Redtree Times

Eyvind Earle- Santa Ynez Memory (1998)

Then very slowly I go to slightly lighter colors until little by little, the forms begin to take shape and I start to see what is happening. Since I never plan in advance, I simply let myself be led by instinct, taste and intuition. And it is in this manner that I find myself creating visions that I have never before imagined. And little by little certain color effects develop that excite me and I find the painting itself leading me on and I become only an instrument of a greater, wiser force…or being…or intelligence than I myself am.

–Eyvind Earle

Really didn’t feel like writing this morning. Very tired. Sunday was the best day I have had in months, feeling bright and close to normal for a change. Painting has been going great, thankfully, creating its own energy. Thought I might be moving past this level of fatigue. But after a busy morning of painting and then retrieving my work from the Gmeiner show (thanks, Melina at the Gmeiner!) I crashed hard in the evening yesterday, like I had been beaten with a bag of oranges, which is a reference to a scene from the film The Grifters. Left me groggy, achy, and kind of blah this morning.

But I was determined to post something. I have a long streak that I didn’t want to end until I want it to end. And that is not today. So, I looked through some old posts and came across the one below from 2018. [ I was getting ready to hit the publish button when I discovered that I had rewritten this and shared it in 2024. Well, it’s here today and it’s going to stay.] It featured the work of Eyvind Earle which gives everyone a break from my work. Believe me, you need a break. Plus, it was written on a day in 2018 when I didn’t feel like writing as well. Plus, the post was about that wonderful state of being that sometimes comes when painting. It is a feeling I have been fortunate to experience in recent weeks, one that I am counting on later this morning to reinvigorate me.

Seemed to fit the bill this morning. The post from 2018 [rewritten in 2024] along is below with an added song from the late blues legend John Lee Hooker with Santana, The Healer from 1989. Looking for some of that healing power today and kicking it off with some John Lee seems like just the prescription I need.

No gits today. Too pooped to kick your butts out the back door…

I have discussed my appreciation for Eyvind Earle on this blog in the past. Earle was a celebrated artist/illustrator who died in 2000 at age 84.  He was a child prodigy and had his first solo show at a gallery at the age of 14. He exhibited his work in gallery shows for many years but gained his ultimate fame with his popular stylized Christmas cards through the years and with his time spent working with Walt Disney in the 50’s and 60’s as a background artist. He was responsible for the look of many of the animated films of that time from Disney, including the classic Sleeping Beauty.

I have a massive two volume set of the works and writings of Earle’s work that I often pull from the shelf. There’s much I am drawn to in the graphic works from Earle– the colors and the rhythm of his landscapes, for example.

I am also attracted to the great clarity in his work. The compositions are often complex in design but come across as simple, a duality that I really find appealing. The color is bold and could be a little sharp in tone if it weren’t harmonized so masterfully within the picture plane. He is a pure genius at handling harmony and contrast– another duality that strikes me.

I also like the fact that Earle was an unabashed landscape artist, feeling no desire to express himself through figurative work. He found total expression in his handling of the landscape around him, often depicting the open spaces and coastlines of California. They are not mere scenes but have emotion and a depth that goes well beyond the surface, another aspect that appeals greatly to my desires for my own work.

The passage at the top briefly describing his process further links my attraction to Earle and his work. As he describes his process, I am struck by how similarly we describe how we work such as not planning anything in advance, working from light to dark colors and following the excitement of certain colors until the work seems to be taken out of our hands.

Until we become instruments.

I have often described the process and the final creation as being beyond me, the whole of the piece being more than the sum of all the parts I call myself. I have also described the sense of purpose I feel from these pieces, how I feel connected to something greater.

I can’t ever recollect using that term, instrument, before, maybe because it sounds a little presumptuous. But it does line up with what I have described in the past. And to read that Eyvind Earle felt much the same way about his work is comforting, especially on those mornings when I feel far removed from anything close to a greater force. Just knowing that the work might take me to that point where I transform into an instrument for something beyond myself makes the day seem easier to begin.