Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967), White Picket Fence, c. 1965; watercolor, charcoal and chalk on joined paper, 50 x 40 inches; Private Collection, Image from the Burchfield Penney Art Center Archives
My most disturbing problem in these later years is that I have too many ideas—so many have piled up and more keep crowding my mind that I find myself in the following dilemma—which to concentrate on? I cannot possibly live long enough to do them all. They all seem equally important—so the upshot is I wander among them as a labyrinth, the key to which has been lost—and so little accomplished. —Is this really fecundity? Or is it a sort of glorified kind of day-dreaming—? With it comes a frustration or guilt that sometimes becomes almost unbearable—So little time, I tell myself—when what is needed is to make some real decisions.
Charles Burchfield, August 20, 1964