Franklin Carmichael was born in Orillia Ontario and studied at the Ontario College of Art under William Cruickshank and George Reid. He began working as an apprentice at Grip Ltd. where he met Lawren Harris and J.E.H. MacDonald and later other members of the Group of Seven. He Studied at the Academie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Belgium until World War I started. In 1914 he moved into the Studio Building and shared a space with Tom Thomson. He joined Sampson-Matthews as head designer for silkscreens. On his trip to Lake Superior in 1925 he used watercolour which he consistently used from then on. Carmichael taught in the Graphic Design and Commercial Art Dept. at the Ontario College of Art. He was an original member of the Group of Seven and co-founded the Canadian Group of Painters in 1933.