Arriving from Scotland to teach design at the Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Art, Jock Macdonald fell in love with the landscape in British Columbia. With Group of Seven member Fred Varley (1881–1969), he went on sketching expeditions into the mountains. This painting marks the beginnings of Macdonald’s search for a more subjective approach to the landscape. Here, bathed in a warm light, the hillocks formed by the snow-laden branches have a biomorphic, vitalist quality. A subtle diagonal establishes a rhythmic pulsing into the womb-like centre of the composition. The painting unique is among his early works in its exploration of the spiritual aspect of nature.