diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index c969280..7edc290 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -1,36 +1,136 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python2.7
 
 import glob
+import numpy as np
 import os
+import sys
+from distutils.command.build_ext import build_ext
 from setuptools import setup
+from setuptools.extension import Extension
+
+
+try:
+    import _tkinter
+except (ImportError, OSError):
+    # pypy emits an oserror
+    _tkinter = None
+
+
+# Borrowed from https://bitbucket.org/django/django/src/tip/setup.py
+def fullsplit(path, result=None):
+    """
+    Split a pathname into components (the opposite of os.path.join) in a
+    platform-neutral way.
+    """
+    if result is None:
+        result = []
+    head, tail = os.path.split(path)
+    if head == "":
+        return [tail] + result
+    if head == path:
+        return result
+    return fullsplit(head, [tail] + result)
+
+
+def _add_directory(path, dir, where=None):
+    if dir is None:
+        return
+    dir = os.path.realpath(dir)
+    if os.path.isdir(dir) and dir not in path:
+        if where is None:
+            path.append(dir)
+        else:
+            path.insert(where, dir)
+
+
+class sgdf_build_ext(build_ext):
+    def _find_library_file(self, library):
+        # Fix for 3.2.x <3.2.4, 3.3.0, shared lib extension is the python shared
+        # lib extension, not the system shared lib extension: e.g. .cpython-33.so
+        # vs .so. See Python bug http://bugs.python.org/16754
+        if 'cpython' in self.compiler.shared_lib_extension:
+            existing = self.compiler.shared_lib_extension
+            self.compiler.shared_lib_extension = "." + existing.split('.')[-1]
+            ret = self.compiler.find_library_file(
+                self.compiler.library_dirs, library)
+            self.compiler.shared_lib_extension = existing
+            return ret
+        else:
+            return self.compiler.find_library_file(
+                self.compiler.library_dirs, library)
+
+    def build_extensions(self):
+        # Extra support for _numpytk native library
+        # Borrowed from https://github.com/python-pillow/Pillow/blob/master/setup.py
+
+        exts = []
+
+        if _tkinter:
+            TCL_VERSION = _tkinter.TCL_VERSION[:3]
+
+        version = TCL_VERSION[0] + TCL_VERSION[2]
+        if self._find_library_file("tcl" + version):
+            tcl_feature = "tcl" + version
+        elif self._find_library_file("tcl" + TCL_VERSION):
+            tcl_feature = "tcl" + TCL_VERSION
+        if self._find_library_file("tk" + version):
+            tk_feature = "tk" + version
+        elif self._find_library_file("tk" + TCL_VERSION):
+            tk_feature = "tk" + TCL_VERSION
+
+        if sys.platform == "darwin":
+            # locate Tcl/Tk frameworks
+            frameworks = []
+            framework_roots = ["/Library/Frameworks",
+                               "/System/Library/Frameworks"]
+            for root in framework_roots:
+                root_tcl = os.path.join(root, "Tcl.framework")
+                root_tk = os.path.join(root, "Tk.framework")
+                if (os.path.exists(root_tcl) and os.path.exists(root_tk)):
+                    print("--- using frameworks at %s" % root)
+                    frameworks = ["-framework", "Tcl", "-framework", "Tk"]
+                    dir = os.path.join(root_tcl, "Headers")
+                    _add_directory(self.compiler.include_dirs, dir, 0)
+                    dir = os.path.join(root_tk, "Headers")
+                    _add_directory(self.compiler.include_dirs, dir, 1)
+                    break
+            assert frameworks, "Cannot find Tcl/Tk headers"
+            if frameworks:
+                exts.append(Extension("sgdf.gui._numpytk",
+                                      glob.glob(os.path.join("sgdf", "gui", "_numpytk", "*")),
+                                      extra_compile_args=frameworks,
+                                      extra_link_args=frameworks,
+                                      include_dirs=[np.get_include(), "/usr/X11/include"]))
+        else:
+            assert tcl_feature and tk_feature
+            exts.append(Extension("sgdf.gui._numpytk",
+                                  glob.glob(os.path.join("sgdf", "gui", "_numpytk", "*")),
+                                  libraries=[tcl_feature, tk_feature],
+                                  include_dirs=[np.get_include()]))
+
+        self.extensions[:] = exts
+
+        build_ext.build_extensions(self)
 
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
-    # Borrowed from https://bitbucket.org/django/django/src/tip/setup.py
-    def fullsplit(path, result=None):
-        """
-        Split a pathname into components (the opposite of os.path.join) in a
-        platform-neutral way.
