Running for Your Life: The TOM post

I live hundreds of miles away from Canoe Lake, but I am heeding its call this month.

Canoe Lake, in Algonquin Park, marked the watery grave of one Tom Thomson (pictured on Facebook and Twitter with his painting, West Wind), an incomparable artist who came of age in my hometown of Owen Sound. He went missing on July 8, 1917, and his body – bleeding from its right ear, fishing wire coiled around an ankle – was found on July 17.

His life and the mysterious circumstances surrounding his death have long been a passion of mine. I am now working on a book about TOM, all caps, as he is branded at the 50-year-old Tom Thomson Art Gallery in Owen Sound. The idea of writing a letter to my hometown hero-legend has grown, from one to another to another …

In Canada, TOM tributes are flowing, as are feature articles http://bit.ly/2tFfobc. But the mystery of his death remains. In my book, I touch on some questions that have gone unanswered, exactly one hundred years since his passing.

At times during the most intense of my writing sessions, I allow the hubris to think that the result will bring an especial quiet to Canoe Lake, allowing the spirit of an amazing artist and singular Canadian soul to finally come to rest.

Next: Running for Your Life: On Vacation