Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967), The Sphinx and the Milky Way, 1946; opaque and transparent watercolor, chalk, and crayon on wove watercolor paper, 52 5/8 x 44 3/4 inches; Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, Museum of Art, Utica, New York, Museum Purchase, 48.45
The unusual warm sunny weather continues.
[Burchfield bracketed the next section with red pencil and labeled it ZIMMERMAN RD.]
P.M. To Zimmerman Road painting. Again in the swampy (dry now) tract enclosed on three sides by woods. Sultry – dry - - the air filled with the constant hum of insects; millions of tiny flies, sunlit – Paint all afternoon. It is a constant struggle from beginning to end.
After a leisurely “lunch” for a walk down the road again as on Tuesday. Tonight it seemed even more pregnant with powerful moods – I made pencil notes.
On the return home I stopped on the “Big Sap” Hill to listen to the katydids. They were so numerous & so loud, they made the ears ring. Made studies of the Milky Way & the two constellations in the S.W.
Charles E. Burchfield, September 19, 1946