The One Thing Charles Burchfield Wants You to Know

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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. With  my easel set up in his backyard I painted Burchfield's house. In my painting's far distance you see the houses across the street featured in his watercolor. Here below is the final result of the studies I made there, my large oil painting that I am proud to say is now in the permanent collection of the Burchfield Penney.




Philip Koch, Charles Burchfield's Salem Home, oil on canvas
32 x 64 inches, 2018, collection of the Burchfield Penney
Art Center, Buffalo, NY.



Charles Burchfield was probably as busy and mentally preoccupied as the rest of us. At the time he painted the piece at the top he was working full time at an office job. Despite that he had a special talent to slow himself down and soak up the world around him. Sharply aware of his emotions, he used his inner response as a springboard for remarkable art.

Below are two vine charcoal drawings I made in preparation for my 
oil painting. The first was made on a hot July day in Burchfield's backyard. 



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


Originally my oil painting was true to its roots in the summer season, but I felt a more opened up space would convey the feeling I wanted more. So I invented a second drawing in my studio to explore how I could transform the composition into a winter scene. The open sky proved a  better complement to the solidity of Burchfield's house. 


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

We have art for a very good reason. All of us need a gentle nudge to open our eyes, enjoy our senses and value how it feels as experience washes over us. 

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