-        """
-        if result is None:
-            result = []
-        head, tail = os.path.split(path)
-        if head == "":
-            return [tail] + result
-        if head == path:
-            return result
-        return fullsplit(head, [tail] + result)
-
-    packages, data_files = [], []
+    packages, extensions, data_files = [], [], []
     root_dir = os.path.dirname(__file__)
     if root_dir != "":
         os.chdir(root_dir)
+
     for dirpath, dirnames, filenames in os.walk("sgdf"):
-        # Ignore dirnames that start with "."
-        for i, dirname in enumerate(dirnames):
-            if dirname.startswith("."):
-                del dirnames[i]
-        if "__init__.py" in filenames:
+        if os.path.basename(dirpath).startswith("_"):
+            # if os.path.basename(dirpath) == "_numpytk":
+            #     # The _numpytk library is configured manually
+            #     continue
+            c_sources = filter(lambda name: name.endswith(".c"), filenames)
+            print "Extension:", ".".join(fullsplit(dirpath))
+            extension = Extension(".".join(fullsplit(dirpath)),
+                                  map(lambda name: os.path.join(dirpath, name), c_sources),
+                                  include_dirs=[np.get_include()])
+            extensions.append(extension)
+        elif "__init__.py" in filenames:
             packages.append(".".join(fullsplit(dirpath)))
         elif filenames:
             data_files.append([dirpath, [os.path.join(dirpath, f) for f in filenames]])
@@ -44,4 +144,6 @@ def fullsplit(path, result=None):
           data_files=data_files,
           install_requires=["matplotlib", "numpy", "scipy"],
           test_suite="nose.collector",
-          tests_require=["nose", "unittest2"])
+          tests_require=["nose", "unittest2"],
+          cmdclass={"build_ext": sgdf_build_ext},
+          ext_modules=extensions)
diff --git a/sgdf/gui/_numpytk/numpytk.c b/sgdf/gui/_numpytk/numpytk.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..74e3819
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sgdf/gui/_numpytk/numpytk.c
@@ -0,0 +1,99 @@
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include "Python.h"
+#include "numpy/arrayobject.h"
+#include "tk.h"
+#include "tk.h"
+
+/* copied from _tkinter.c (this isn't as bad as it may seem: for new
+   versions, we use _tkinter's interpaddr hook instead, and all older
+   versions use this structure layout) */
+
+typedef struct {
+    PyObject_HEAD
+    Tcl_Interp* interp;
+} TkappObject;
+
+
+static PyArrayObject *lookup_ndarray(const char *id) {
+    return (PyArrayObject *) atol(id);
+}
+
+static int PyNumpyTkPut(ClientData clientdata, Tcl_Interp* interp, int argc, const char **argv) {
+    Tk_PhotoImageBlock block;
+    Tk_PhotoHandle photo;
+    PyArrayObject *ndarray;
+
+    if (argc != 3) {
+        Tcl_AppendResult(interp, "usage: ", argv[0],
+                         " destPhoto srcNdarray", (char *) NULL);
+        return TCL_ERROR;
+    }
+
+    photo = Tk_FindPhoto(interp, argv[1]);
+    if (photo == NULL) {
+        Tcl_AppendResult(interp, "destination photo must exist", (char *) NULL);
+        return TCL_ERROR;
+    }
+
+    ndarray = lookup_ndarray(argv[2]);
+
+    if (PyArray_NDIM(ndarray) != 3) {
+        Tcl_AppendResult(interp, "ndarray dimensions should be 3", (char *) NULL);
+        return TCL_ERROR;
+    }
+
+    npy_intp *ndarray_dims = PyArray_DIMS(ndarray);
+    if (ndarray_dims[2] != 3) {
+        Tcl_AppendResult(interp, "ndarray 3rd dimension should have size 3", (char *) NULL);
+        return TCL_ERROR;
+    }
+
+    npy_intp *ndarray_strides = PyArray_STRIDES(ndarray);
+
+    block.pixelSize = ndarray_strides[1];
+    block.offset[0] = 0;
+    block.offset[1] = 1;
+    block.offset[2] = 2;
+    block.offset[3] = 0;
+    block.height = ndarray_dims[0];
+    block.width = ndarray_dims[1];
+    block.pitch = ndarray_strides[0];
