Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967), Butterfly and Poppies (Also known as Oriental Poppies and Swallowtail Butterfly), 1950 - 1966; watercolor and pencil on paper, 27 15/16 x 21 15/16 inches; Palmer Museum of Art, The Pennsylvania State University, Gift of James and Barbara Palmer, Image courtesy of the Charles E. Burchfield Archives
Charles E. Burchfield, Journals, September 30, 1931
Saturday, Sep 30, 2017
The intense quiet of Autumn is over the land – what causes this peculiar stagnation? True there are insects singing (no frost yet this year) but somehow they only seem to accentuate the profound silence – The heavy rains and unusual warm of September has created a different color scheme over the countryside – there are great quantities of fresh green in the fields, which makes a beautiful foil for the inevitable browness of August killed grasses and wild carrot – Purple asters are for the same reason especially luxuriant, and there are few more beautiful sights than their rich mauve scattered thru fields of light brown-dried grass – more usual in color scheme but none-the-less beautiful are the asters growing with goldenrod – I stood looking at one such a grouping, and with the bright sunlight pouring around me from behind, I felt I could not look enough.
Charles E. Burchfield, September 30, 1931