There are no barriers between life and art

1908 Lady with a Garland

A critic's favourite target is an artist who depends on art as his livelihood.

Drawing inspiration from artistic predecessors does not mean servility to tired masters

Jackson was such a talker. I was such a good audience for him

Canoes are too small to accommodate clashing personalities

1913 Sky - The Light That Never Was. #tt1913

With my Grip friends, we would make frequent fishing trips to Lake Scugog.

Summer and Fall 1916 were tinder-dry - each pine tree a potential fire torch.

Art is not there and then but here and now.

In 1915 Arthur Lismer, Jim MacDonald and myself painted decorative murals for Dr MacCallum's cottage

1913 Autumn Algonquin #tt1913

It is our savage nature gives us creativity and passion.

A lovely landscape cannot appreciated by an unlovely mind.

In the fall of 1914, Jackson and I camped below Tea Lake. That is where he made the sketch for Red Maple.

Lismer said I was a wonder with canoe, axe and fishing line.

1916 Algonquin Park Vista. #tt1916

Jackson had the better command of colour, but I had the better sense of colour

The pine trees have the truest story of this land

The remedy for overly-civilized men is a camping vacation.

1917 An Ice-Covered Lake #tt1917 @TheTomThomson https://goo.gl/maps/QuCEF95p5932

Fred Varley tried to play matchmaker but I felt unworthy of the match.

Jackson and I were so poor that we could only afford the occasional film at the cinema.

I was dissatisfied with my own work, but enthused by others. Maybe that's why people liked me.

Jimmy MacDonald helped me to incorporate strong design principles in my work.

In the city, one loses connection with the sun and sky

1917 April in Algonquin Park #upclose No. 1 #tt1917

@WinnieTrainor was 28 when I first met her. Shannon Fraser @mowatlodge referred to her as the Spinster of Canoe Lake.

Fred Varley tried to play matchmaker but I felt unworthy of the match.

Avoid entering a canoe with anyone who displays evangelical fervour.

1914 November Rain, fall 1914. Oil on plywood, 21.6 x 26.8 cm. 1914NovemberRain.jpg

Don't fight for the composition but drift with mood. The moment of vision will arrive. If it doesn't, so be it.

I can never keep straight who is fighting whom overseas

The mechanized god of war has outraced the right of man to live

I never studied art, but I briefly attended business college.

1914 Spring French River #tt1914

Lismer was gregarious and talkative; I was withdrawn and reticent. We became best of friends.

By the end of 1914, I knew where I was going and how to get there as an artist.