"Painted in Sept. 1941. View from Heath Pasture, with left branches (not trunk) of Beech Tree taking up the 1/3 of top of canvas. Bought April, 1951, by Mr. and Mrs. E.W. Benjamin of Shelburne Falls, Mass."
"Unusual branch composition."
There is also a chalk drawing of the same scene but slightly different in its composition. It appears that Woodward sat
closer to the scene and more to the left of the Beech tree to focus more on the distant hills which seem to be farther away.
Note the hill right in the middle of both paintings... Woodward painted that hill awash in radiant sunlight in
the 1938 painting, The Hills AND we have a photo of him painting the
artwork!
Sometimes it seems Woodward made paintings just for himself. This painting might be a good
example. He paints it in Sept. of 1941, it exhibits in March of 1942 at GCAG, and then disappears for six years before
being lent to the Gardner, MA Women's Club where they organized a show in the town's city hall. It would be another three
years before he sold it in 1951 just as he is near retirement.