Philip Koch Paintings

Charles Burchfield, Bright Winter Day, watercolor circa 1917 My friends at the Burchfield Penney Art Center posted this watercolor on their Facebook page the other day. To me it's a delightful celebration of the world- dazzling sunlight and a swirling profusion of conflicting patterns. Even with everything playfully leaning over to the right you know it echoes how the scene made the artist feel. It's a watercolor the painter Charles Burchfield made of the view from his front porch in his hometown of Salem, OH. There's a  certain frame of mind Burchfield had that left him open to possibilities that are too easy for us to miss. This painting wants to tell us there's often something extraordinary just beneath the surface of this seemingly ordinary street.  Burchfield's watercolor has a special impact on me as I know the place he worked from. I traveled to Salem when I was the Artist in Residence at the Burchfield Penney Art Center from 2015-18.