1:29 PM: this one has been brewing, fermenting in my body for weeks, if not months. last month i strtetched a 26x78” linen canvas. these are the dimensions of the paintings in my sound of a flute series. here’s the link to copy & paste in your browser, or you can just click on the dropdown menu, above.
detail of 2021 creek oil 1, stage 1, 26x78”
https://www.philiptarlow.com/sound-of-a-flute
in making the 170 watercolor/collages, which i started about a year ago, along the way i discovered compositional, color and patterning solutions that kept nudging me that they wanted to become larger. but i wasn’t ready until today to take that step. i say step and not leap because this is a slowly unfolding process of re-discovering the revelations of matisse and the nabis of decorative painting. that’s a long conversation for another time, perhaps the book i keep threatening to write.
in any event, what you see here is stage 1. it’s being painted over a preliminary drawing i was making for a vertical composition, inspired by the work of the great 18th c. japanese master of the brush, taiga.
it took a lot of energy for me to start this one today, and since we’re planning to walk up to the stupa in about an hour, i’m going to leave it here.