doxy!”
                                                                              May 28, 1938-
     Shut myself in the studio all day and worked on the house-boat and right foreground. It was galling work, and I had to fight for every square inch.
     With each days (sic) work, I have the feeling that I am not only losing the original intent of the picture, but doing the work in a too neat, precise manner. Reflection in the next day or the next, changes this feeling, and I really seems to grow in weight and solidity. Of course, I long ago abandoned the original purpose, which was to have a vast sky - the sky being the picture & the elevators a framework - such a sky as might have existed after the Flood, with the elevators as stranded arks. Fortunately (I now believe) the picture simply refused to go that way, and probably all the early difficulties centered around my futile effort to combine such a sky as I had concieved, with the buildings. Now, it’s the elevators that form the real picture, with the sky a background for them; the aim a sort of super reality.
     It is bewildering to come out into the hot bright sunlight of late afternoon.
                                                                       May 30, 1938 - Monday-
     AM. To Harbor for study -
     From distant Main St, I can hear the various sounds attending the Memorial Day parade. Trinity Church chimes sing the tune of “Auld Sang Syne” and “America” – and soldiers bugles. Distance softens them & renders them romantic.
     Evening playing ball with the children. My muscles feel firm, yet elastic - like they did in youth.