Fog Bound 1998

Eyvind Earle painted this landscape of trees, hills and fog using gouache, and you can really see that process in the thin washes of colour. It’s all about layering, letting one tone peek through another, to create a sense of depth and atmosphere. What I find interesting here is the way Earle handles the paint, almost like watercolour, but with more opacity. Look at the way the fog rolls in horizontal bands across the picture plane, each layer a slightly different shade of green-grey. It’s so subtle, yet so effective in creating that hazy, dreamlike quality. Then there’s the tree itself, a dark, sinuous shape that dominates the composition, with these delicate, almost skeletal branches reaching out into the mist. Earle reminds me a little of Charles Burchfield, another artist who found inspiration in nature and its moods. Both artists share a love of the landscape, and a willingness to embrace abstraction in their depiction of it. But where Burchfield's landscapes are often wild and chaotic, Earle’s tend to be more serene and controlled, like a carefully orchestrated symphony of colour and form.