Day: December 9, 2013

December 9, 1916

It’s supposed to be a full moon tonight but with the heavy clouds and fog I can see no moon or stars tonight. The quality of evening light is such that it is hard to tell whether it is being lit from above or from below. More and more houses are getting electrical lights and the better neighbourhoods have street lamps so the light is creeping into every corner of the city.

I had a visitor today. Back from France is Florence McGillivray, my women artist friend. She’s returned to Canada in late November, came by train from Whitby yesterday, and will be staying in Toronto for the next foreseeable while. I got to know Florence through relative connections I have in Whitby and through the college where she was teaching. I have an admiration for her work and what she has done, so we have become good friends.

Florence came for tea in the afternoon; she had to drop off a letter of application to Jim MacDonald because he nominated her to become a member of the O.S.A.  Also nominated for membership are the the ‘Two Franks” as I call them Frank Carmichael, and Frank Johnston. But the latter Frank is now calling himself ‘Franz’. The elections will be in March, so we’ll have to have a celebration and re-christening for ‘Franz’.

We spent some time going through my sketches. We talked about decorative composition and I may experiment with what I have done with decorative panels combined with a natural background. I’m not sure what kind of effect that will achieve, but I remember Florence’s painting ‘After Glow’ was quite that success and it was purchased by the Gallery in Ottawa. Florence does’t know how long she’ll stay in Toronto, she may stay with relatives in Ottawa. I told her that if she goes in the spring time and I am already up North, she could come through the Park to visit me.