite light and not quite enough to be filling on it's own.

Warming. Aromatic. Robust. Easy.

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Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm acrylic on Saunders Waterford 100% cotton archival paper. A design in the style of the heraldic crests (kamon) of Japan. This is the strength, the shield, the warrior which protects against and wards off colds.

Original painting for you?

Did you know you can download images of the paintings for your own personal (not commercial) use? Computer wallpaper, Facebook profile picture, yes you can. Find your favourite painting on Flickr, go to actions, view all sizes, download the size you want to your device, set it as your wallpaper or profile. And tell your friends where it came from :)

Original artwork can be purchased in the Official Art Store. This particular piece is currently drying and will be available for $AU150 shortly. To find out exactly when that is, get on the mailing list, yellow box top left.

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The meatless meals recipe

All throughout asia there exists ginger tea as a warming, cold fighting drink. It's so common and popular that you can buy boxes of little sachets of it, ready at the addition of boiling water. They are very convenient, and also so very, very sweet and usually somewhat lacking in the robustness of fresh ginger. Here's how to make the real thing. It's much, much better.

50g fresh ginger, sliced. It can be peeled or unpeeled. Peeled will minimise any scum formation. Unpeeled will have more biting gingery warmth. It's up to you.

3 tablespoons honey

5 cups water.

Put all the ingredients in a pot together and simmer gently for half an hour.

This makes 4 mugs of fresh ginger tea.

The ginger can be reused once. It will still have it's ginger flavour, but no 'kick'. It may also require less honey. 2 tablespoons instead of 3 usually does the trick.