watercolor/collage 1 is now titled cobleskill and work continues on dwell / by Philip Tarlow

2:27 PM: i changed the title of watercolor/collage 1 to cobleskill. whenever possible, i prefer titles that refer specifically to the painting. so in this case, when i looked closely at this watercolor/gouache/collage, i discovered i had collaged a segment of a map of new york. upstate, norht of poughkeepsie, is the town of cobleskill. i’ve never been there, but i liked the name.

this piece has gone through more stages than most. late this morning, i think it was resolved. it conjures memories of two of my favorite artists: archile gorky and deKooning, both in terms of color and form. and it accomplishes one of my goals in making a painting; namely that one never tires of gazing at it. you’ll always discover something or some set of relationships you hadn’t noticed before. also, it could scale up 10x and not lose any of it’s qualities.

i cut the tape off the sides and placed it in a frame, which allows it to sing it’s song.

i continued painting dwell, going back and forth between the two very different paintings. i love doing that whenever possible. it’s more fun as well as giving me something else to focus my attention if i get stuck.

i’m doing as little as possible because i love the spareness of this painting. i can acually envision leaving it as is. i think it’s visually more compelling with the large “unfinished” area to the right left as is.

the figure with his cutting board, seen from above the the daisies and bowls sitting on the countertop, is painted with just a few critical, painterly strokes. the reflection of lights on the floor tiles to his left read almost as if there were a fire beside him. your imagination will fill in the “blanks.”

cobleskill 13x13”

dwell 17x80” oil on linen on a grey ground

DETAIL of dwell