Sleet Storm (After the Ice Storm) 1920

Charles Burchfield made this watercolor painting of a sleet storm sometime in the mid-20th century, and it captures a moment of quiet labor. Watercolor is a medium with a will of its own. In this scene, you can see how it tends to bloom and flow, evoking the wetness and shimmering quality of a winter landscape. Burchfield has thinned his paints to a watery consistency, and has been bold in his application, allowing the pigment to settle in the crevices of the paper. Notice how this technique is especially effective in rendering the snow-laden trees and the icy glaze on the rooftops. The simple tools, paper, brush, and pigment, seem humble, but here they capture the essence of a cold winter's day. Although watercolor is typically seen as an amateur medium, Burchfield elevates it to a high level of artistic expression. He reminds us that the value of art lies not only in the materials used, but also in the artist's skill, vision, and labor.