Canyon Sycamore

Barbara Whipple

Using vibrant, contrasting hues, Barbara Whipple depicts the pale limbs of a bare sycamore tree, sprouting from the floor of a canyon formed by mountainous terrain. The American sycamore is native to the eastern seaboard of North America, from Florida to southeastern Canada, but grows throughout the United States where there is plenty of water.

Whipple likely captured this image of one such tree growing along a riverbed in the southeast or western half of Colorado, perhaps on one of her many hiking trips. It is clearly winter, owing to the blue light of the background as well as the white bark of the tree, the typical look of the sycamore in winter after it has shed its “scales,” the flakey, tan bark that forms in warmer seasons.