A.J. Casson, My Favourite Watercolours: 1919 to 1957, Markham/Scarborough, 1986, pages 7-11, 114, reproduced page 115
Paul Duval, Canadian Water Colour Painting, Toronto, 1954, unpaginated
Painted en plein air in Ringwood, Casson selected this work to be included in the self-penned text “My Favourite Watercolours”, with a forward by Paul Duval. Casson remarks: “It was a very cold day when I began sketching this watercolour on the outskirts of Ringwood, just north of Markham. I was with my friend Joe Gauthier and neither of us had the inclination to remain outside too long sketching in that weather. Accordingly, this painting was begun on location but finished in the comfort of my studio. This watercolour is, of course, another example of my interest in rural architecture and my fondness for scenes which were so typical of the life of the outskirts of Toronto at the time.”
Casson was one of the few members of the Group of Seven who held a long standing commitment to practicing in watercolour and mastering the medium. In many ways, the medium is more unforgiving than oil paint as once the artist applied the pigment, he or she has committed to the application. Rather than being able to sculpt, scrape away, blend or paint over an unsatisfying area of application, the application of watercolour to the paper is a permanent mark. On Casson's dedication to watercolours, Paul Duval writes that Casson “had become one of the most powerful and expressive watercolour painters Canada has ever known. His compositions had acquired a sure formalization, his washes were laid with a consummate assurance and the boldness of his colour revealed a brilliance and depth then rarely seen in the medium.”