+    block.pixelPtr = (unsigned char *) PyArray_BYTES(ndarray);
+
+    return Tk_PhotoPutBlock(interp, photo, &block, 0, 0, block.width, block.height,
+            TK_PHOTO_COMPOSITE_SET);
+}
+
+static PyObject *_tkinit(PyObject *self, PyObject *args) {
+    Tcl_Interp *interp;
+
+    Py_ssize_t arg;
+    int is_interp;
+    if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "ni", &arg, &is_interp))
+        return NULL;
+
+    if (is_interp)
+        interp = (Tcl_Interp *) arg;
+    else {
+        TkappObject *app;
+        /* Do it the hard way.  This will break if the TkappObject
+           layout changes */
+        app = (TkappObject *) arg;
+        interp = app->interp;
+    }
+
+    Tcl_CreateCommand(interp, "PyNumpyTkPut", &PyNumpyTkPut, (ClientData) 0, (Tcl_CmdDeleteProc*) NULL);
+
+    Py_INCREF(Py_None);
+    return Py_None;
+}
+
+static PyMethodDef functions[] = {
+    {"tkinit", (PyCFunction)_tkinit, 1},
+    {NULL, NULL}
+};
+
+PyMODINIT_FUNC
+init_numpytk(void) {
+    Py_InitModule("_numpytk", functions);
+}
diff --git a/sgdf/gui/editor/canvas.py b/sgdf/gui/editor/canvas.py
index 3a1d87f..f17b581 100644
--- a/sgdf/gui/editor/canvas.py
+++ b/sgdf/gui/editor/canvas.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import Tkinter as tk
-from PIL import Image, ImageTk
 from sgdf.benchmarking import log_timer
+from sgdf.gui.numpytk import PhotoImage
 
 
 class EditorViewCanvas(tk.Canvas):
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ def draw_numpy(self, ndarray):
         """
         with log_timer("EditorViewCanvas.draw_numpy"):
             if self.active_image_container is None:
-                self.active_image_container = ImageTk.PhotoImage(Image.fromarray(ndarray))
+                self.active_image_container = PhotoImage(ndarray=ndarray)
                 self.itemconfig(self.active_image_id, image=self.active_image_container)
             else:
-                self.active_image_container.paste(Image.fromarray(ndarray))
+                self.active_image_container.paste(ndarray=ndarray)
diff --git a/sgdf/gui/numpytk.py b/sgdf/gui/numpytk.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d7d1906
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sgdf/gui/numpytk.py
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+import Tkinter as tk
+import numpy as np
+
+
+class PhotoImage(object):
+    def __init__(self, ndarray=None, size=None, **kwargs):
+        assert ndarray is not None or size is not None, "Please give me either a image or size"
+
+        if ndarray is not None:
+            size = ndarray.shape[:2]
+        elif size is not None:
+            ndarray = np.zeros(size)
+        self.__nparray = ndarray
+
+        kwargs["height"], kwargs["width"] = size[:2]
+        self.__size = self.__nparray.shape
+        self.__photo = tk.PhotoImage(**kwargs)
+        self.tk = self.__photo.tk
+        self.paste(ndarray)
+
+    def __str__(self):
+        """
+        Get the Tkinter photo image identifier.  This method is automatically called by Tkinter
+        whenever a PhotoImage object is passed to a Tkinter method.
+
+        """
+        return str(self.__photo)
+
+    def width(self):
+        return self.__size[0]
+
+    def height(self):
+        return self.__size[1]
+
+    def paste(self, ndarray):
+        interp = self.__photo.tk
+        try:
+            interp.call("PyNumpyTkPut", self.__photo, id(ndarray))
+        except tk.TclError:
+            # activate Tkinter hook
+            try:
+                from sgdf.gui import _numpytk
+                try:
+                    _numpytk.tkinit(interp.interpaddr(), 1)
+                except AttributeError:
+                    _numpytk.tkinit(id(interp), 0)
+                interp.call("PyNumpyTkPut", self.__photo, id(ndarray))
+            except (ImportError, AttributeError, tk.TclError):
+                raise  # configuration problem; cannot attach to Tkinter