6:19 PM: looking back four years, this is where i was at in march-april, 2017. i was in the midst of my gaze series, (https://www.philiptarlow.com/gaze) paintings inspired by vermeer and by the 1st c. fayum portraits.
what precipitated this series? i’ve loved vermeer since i was old enough to visit the metropolitan museum, and with the fayum portraits since tsarouchis introduced me to them in the late ‘60’s. they are two very painterly ways of looking at the human face.
2:55 PM: I was asked to make a couple of signs for the solstice celebration taking place in center ( a 45 minute drive) on friday. so I figured it’s best to get that done before launching into the new 49.5x49.5” painting I just stretched the canvas for. this is the one that is designed to fit the beautiful wood frame sitting empty in the house.
I made the two signs on plain, light weight white roll paper & then taped them to cardboard. i’ll have to use fixative tomorrow, since I used oil pastels, which will rub off on anything they touch.
i’m not used to making signs, so I had to make a few throw-aways before settling on these two.
everything I do is harder till this groin strain gets better, so i’m going back to the house to put some ice on.
it’s been a really hot week here and all over the west, but that should ease up starting Friday. each day it’s more likely we’ll get afternoon thunderstorms, which cools things down. actually, about 5 minutes ago a clap of thunder was heard and there’s a bit of rain falling right now.
