Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967), Spring Flood, 1931; oil on canvas, 35 5/8 x 49 5/8 inches; Fine Art Museums of San Francisco, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd, 1979
A mild beautiful day yesterday, with clear watery blue sky, a few white clouds and warm sunshine. Toward sunset mists gathered, and in the evening a heavy downpour or rain, with one flash of lightning, followed by deep booming thunder what deep elemental mysteries of the earth it invoked.
This evening the creek was full of a raging torrent of dull ochre water, with a fringe of great blocks of ice on the banks above the water, showing the flood event when the ice broke up in the night. There is a chill in the air, the sky above the wet brown earth thick with shapeless heavy masses of cloud.
Charles E. Burchfield, January 15, 1946