The Group of Seven was a revelation to me as a girl in grade one, in Canada, with an art teacher who showed us the brushstrokes, the colors and shapes distinguishing each of the painters in the group. The Group of Seven wanted to paint their own country rather than looking to England. I recognized the Mountain Ash in this painting by J.E.H. Macdonald, because there were several on my street in Edmonton. I admired the red-orange berries, and the narrow finger-like groups of leaves. The berries weren’t for humans to eat, but the Cedar Waxwings would come in the winter, ravenously hungry and swarm the Mountain Ash until the berries were gone.
As a mosaic artist, I had a bit of excitement in discovering that J.E.H. MacDonald designed a mosaic mural for the Concourse Building in Toronto. The building is being demolished by new owners, but the mosaics are being preserved. I am partial to mosaic rainbows, and loved seeing one in MacDonald’s mural.