Crimson Eucalyptus 1998

Eyvind Earle’s *Crimson Eucalyptus* captures a landscape with dreamlike intensity. Just imagine Earle, standing before his canvas, building up these layers, each brushstroke carefully considered to create this otherworldly scene. I wonder what it was like for him, getting lost in the rhythm of placing each little dab of paint, like a kind of mantra. The textures he coaxes out of the paint are so good – you can almost feel the rough bark of the trees, the soft, rounded forms of the foliage, and the cool stillness of the distant sky. And the colors! That intense crimson against the muted grays, it's a total mood. It reminds me of those Hudson River School painters, but if they'd taken a detour through a fairytale. Earle's work shares that sense of awe and wonder, but he pushes it further, into a realm of pure imagination. Painters have always borrowed from each other, riffing on ideas, and Earle is no different. It’s like one big, ongoing conversation, where we keep finding new ways to see, to feel, to be.