RSW's Diary Comments

Heights of Heath #1, 1947 (September)

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

Editor's Note:

The Beech Tree is not the only tree Woodward featured in pigment in the pasture of Burnt Hill. This evergreen also appears in, Heights of Heath #1, seen to the right. Moreover, it is what we call a "past peak" month. In Heights of Heath, the month is September. What we believe the artist likes about these transitional months their mixture of the past (the remnants of Spring still visible while evidence of Summer beginning to reveal itself. This concept appears in numerous ways through Woodward's life and career... he is a "twilighter." Actually, there is a technical term for this aesthetic appreciator-- an opacarophile: opacar meaning dusk and phile meaning love in Latin. However, the term is primarily associated people who love sunsets. For Woodward, it is more about the pause, the beat between or repose that captures his imagination.

High Pastures, 1942 (November)

Many shades of yellow dominate all three paintings shown on this page. The Yellow of late Spring, distinct in its own right is lemony with shades of chartreuse. Late Summer, has a mix of golds and the darker goldenrod. Late fall, seen to the left, are combinations of amber, bronze, and jasmine.

For more trees on the Burnt Hill pasture, check out: By the Broken Wall, Double Victory, From a May Hill, and Winter Pastures

Below we added a couple of photographs, one a rare color picture, of this tree in the pastel above taken by Woodward friend, F. Earl Williams.

Finally, if this picture would have been sent to us just a couple months ago it would definitely made the 2025 calendar!

This Kodachrome color picture of the Heath Pasture
in Winter is looking south towards Charlemont, MA. The
evergreen points to the Buckland Hills to the left of pic.

In such an interesting contrast to the picture
on the left, this image points north facing the cabin
with the evergreen in the right-side foreground.