John Angus Palmer’s Ravine, Todmorden Mills, Don Valley depicts a winter view across a snow-filled ravine in Toronto’s Don Valley, with the buildings of Todmorden Mills visible along the ridge in the distance. The foreground is built from thick, textured passages of snow, applied with confident, expressive strokes that give the surface a strong sense of weight and movement. A faint set of footprints leads through the snow, quietly introducing human presence into an otherwise still landscape.

Leafless trees rise from the slopes of the ravine, their slender trunks and branches rendered in dark lines and warm yellow-ochre accents that contrast with the cool whites, blues, and violets of the surrounding snow. The middle ground is formed from layered purples and greys, suggesting shadowed winter vegetation and the depth of the valley.

Above, the sky shifts from a deeper blue to a paler, luminous tone near the horizon, reinforcing the clarity and cold of the season. The distant buildings are treated with restraint, anchoring the scene to a specific location without distracting from the natural forms. Overall, Palmer captures the quiet stillness and physical presence of a Don Valley winter through bold brushwork, controlled colour, and a strong sense of place.