Tom Thomson (1877–1917) was a Canadian artist active in the early 20th century. During his short career he produced roughly 400 oil sketches on small wood panels and around 50 larger pieces on canvas. His works consist almost entirely of landscapes depicting trees, skies, lakes, and rivers. He used broad brush strokes and a liberal application of paint to capture the beauty and colour of the Ontario landscape. His paintings The Jack Pine (pictured) and The West Wind have taken a prominent place in the culture of Canada and are some of the country's most iconic works. Although he died before the formal establishment of the Group of Seven, Thomson's art is typically exhibited with theirs. Nearly all of his work remains in Canada—mainly at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg and the Tom Thomson Art Gallery in Owen Sound. His accidental death at 39 by drowning is seen as a tragedy for Canadian art.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Thomson

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1190:

Around 150 Jews inside York Castle in York, England, died, with the majority committing mass suicide to avoid being killed by a mob. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/York_Castle

1782:

American Revolutionary War: Spain captured the island of Roatán off the coast of what is now Honduras. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Roat%C3%A1n

1935:

Conscription was re-introduced in Nazi Germany, and the German military was renamed the Wehrmacht. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wehrmacht

1984:

William Buckley, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency station chief in Beirut, Lebanon, was kidnapped by Islamic fundamentalists. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Francis_Buckley

2014:

Annexation of Crimea: The Autonomous Republic of Crimea held a controversial referendum where voters overwhelmingly chose to join Russia as a federal subject. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Crimean_status_referendum

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

growl: 1. (intransitive) To utter a deep guttural sound, as an angry animal; to give forth an angry, grumbling sound. 2. (intransitive, jazz) Of a wind instrument: to produce a low-pitched rumbling sound. 3. (intransitive, software) To send a user a message via the Growl software library. 4. (transitive) To express (something) by growling. 5. (transitive, jazz) To play a wind instrument in a way that produces a low-pitched rumbling sound. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/growl

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Odious ideas are not entitled to hide from criticism behind the human shield of their believers' feelings.   --Richard Stallman https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Stallman