Biography of Richard Karon

A DULL MORNING FOR ME - THE ARTIST WILL SEE IT DIFFERENTLY

MUSKOKA AS WALDEN

IT IS GREY AND ON THE VERGE OF EITHER SNOW OR RAIN. I'M NOT SURE AN ARTIST COULD FIND MUCH TO PAINT ON THIS SOMBRE, HEAVILY OVERCAST MORNING. I'M MORE CERTAIN THE POET / PHILOSOPHER, WOULD RELISH SUCH PREVAILING MELANCHOLY AS THIS SCENE. YET WANDERING THROUGH THE WOODS, EARLIER THIS MORNING, WAS REMARKABLE JUST THE SAME. JUST AS CHEERFULLY APPOINTED AS IF THE SUN HAD BEEN BEATING DOWN THROUGH THE LEAFLESS BOUGHS OF VENERABLE HARDWOODS, SITUATED ABOVE THE BOG. THERE'S JUST A NICE, SOOTHING CALM OUT HERE; A SOLITUDE AWAY FROM THE CLUTTER OF THE WORK DAY, AND THOSE RESPONSIBILITIES OF A SOCIETY GONE MAD WITH TIME MANAGEMENT. IT IS SO NICE TO SEPARATE FROM EXPECTATION AND SCHEDULE, IF ONLY FOR A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME….A WEE RESPITE THAT WILL FUEL THE COMING SEVERAL HOURS OF MAD COMPOSITION AT MY KEYBOARD…..WHICH SOME DAYS IS EQUALLY MY ANCHOR. MY BURDEN. BUT WHEN I COMPLAIN ABOUT THIS, MY EDITOR, MY WIFE, WILL REMIND ME HOW THIS PRE-OCCUPATION, OVER SO MANY DECADES, HAS ALSO BEEN MY SALVATION IN MANY REGARDS. I STOPPED DRINKING LIKE A MADMAN, BECAUSE OF MY WRITING PROJECTS. I COULDN'T IMBIBE AND THEN WRITE. THAT'S NEVER WORKED. SHE WOULD ALSO REMIND ME, THAT DURING MY PERIODS OF ANXIETY AND FRUSTRATION, THIS SAME KEYBOARD HAS PREVAILED UPON ME TO BEAT-IT WITHOUT MERCY……AND I HAVE COMPLIED. THESE WOODS HAVE SEEN ALL MY MOODS, AND MAKE NO JUDGEMENT. THEY JUST SET MY MIND AT EASE, MY SPIRIT FREE, AND CUT THE ANCHOR LOOSE……FOR THIS FREE TIME OF PASSIVE PONDERING, AND AIMLESS WANDERING.

BACK IN THE LATE 1990'S, I BEGAN RESEARCH ON THE TOM THOMSON MYSTERY. I'VE WRITTEN ABOUT THIS A LOT IN MY COLLECTION OF BLOGS, OVER THE PAST YEAR, AND I DON'T WANT TO RE-WRITE WHAT I'M HAPPY WITH, PUBLISHED ON OTHER SITES, INCLUDING MY MUSKOKA AND ALGONQUIN GHOSTS' BLOG. WHAT THE PERIOD DID FOR ME, AND THROUGH THE HUGE WHACK OF THE TOM THOMSON FEATURES, I'VE RESEARCHED AND WRITTEN SINCE, WAS TO MAKE ME FAR MORE SENSITIVE TO ARTISTS, WHAT MOTIVATES THEMS, AND THEIR FIELD WORK. I WAS SO ENTRENCHED IN THE THOMSON STORY, THAT OUR WHOLE FAMILY GOT INVOLVED IN THE BUILD-UP TO THE STORY, IN A WIDE VARIETY OF WAYS, I COULDN'T HAVE PREDICTED. WE SPENT A LOT OF TIME IN ALGONQUIN PARK, WHERE THE ARTIST PAINTED UP TO THAT FATEFUL DAY IN JULY 1917, WHEN THE PAINTER IS ALLEGED TO HAVE PERISHED ACCIDENTALLY, WHILE TRAVERSING CANOE LAKE. IT WAS WHAT DREW ME TO THE SHORE OF CANOE LAKE, IN THE FIRST PLACE. IT HAS COMPELLED ME, OVER AND OVER, TO VISIT THE TEA LAKE DAM, TEA LAKE AND SMOKE LAKE. WHILE THEY WERE FAMILY CAMPING TRIPS, THEY WERE WITHOUT DOUBT, INSPIRED BY THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ONE OF CANADA'S BEST KNOWN LANDSCAPE ARTISTS.

