Art of Plein Air: Poplars by the Lake (1916) by Tom Thomson
Spotlighting great examples of plein air art . _______________ Poplars by the Lake (1916) by Tom Thomson (1877-1917). Oil on board, 8.4" x 10.5" National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons _______________ The year before his mysterious death, one of Canada's greatest landscape artists, Tom Thomson, found himself working the summer as a ranger in Algonquin Park, Canada. The area had become his muse, and he had been spending the spring, summer and autumn there, painting the seasons in all weathers, at all times of the day. It was in this period that he painted Poplars by the Lake, one of many oil sketches by the artist, completed en plein air . It has all the hallmarks of Thomson's work. The main elements of trees, sky and water, which provided endless fascination for Thomson as subject matter. There is also the signature b road brushstrokes, liberal applications of oil paint, and idiosyncratic palett...