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Sunday Jan. 7 '39 16 So much to say! Tschaikowsky: he was a man of the most contrasting & profoundest words - sadness and gaiety; he expressed each with a passionate clarity. My "Island Foreground" haunts my thoughts. I am working on "Three Islands," which will be emotionally dramatic, with strong chiaroscuro, and extreme liberty with forms and rhythms. I am wondering whether my "Foreground" is more powerful because it is so plain, so silent! It is a very troublesome thing - this so called "artist's conflict" - and with me - it's conflict on so many points: displayed emotion or quiet realism? imagination or intellectualization? So much - I must only paint & paint and not think too much. I have a fierce desire to go to town next year to live. Honolulu is intensely stimulating, inspiring, and liberating! Kauai flares up in my imagination when I'm there: I am divorced from the realistic and retain the emotional sythesis of the places I love: The freighthouse beach, the reefs at Waipouli, Wailing Bay, Kealia cliffs, Kilauea Lighthouse, Airport Beach, and the Dunes at Wailing, I must get to town soon! Spencer Devinel came over yesterday to see my paintings. He liked Foreground, I think. Very interesting young artist. He will suffer much, perhaps, being so fine and sensitive (or is it a fable told & retold without much meaning?) Buddy said Friday nite: Millay is great, no fooling. Today I reread "Wild Swans" & "Cameo" - intensely moving! He mentioned our living on this island as "secondhand-" true. The long wail of trains at night - waking to watch the great trains across great continents - But then, to have so much grandeur of land & sea & sound - even if it be on a small scale - is enough for me, I think. (The Monterey coast - I must see that before I die!)