Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967)

27. Two days to Buffalo by bus - I think it was Tuesday & Wednesday) - Making studies around the Elm - Sycamore neighborhood, and on the first day, to the "Black Iron" bridge to make some studies of it. I was half afraid to make sketches of a railroad bridge, but no one paid me any attention.

     Martha writes that she is all at sea about her career - she thinks now she should be studying art - I had always thought so.

     In the Art Digest, I see that the Whitney Museum has bought my "Market at Christmas" - This is the third & last of my reconstructed street-scenes.

     At noon today Arthur & I had a snow-ball throwing session - great fun.[i]

                   Jan. 19 - 1942 (Mon.)

     The January thaw. - Thick almost impenetrable fog - The pores of the earth seem to open and exude a chill dampness into the sodden air - The ice in the creek breaking up, but no real flood water yet - The great cakes of ice, haphazard along the creek, - Soon lost in the obscurity of fog, the creek vista seems to extend to infinity - A pale silvery violet-gray quality to the sinking snow - Except, of course the piles along the street, which are dark licorice gray, highly polished by the melting process. -

     Laying in the ground work for the additions to winter