This beautifully illustrated volume explores the range, depth, and visual poetry of Tom Forrestall's work as a painter of magical realism. It explores the development of his characteristic style and the genesis of his shaped paintings, the origins, limitations, and use of his egg tempera technique, and Forrestall's choice of subject matter and its relationship to defining a poetry of place. Curator and critic Tom Smart also examines the artist's spirituality as expressed directly and symbolically in his imagery, the relationship between his sketchbooks, personal written reflections, and paintings, and how Forrestall's art relates to analogous contemporary movements in Canada, the United States, and Europe. Historical facts, critical opinions, anecdotes, artist writings and statements, and Tom Smart's own analysis of the works are combined in a book that illuminates the artist's work for readers while also providing the contexts needed to appreciate it.