Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967), Sunlight in Forest, 1916; watercolor and pencil on paper, 20 x 14 inches; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Purchase, with funds from the Drawing Committee, 2002
May 6, 1916 –
A heavy thick haze on the air; the horizon is lost & objects are flat – Sun becomes a dim white glow – a wind out of southwest – yellow bird singing; falling cherry bloom – yellow dandelion
At noon the haze is thick. All gone – sky cloudy whispy distance vaguely blue –
Sparrows on lawn are [red violet] –
[Orange], [red violet], & [indigo] red dirt on green grass – Tulips vivid colors faces against green – or [orange] & red
A rainy dusk; neut. blue haze – pale yellow afterglow beneath storm clouds – thunder and rain at night –
A windy dusk blew a rainstorm thru the leaf-spotted May trees – half of trees still bare – at the climax of the storm the cloud part to reveal the moon behind some cherry trees on a hill & a shower of petals come down
The other evening at dusk – metallic grey blue light from the sky was reflected in the shiny surface of young poplar leaves – producing a great greenish violet color.
Charles E. Burchfield, May 6, 1916