Beyond Paradise 1989

Eyvind Earle made this landscape, Beyond Paradise, using a smooth painting technique with luminous color. I like to imagine him layering these colors gradually, finding the right hues to give this landscape its dreamy, otherworldly feel. The trees feel like soft, rounded sculptures, and the air itself seems to glow. I am wondering what it must have felt like to make each tiny mark, each carefully placed dot of color, building up the image bit by bit. Earle's paintings are always so carefully crafted and refined, but they also feel deeply personal, like he is sharing his own vision of nature with us. His painting reminds me a bit of the visionary landscapes of someone like Charles Burchfield, yet with its own unique blend of precision and fantasy. Painters look at each other; it’s a way of building a language, and making that language new.