I CAN REMEMBER, ON A STILL BUT CHILLY AUTUMN NIGHT, JUST BEFORE THANKSGIVING, SITTING OUT ON THE SHORE OF TEA LAKE, AND ALL OF US BEING ABSOLUTELY MESMERIZED BY THE WAVERING NORTHERN LIGHTS, ONE OF THOMSON'S OWN FASCINATIONS WITH ALGONQUIN. HOW THESE LIGHTS APPEARED ABOVE THE HILLS OF HARDWOOD FORESTS, THE MILES OF LAKELAND AND BOG, INSPIRED MANY STUDIES OF THE NORTHERN LIGHTS, AND HIS DEPICTIONS ARE AS HAUNTING AS THE STORY OF HIS LIFE AND ART. IT WAS THE LONG-TIME STUDY OF TOM THOMSON THAT MADE ME MORE INTERESTED IN ART AND ARTISTS GENERALLY, ESPECIALLY CANADIAN PAINTINGS.

IN FACT, I USED TO HIT EVERY THRIFT AND SECOND HAND SHOP ON THE MOTOR-TRIPS UP TO ALGONQUIN, LOOKING FOR INTERESTING CANADIAN LANDSCAPE ART. I'D ALWAYS FIND AT LEAST ONE GOOD PANEL, IF NOT MORE, AND OTHER PARK CAMPERS THOUGHT IT QUITE STRANGE, THAT OUR FAMILY WOULD HANG PAINTINGS IN TREES AROUND THE TENTS. I DIDN'T DO THIS TO ENHANCE ALGONQUIN, BUT RATHER, TO STUDY THE WORK OF THE SUBJECT ARTIST, WHOEVER THAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN. I'D WATCH HOW THE LIGHT OF THE DAY MADE THEM LOOK, AND AS MOST OF THEM WERE OF SCENES, SIMILAR TO WHERE WE WERE CAMPING, AT THE TIME, IT WAS A KIND OF NATURALLY INSPIRED INSIGHT, TO THE ARTIST'S OWN MISSION OF DISCOVERY……AND WHAT WAS MOST IMPORTANT TO THE PAINTER ABOUT A PARTICULAR SCENE, AND HOW IT WOULD BE REPRESENTED ON CANVAS. SOME ART WORK BECAME MORE ALLURING AT FIRST LIGHT. OTHERS SEEMED MUCH MORE VIBRANT IN THE SOFT LIGHT OF AN EARLY SUMMER EVENING. THERE WERE PAINTINGS THAT SEEMED TO SPRING TO LIFE. IN THE HALF-LIGHT OF DUSK AND THE FLICKERING ILLUMINATION OF OIL LAMP AND CAMPFIRE. I OFTEN WONDERED WHAT THE ARTISTS MAY HAVE THOUGHT OF MY IMMERSING THEIR PAINTINGS IN THIS AMAZING SETTING…..THIS NATURAL GALLERY WHERE THEY HAD BEEN INITIALLY INSPIRED.

IF I WAS GOING TO WRITE ABOUT ARTISTS, I NEEDED TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THEM. IN THE CASE OF LANDSCAPE ART, WHAT DID THEY SEE OF THE COUNTRYSIDE, THE FORESTS AND HILLSIDES, PASTURES AND LOWLANDS, THAT INSPIRED THEM TO FRAME THOSE SCENES? WHAT WERE THEY HOPING TO ACCOMPLISH WITH THEIR ART PANELS? WAS IT FOR MONEY ALONE? WAS IT BECAUSE THEY WANTED TO SHARE THE INSPIRATION THEY FOUND, WITH THEIR ART PATRONS? WAS IT OUT OF RESPECT AND ADMIRATION FOR NATURE? A WISH FOR OTHERS TO SEE WHAT BEAUTY AND PASSION GENERATES WITHIN THESE NATURAL PLACES, FOR THOSE WHO EXPOSE THEMSELVES TO ITS ACTUALITY? OR, AS IS TRADITION, TO ALL ARTISTS WHO WISH TO EAT, WAS IT JUST FOR THE MONEY? PRETTY PICTURES TO HANG OVER A MANTLE, IN A RECREATION ROOM, A COTTAGE OR OFFICE. WAS THERE MORE TO IT? I HOPE YOU WILL READ MY NEWEST ART BIOGRAPHY, TO FIND OUT ABOUT THESE QUESTIONS.

I HAVE READ AS MANY ART BIOGRAPHIES, MOSTLY REGARDING THE WORK OF CANADIAN PAINTERS BUT ADMITTEDLY, IT WAS A.Y. JACKSON'S RECOLLECTIONS OF PAINTING EXCURSIONS THAT INFLUENCED ME THE MOST. I HAVE READ EVERY BOOK THAT HAS SOMETHING TO OFFER, ABOUT JACKSON'S FIELD, AND STUDIO WORK. I'VE READ ABOUT HIS MANY CANADIAN TRAVELS, TO REMOTE PLACES, AND THE GREAT ADVENTURES IN HIS LIFE, THAT LED TO SUCH REMARKABLE ART PANELS, REPRESENTATIVE OF OUR COUNTRY'S NATURAL ATTRIBUTES……AND NATIONALISM WE FEEL IN OUR HEARTS.

