day 1 of "9/13/25 colored pencil/collage" /  by Philip Tarlow

3:07 PM: this morning a workman arrived to cap the leaky valve that feeds water to our refrigerator freezer, interrupting work on this new piece. thus far, it’s colored pencil & collage on bristol paper, with no watercolor. but that may change tomorrow. right now we’re both exhausted, since we’ve been up since 3 am, when the leaky water coming down through the ceiling from the kitchen, upstairs, woke us up.

the renovation of our kitchen will be complete on wednesday, and until then we’ll be having our morning coffee in the studio, where mikela has been working on her educational platform. this is the first time we’re both working in the studio, and i love it!

9/10/25 creek drawing / 9/10/25 BATHROOM DRAWING /  by Philip Tarlow

2:06 PM: whenever the urge to go up to the creek and draw/paint comes over me, i have to listen. so at about 11 this morning, i started preparing my equipment, loaded it in the car at noon, and drove up the rocky, narrow dirt road, past shumei and the zen center to the creek. i say the creek, but actually there are quite a few creeks, with water rushing down form the 14K mountains above crestone.

when i completed the initial drawing in quill pan and india ink, i began using my colored pencils. after about an hour, i started back down to the studio, where i collaged a piece of paper over the second rock form the bottom, which wasn’t working for me, and declared it resolved.

while preparing to take my morning shower, i brought some drawing materials with me into the bathroom. why not, i asked myself, take very opportunity to draw? this may be the start of a series; we’ll see.

9/10/25 creek drawing, 16x6” colored pencil, collage & india ink on bristol paper

the creek this morning at about 11:30am

9/9/25 watercolor/collage /  by Philip Tarlow

3:28 PM: `i started a new 11 1/2 x 14 1/2 watercolor/collage this afternoon. i’m at the end of my painting day, and here’s how it looked moments ago.

9/9/25 watercolor/collage, 14 1/2x 11 1/2” as she looked moments ago

9/5/25 watercolor/collage is now watercolor-oil/collage / starting "you-ess open" /  by Philip Tarlow

2:07 PM: i did more work on what was 9/5/2025 watercolor/collage, introducing oil colors and giving the figure more definition.

and i started a new oil painting on a 42x16” piece of portrait linen, working from photos i shot of the exciting us open mens final between sinner and alkaraz., who is now #1 in the world.

"you-ess open" 42×16” oil on portrait linen, day 1

9/5/25 watercolor/oil/collage 14 1/2× 11 1/2”

"afternoon moonlight" tweak / preparing for "us open' /  by Philip Tarlow

2:13 PM: this morning i very slightly lightened the dark grey in the bottom center of the painting, so that your eye isn’t drawn there, allowing the rest of the composition to breathe

i captured some of the overhead shots of sabelenka anisimova from yesterday’s us open final, and am preparing to incorporate them into my next painting, or perhaps, series of paintings.

5 shots from yesterday’s us open final

afternoon moonlight, 42x18” oil on portrait linen, tweaked this morning

"9/5/25 watercolor/collage" /  by Philip Tarlow

3:22 PM: i took yesterday’s watercolor to the next level and now it’s 9/5/25 watercolr/collage. the figure of a woman with her legs crossed has appeared in recent works on paper. here she’s more an abstracted element of the overall composition. i just sprayed it with fixative, since it has a fair amount of oil stick.

9/5/25 watercolor/collage, 14 1/2 x 11 1/2”

"9/5/25 watercolor" /  by Philip Tarlow

3:21 PM: this is day 1 of 8/5/25 watercolor. it contains, or will reflect, manmy of the elements i love to paint: mirrors; a byzantine icon; figures multicolored bowls….this is a study, which may become an oil painting later on….

9/5/25 watercolor 14 1/2 x 11 1/2” on day 1