Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967)

13. down in a double curve and crosses Buffalo Creek. Here the banks are high, and in many places the blue-gray slate-like rock ledgers lay fully exposed, and had a far-away prehistoric look –

                   April 25, 1934

All day in studio working on “hollows” picture – Ice formed in puddles this morning, and all day from time to time, snow-flurries fell from a wintry sky before a strong west wind.

                   April 26, 1934

     In studio making studies of skunk-cabbage –

     Reading in Walden’s “A dog-puncher on the Yukon” I came across this sentence: “The country at that time was full of mastodon bones which the Indians collected and sold to the white men. The miners discovered a good many in the mines as well.” – The idea thrills me. Mastodon bone lying on a hillside, to the north, spring flowers coming up, ice masses still hanging on ledges, under-neath [sic] which are black caves extending into the center of the earth – a feeling of prehistoric pervading the landscape.

                   April 27, 1934 –

     Most of day in studio on “hollows” picture, with not much success. At midafternoon with reluctance in to listen to the Phila. Orchestra perform Beethoven’s ninth – a grand inspiring event-

     Cold & wintry – thick flurries of snow all day –