A.J. Casson
1898-1992

North Shore, Lake Superior, 1928

“As with all my watercolours from the trip to Lake Superior, this painting is a larger copy of an oil sketch. It was mid-October when we sketched north of Superior and we used oils exclusively. The weather conditions precluded watercolour as a medium. It was bitter cold and snowed every night. When we got up at 6 a.m., everything looked fine but the wind would invariably shift from the lake and bring in rain.

Frank and I shared one tent and Lawren and Alec (A.Y. Jackson) the other. One storm was so bad, that, in the middle of the night, we were awakened to find our tent on the verge of being blown away. We were forced to venture outside and secure it as best we could. When we had finished, we dove into our sleeping bags as quickly as possible. I still get a chill thinking about that night.

The north shore of Lake Superior was a revelation to me and my sketches of the area were a major departure from anything I had done before.”