Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967), White Birch (a.k.a. White Pine and Birch, Birch Tree and Houses), 1937; watercolor on paper, 20 1/2 x 29 1/2 inches; Image from the Burchfield Penney Art Center Archives
B & I to Dr. Bennett’s to have her eyes examined. Waiting in a Dr.’s office is always a strange experience. When you come in, you feel that you are strangers, the eyes of all those who have arrived before you are centered on you with a frank scrutiny, accompanied by a stony silence; you feel awkward & self-conscious, and grab the first seats that are handy. But if even only a few moments elapse, and someone else comes in, at once you suddenly belong to the old group, and you feel almost a smug satisfaction that someone else now is the tyro, and must feel mortified and an alien.
Charles Burchfield, April 12, 1937