Carmel Valley Canyon 1994

Eyvind Earle made this striking landscape of Carmel Valley Canyon with thin layers of paint, giving it a smooth, almost graphic quality. The painting feels precise, but I imagine Earle out there in the California landscape squinting, simplifying the riot of nature into these jewel-like shapes. The dark, almost black, forest is contrasted by the vivid, winding greens and yellows of the canyon floor. You can almost feel the sun reflecting off the river. I wonder if he felt like he was piecing together a puzzle when making this? I think about the work of other landscape painters, like the Fauves, who used unnatural colors to express their emotional response to a place. Earle does something similar here, turning the volume up on the landscape to make it sing. It’s a reminder that painting isn’t just about representation; it’s about feeling, seeing, and transforming the world around us through the language of color and form.