Evard’s early work was shaped by his apprenticeship with the Swiss Art Nouveau artist Charles L’Eplattenier. Fascinated by L’Eplattenier’s collection of Oriental art, Evard began collecting Indian textiles and other Far Eastern art objects. In the year this small-format watercolor was created, Evard attended an enamel course at the School of Applied Arts in La Chaux-de-Fonds. Similar to the enamel works that followed, the artist applied the colors in this piece in small, almost jewel-like fragments. It is easy to understand why L’Eplattenier once referred to his student as a “jeweler of painting.” In the spirit of his teacher, Evard based the stylized sapling on observations of nature, utilizing nature’s inherent possibilities to abstract what he saw into a decorative interplay of beautifully flowing lines and pulsating color fields.