3:44 PM: ABOVE: and here’s the next stage, with the addition of a vertical stripe of yellow next to the blue. some scraping has also taken place, breaking up the blue somewhat, as well as the black sweater over his shoulders. it’s almost 4pm & i’m burnt out. plus, we’re expecting the septic truck any minute, to come empty our 2 tanks, one here & one at the house. so i’ll pick up where I left off tomorrow morning.
3pm: here’s the next stage of the painting/collage, with a rather bold addition of blue on the left. comparative view BELOW:
11:44 AM: so, after returning from the P.O., I utilized my morning energy to start fresh. what I mean by that is that I dove into this painting/collage without attempting to “save” any of what I did over the past 2 days. I lay the canvas down on my 2 saw horses and began to play.now, you can’t play forever….or maybe…anyway, before even meditating, which is normally what I do first, before breakfast, before anything, I began working/playing. in this case playing is a more appropriate term.
more pieces of an ink drawing I made 2 days ago were collaged in and ,perhaps more importantly, a walking figure seen from above has appeared. he’s also in 7/4/2021 creek oil.
https://www.philiptarlow.com/2021-creek-oils
so, you might ask, where’s the creek? well, those bits of blue are, or could be, creek water, and the two just visible horizontal forms above the figure are, or started out as, tree trunks.
i’d best leave it be now. once I start analyzing, my mind cuts in and whatever else I do is messed up, like what I did yesterday.
but, and this is key, it’s all valuable, all part of a process that’s as unpredictable as it is inevitable. when you short circuit the unpredictability, you get a mess. and if you press into that mess, well….you get what you see here.
maybe this is a good time to meditate. see ya later.
7:33 AM: so why is 7/18/2021 creek oil so messed up?
1) trying too hard to make it good
2) trying too hard to make it work
3) trying to repeat a past success
4) trying
i’ve got to make a quick run to the P.O. before going to the studio, but i should be able to get to work/play by 10-ish. so let’s see what i do today!
BELOW: 4 stages of the painting over 2 days
