Featured Artwork: High In The Hills

In Woodward's own hand on the back of the picture,
"Come on! Get the pot on the fire-- or the coffee won't
get done with the rest of the meal"

This photo indicates two things, (1) a coffee pot along
the rugged ledge of the heath pasture and (2) that
Woodward picnicked there frequently. We know
from his 1932 personal diary that he would camp
there prior to buying the pasture in 1938
★  SEE REVIEW BELOW!  ★

None.

Springfield Republican, Apr. 25, 1928
Click on the HEADLINE to see the whole article

Right: Springfield Union, April 1928, by Jeanette Matthews

"'High in the Hills' is another of the drawings that should give pause. It has a melodramatic quality due to the sunset and windswept height. 'It might have been drawn for 'The Deluge,' said one, 'it has an apocalyptic quality.' But to redeem it there is the neatest picnic fire beneath the ledge of rock and beside it brews the coffee. There it seems to me, is illustrated one of the surest test of art in any medium; that it can give you a glimpse of the high places in life without ever losing touch with the warm human element, that it can wrap you in a breath of clean New England air and yet drop no tears over either the tender bloom or the relentless rigor of a stern country."

The except above from the Springfield Union, April 1928, by Jeanette Matthews article is some pretty high praise. What sticks out with the website staff is Matthew's description sounds very unique for a Woodward chalk drawing. The fire with coffee brewing is unlike anything we have seen. The decription of the ledge sounds an awful lot like the one found near the Beech Tree in Burnt Pasture, Heath, MA. One of Woodward's most beloved places. A place he liked 'roughing it' and eventually bought the property and built a studio/cabin there. For more, see also Heath Pasture Studio