RSW's Diary Comments

Woodward did not keep records of his pastel paintings he called chalk drawings.

1948 SVAA Exhibit Program, pg. 5

This chalk drawing came up for auction at Prozzo Auctions.com in Rutland, Vt. in April of 2006 as part of the Katherine "Kay" Avery estate. It was found to be in poor condition. Lot of flaking off of chalk in the sky. Hammer price unknown.

The whereabouts out this painting today is unknown and the picture we have is the only image we have of it, which was poor low resolution to begin with. Interesting enough we did learn something about its owner, Kay Avery. She was a writer and reportedly authored six children's books over her career. She was once married to Journalism professor, Reginald Coggeshall... HERE is a link to her Wikitree Page and an article she wrote for the Middletown Springs (VT) Historical Society NEWSLETTER.

✽ It is possible this painting name is wrong. There is another pastel painting with a very similar name titled, Silver Clouds Over Equinox, which we have listed in the 1948 Southern Vermont Artist Association's (SVAA) annual exhibit program. Whereas, our only source for this name is the auction house. We do not wish to disparage anyone, but we have had more than a few occasions to which those selling a painting got its name wrong. The fact that Woodward did NOT correct the name in the 1948 program gives us pause. Still, we do not have all the records for the SVAA event. The years prior to the artist's 1934 studio fire are all lost to ash and the 1935 program apparently did not survive Woodward moving into his new home and studio from temporary housing.