14

"When Homer was twelve, and Jude 14, they worked in the summer time at the brickyard and in winter cut timber out in the woods. That year, catastrophe came upon them. Jude fell into the whole were the clay was mixed, his head was crushed and he was brought home and laid on the lawn were he died. That was a sad day in the Watson home. Homer felt in some way responsible. Fearing that because he was near, he ought to have done something. But what that something was, he did not know. Heart broken, Homer brooded, wandering over the fields, going back to nature his one great love, for comfort. Always under the Doon sky, and the seven dams glittered, reflecting the march of the trees down from the pinnacle."

15

Tom Van Every reads from Homer's biography (7)
2004
Doon, Ontario

16

"To help make a living for his family, he also worked in the pail factory. The pails had to be painted, and Homer amused himself making designs upon them. These pails became quite popular, still Homer had no idea that this talent could be used to his advantage."

17

Tom Van Every reads from Homer's biography (8)
2004
Doon, Ontario

18

"His grandfather died when Homer was 15 years old. His aunt, Amelia Moore Putnam, made an extended visit to Doon at that time. She became impressed with the talent of her nephew and presented him with his first tubes of oil colour, and a set of brushes. That year and the next saw the completion of at least half a dozen oils, which were exhibited at local fairs. For these, he invariably won prizes. His best paintings were a moonlight scene, an autumn landscape and a threshing scene. Among his early sketches, now owned by The National Gallery, there is one described as "Illustration for Murder among the Wheels", a novel written by the artist in his boyhood."

19

Tom Van Every reads from Homer's biography (9)
2004
Doon, Ontario

20

"In 1874, when he was 19, he received his patrimony, drawn from his grandfathers' estate, and went on to Toronto where he met John A. Fraser, Henry Sandham and Lucious O'Brien, first president of the Royal Canadian Academy. In a letter to a friend he said "I did not know enough to have Paris in mind, I felt Toronto had all I needed. And my first look at a collection of pictures was when I visited the Normal School, to see the collection of old masters there".

In 1876, he traveled to New York, on another portion of his scant inheritance, and visited many galleries. He paid several visits to the studio of George Innes and received encouragement there. He sketched along the Susquehanna and Hudson Rivers and in the Adirondacks, and returned home to see the last of his patrimony to make a fence for his mothers' backyard."

21

Tom Van Every reads from Homer's biography (10)
2004
Doon, Ontario

22

"When young Homer's keen eye flashed over the forest land, in the village of the seven dams, many were the stories that went around about Homer. Sitting in the house and painting nothin' but the backsides of cows, while people worked. But Home did not sit, he stood in that little room in the attic before his large pictures, and walked back and forth until, Phoebe said, his hair was all worn off at the back, from rubbing against the rafters."