AS I'VE MENTIONED IN RECENT BLOGS, I AM PRESENTLY WORKING ON PRELIMINARY RESEARCH, IN ORDER TO WRITE THE FIRST BIOGRAPHICAL STUDY OF FORMER MUSKOKA LANDSCAPE ARTIST, RICHARD KARON, A PAINTER I HAD HUGE REGARD AND RESPECT FOR, IN THE LOCAL ARTISTIC COMMUNITY. WORKING WITH HIS SON, RICHARD, I HAVE BEEN DELVING BACK INTO HIS AMAZING LIFE STORY, AND IT APPEARS FROM CURSORY STUDY, TRULY REMARKABLE THAT HE SURVIVED SO MUCH ADVERSITY, TO EVEN HAVE A PAINTING CAREER. TO GET STARTED ON THE RESEARCH, I'VE IMMERSED MYSELF BACK INTO THOSE SCRIBBLED NOTES I MADE ON TOM THOMSON, AND MY OWN ALGONQUIN ADVENTURES, WHERE I HAD A GREAT BUDGET OF TIME TO IMMERSE IN THE STUDY OF ART AND PAINTER, IN ONE OF HIS FAVORITE LOCATIONS TO PAINT. RICHARD KARON, ON THE OTHER HAND, SPENT MUCH OF HIS ART CAREER, STUDYING THE LAKELAND OF MUSKOKA, AND HAD A PICTURESQUE LOCATION FOR HIS STUDIO, IN THE TOWNSHIP OF LAKE OF BAYS, NEAR THE VILLAGE OF BAYSVILLE.

I'M REPEATING MUCH OF WHAT I DID FOR THOMSON, NOW WITH THE ART OF RICHARD KARON. WHILE THERE ARE FEW OTHER PARALLELS, IN ART STYLES OR LIVES SPENT, APPRECIATING THE TRAVELS OF A PAINTER GENERALLY, TO A LOCATION THAT OFFERS AN UNSPECIFIED FASCINATION, IS A CRITICAL CONSIDERATION. WHAT DID RICHARD KARON WANT TO ESTABLISH IN REPUTATION, PAINTING HIS CHOICE OF LANDSCAPE….WHICH AS I'VE NOTED PREVIOUSLY, WERE VERY OFTEN OTHERWISE UNREMARKABLE LOCATIONS, THAT HE PRESENTED AS IF THEY WERE MUCH MORE DESERVING OF OUR ATTENTION. INSTEAD OF PAINTING TYPICAL PANORAMAS OF THE MAJOR MUSKOKA LAKES, WHICH WOULD HAVE BEEN EAGERLY SOUGHT AFTER BY THE COTTAGE COMMUNITY, RESIDING ON THOSE SAME LAKES, KARON PREFERRED TO CHALLENGE HIS PATRONS, BY OFFERING HIS FIRST-TIME VIEWS OF HIDDEN PLACES, HE FOUND ON HIS CANOE TRAVERSES, AND ON HIKES THROUGH BOGS AND OVER HIGHLANDS…..THROUGH DENSE WOODS, AND ACROSS LONG SWEEPING MEADOWS, LOOKING FOR SOMETHING DESERVING OF THE ARTIST'S ATTENTION. THIS IS WHAT I WANT TO BETTER UNDERSTAND. KARON MAKES A GOOD STUDY, IN THIS CASE, AND I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO THE COMING ADVENTURE.

THE BIOGRAPHY WILL BE OFFERED TO VISITORS OF MY GRAVENHURST BLOG SITE, POSSIBLY BY MID MARCH, OF THIS YEAR. NO CHARGE. I HOPE YOU WILL ENJOY IT, AS MUCH AS I'M ENTHRALLED BY THE PREAMBLE WORK, WITH RICHARD KARON, THE ARTIST'S SON. I WILL GIVE LOTS OF WARNING WHEN THE SERIES IS ABOUT TO COMMENCE.

THANKS FOR VISITING THIS BLOG SITE.

I PUT MY RATHER HUGE CAT, SMOKEY (NAMED AFTER OUR FONDNESS FOR ALGONQUIN'S SMOKE LAKE) OUT ON THE BACK DECK YESTERDAY MORNING, AS I DO EVERY GROUND HOG DAY. SMOKEY DIDN'T SEE HIS SHADOW, BUT DID FIND TRACE OF A NEIGHBOR'S CAT, AND TOOK OFF FOR MORE THAN AN HOUR ON THE HUNT. HE WAS JUST PROTECTING BIRCH HOLLOW. BUT I THINK WE'RE GOING TO HAVE AN EARLY SPRING.