Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967)

blue.
never saw it before. Then I wondered if it was the sun. My right eye was turned sun-ward. So I revered my position, and lay a while & they experimented. The blue & yellow were just reversed now.
But all day I was strangely distressed. In the midst of much beauty of landscape and fine weather, a vague sadness surrounded me. I tried to reason out the feeling, for by that process could I dissolve it, but could not put my finger on it. Once I thought it was because it looked like summer and yet wasn’t – that summer was inevitably gone with its care-freeness; then I thought of my wife & babies at home, and felt that if they were with me all would be well. The feeling persisted so strong that as the chilly sunset stole on, I abandoned my original intention of going to Salamanca in the morning and decided to return home.
The afternoon spent in making a sketch of the tall oak tree & the valley & distant falls below – twilight untempted the sketch & when I had packed & started away, it was all ready quite dusky. It was a beautiful evening – over in the west was the first sliver of the new moon with a golden glow around it, hanging just above a long flat wedge-shaped bank of rain-clouds. The trees were dark and mysterious; a sad ness came over me at leaving the scene after having failed to make the most of the day. I concluded not to take the cut path by the water-works pond, but to continue north with the idea of finding a road leading to Gowanda. This road was lined on both sides with tall trees, chiefly maples growing denser & denser till suddenly I came to a cross-roads which was like-wise lined with trees. There was a powerful dignity & beauty went that was clearly not an expression of any modern mode of planning. I took the cross-road which led down hill to the edge of Gowanda; when I reached the rail-road I followed it to the