Megan Bice, "Light & Shadow: The Work of Franklin Carmichael", Kleinburg, 1990, page 38
Initially visiting La Cloche for social visits with family, Franklin Carmichael increasingly found artistic inspiration in the distinctive landscape he found there. The geography of La Cloche had particular appeal for the artist, with its quartzite rocks containing hues of white and pink. La Cloche became one of Carmichael’s favourite painting areas, and the artist returned regularly for the rest of his life. Carmichael’s "plein-air" watercolours were well suited to capturing the dramatic effects of light and shadow on the contoured hills of the region. Carmichael strongly believed in the artistic merit of watercolour being equal to oil painting, and he asked high prices for his watercolours to reflect their status. In 1925, Carmichael founded the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour, with the hopes of bringing greater importance and recognition to work in the medium.
"La Cloche Landscape" features the iconic geography and windswept pines of Georgian Bay, rendered with confident mastery of the fluid medium. The tightly packed composition features a steady rhythm of rolling contours, from the rocky foreground to the cloudy skies. Commenting on his use of watercolour, Carmichael noted: “As a medium, it is capable of responding to the slightest variation of effect or mood. It can be at once clean cut, sharp, delicate and forceful or subtle, brilliant or sombre, including all of the variations that lie in between.
