Charles Burchfield, Journals, April 27, 1939

To Letchworth Park-

A warm, drowsy day, with clear blue sky spotted with soft white clouds.

Parks, which have been set aside because they comprise natural wonders, and imposing views, are hopelessly banal. And your mediocre-minded persons who usually control such places, inevitably emphasize the banality by stupidly sentimental titles or names for the spots where you can see views. “Inspiration Point” was one such, designating a vast ‘outlook’ up the canyon of the Genesee River, taking in two of the Falls. In other places wooden signs with the legends “view ahead” or “view here”, had the same deadening effect as a garrulous companion does, who must need to call your attention to everything in sight.

I cannot feel at ease in such places. I am happiest in a spot that has never been “discovered” by a park enthusiast, and would never appeal to him if he saw it a hundred times.

More from a foolish sense of duty than anything else, I made a small watercolor of some white birches and a pool.

On the way home, I got some bloodroot plants that I had noticed along the road in the morning.

Charles Burchfield, Journals, April 27, 1939