Sycamore 1974

Eyvind Earle’s 'Sycamore' is a painting, most likely made with gouache or tempera, that presents a highly stylized and dreamlike vision of nature. What I find so interesting here is how Earle reduces the landscape to these essential, almost graphic shapes. Look at how the paint has been applied so thinly, in layers. The yellow underpainting peeks through, creating this luminous, otherworldly glow. There’s a real sense of depth, achieved through color and tone, with the darker greens and blacks of the foliage contrasting against the lighter yellows and greens of the background. Notice the way the branches are articulated. It’s almost like a delicate, hand-drawn illustration. The leaves, too, are treated as individual marks, clustered together to create a sense of volume and texture. Earle’s earlier work as a background artist for Disney definitely shines through here. He has a unique ability to capture the essence of a scene with minimal detail, creating images that are both iconic and deeply personal. I'm reminded of Milton Avery's simplified landscapes, and how both artists find poetry in reduction.