Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967)

interest almost equally divided between two subjects, in opposite directions. So undecided was I that I changed the position of my easel twice. I should have known from this divided interest that I lack no real impulse to paint, but I went ahead anyway and covered a piece of paper. (a waste of time and material as it turned out)
When it was too dark to see well, I lay down in a bed of dry leaves and looked up at the sky thru the tree tops. The beauty of the effect was almost too great to be borne. The sight of the woods to the east likewise, lit up by the warm afterglow, filled me with regret & sadness, I could not capture in its beauty.
Ate supper in the dark, then set out for the woods to catch the sunrise. This was a marvelous event, such as I believe I never before experienced; long before the moon actually made its appearance, the eastern sky began to glow with a pale ethereal light at first sundown, then gradually spreading upward toward the zenith, dimming the stars as a dawn. As the light increased, the trees, vague dark shadows at first, gradually clearer and clearer, until just before the moon’s appearance, they stood clearly revealed, bathed in and glowing with the strange silvery gray light. When the moon finally appeared it was startling. The hill had shut out the primary phase of mellow tones such as dull orange etc.; by the time it topped the hill, it was a brilliant glowing lemon silver white, so bright that it blinded the eyes. The ruffled leaves touched with light, and the trees casting wan long shadows down the hillside. A soft mild haze from the south.
The woods seemed a warm friendly place to be. I was loath to leave (but did so finally, because I know B- would be worried, on account of the state of our tires)