Painting the Alley by Charles Burchfield's House

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Charles Burchfield, Yellow Afterglow, July 31
1916, watercolor, Burchfield Penney Art Center
Buffalo, NY
Every morning Burchfield Penney Art Center (BPAC) does a great job of posting a different painting by Charles Burchfield on their Facebook page. They pair it with a selection from the many journals the artist kept throughout his life. This morning's post of the above painting particularly caught my eye. Done in 1916 when Burchfield was living in his family home, it is almost undoubtedly a view of the alley just west of his house at 867 E. 4th Street in Salem, OH. 

 A big part of Burchfield's talent was he knew to zero in on the subjects that most stimulated his creativity- the immediate surroundings of his boyhood home. It, and similar subjects, were to occupy him for the rest of his life.

Two summer's ago at the urging of BPAC's Curators my wife and I drove from Baltimore to spend two days exploring Salem. Below is a major oil I made in my studio based on two successive drawings of Burchfield's home.
Philip Koch, Charles Burchfield's Salem Home, oil on canvas
32 x 64 inches, 2016.

Burchfield made dozens of paintings of his house and yard. His home is art historically one of the most important structures in the country. Despite arriving during a heatwave we had a magical visit there. With my easel set up in the alley he had painted I made the vine charcoal drawing below of his house (the slightly blurry look of the drawing was partly due to my drawing hand sweating- as I said, it was hot).

Philip Koch, Charles Burchfield's Salem Home, vine charcoal,
6 1/2 x 13 inches, 2015


As I worked later in my studio on my large oil version of that drawing's composition I began to feel the trees in the background encroached too much on his house. Below is a second drawing I made from the first, exploring a more open space surrounding the house. It worked best imagining the scene as it could look in the winter months. Burchfield's paintings often celebrated the change of seasons, so I figured this was a very appropriate adaptation.

Philip Koch, Charles Burchfield's Salem Home II, vine charcoal,
7 x 14 inches, 2016


P.S. Burchfield's boyhood home is now the Burchfield Homestead Museum and is open to the public weekends during the summer months. 

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