January 28 – Monday –
Very cold (+8 at 8:30) and a steady wind. Bright sun from an almost cloudless sky –
In studio – put “Solitude” up on the easel preparatory to working on it – Studied the notes for it –
A little work on the early journals. Made a fruitless search for the letters from F.R. 1929-1945.
Went over many of the “Winter” idea folios – How many ideas have been jotted down and, then forgotten – Some of them are like revelations on being rediscovered.
The battle between the giant winter and Lucifer (from ‘s Till Eulenspiegel [https://www.britannica.com/topic/Till-Eulenspiegel-German-literature]) seems like a must this year. And there are others, such as the “South Buried in Winter” and “Spring-beauty and Frosted Window”
The notes for “Blizzard in the Woods” from last year are much better than this year’s –
In the mail, a letter from Eloise Mullen (daughter of my first cousin Alice (nee Robinson) Mullen – She would like to buy a picture. She said her mother had been very ill for seven years.
Evening Mrs. Noehren called and invited us to dinner at their home March 1.
Evening music “Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony (plus the Consecration of the House overture) – The beauty of a great work of art such as the Fifth is that no matter how many times it is heard, there is something always new, un-heard before; it is always a new experience –
Charles Burchfield, January 28, 1963