Early Spring 

This is "Early Spring," by Eyvind Earle, and it's made with opaque watercolor, also known as gouache, on board. Earle prepared his own boards and paints, and the smoothness of the painting's surface shows his mastery of the medium. But there is something more than craft at work here: Earle developed a very distinctive style. Look closely and you can see he worked in layers. It's almost like he was building up the image, area by area, with incredible patience. The result is a landscape both stylized and strangely believable, much like scenes from storybooks. Earle's art career was closely tied to the entertainment industry, especially his work with Walt Disney studios. So, when you look at this painting, consider it as more than just a landscape: it's a constructed image, deliberately made to appeal to our desire for an ideal of nature. And that, like the best animation, takes real skill.