Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967), Heat Lightning, 1962; watercolor, charcoal, and white chalk on joined paper, unfinished, 58 x 45 inches; DC Moore Gallery, New York
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 of 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, Journals, January 15, 1947