more work on grey 20 today /  by Philip Tarlow

grey 20, 36x38" as it looked at 3 pm today

2:34 PM: a big hailstorm just broke out, and it's way too dark to continue working. so i'm stopping for the day. this dwarf speaks to me and, as my mentor tsarouchis used to say, that's the juice that allows you to navigate the many stages in the journey of each painting.

here's a quote from my old friend, the late henry geldzahler (google him to learn who he was). it's from a tiny book published by hanuman books in 1990 and in which he hand wrote a beautiful dedication:

there are two prerequisites for having any sense of what is of value and quality in your own time. the first is a firm grasp of the history of art. the firmer the grasp you have and the better grounded you are in every conceivable period, the less shocked or thrown off base you're goinf to be by something that appears to be new but isn't or that is meretricious in any of a dozen ways. A grounding in the best art that's ever been done, hitting your head against the concrete wall of achievement, there's absolutely no substitute for it. it means living in or visiting metropolitan centers. you can not learn from slides; slides are the history of images, not the history of art. the history of art is contained in works of art, which are unique.

 

 

 

 

 

 

1:50 PM: as i predicted, the imagery has shifted and is now based on the head of a dwarf in a velasquez painting. it's still very early stage, but it did make me more aware of what it is that becomes so compelling that it carries me through all the stages a painting can go through. it's an emotional connection to, in this case, the face, as well as the juiciness of the fabrics, or other elements in the composition which make them wonderful to paint. i may do an hour more before quitting for the day. more pics when available....

 

 

 

 

 

 

10:11 AM: i'm about to dive back in to grey 20, with a possible scrumble coming up shortly. i have some doubts about the image itself, so that might morph....pics to follow as available.

grey 20, day 3 /  by Philip Tarlow

1 PM: today is a short day; i'm driving to alamosa with mikela in an hour for a meeting. despite my narrow timeframe, i managed to make some radical changes to grey 20. while still far from resolved, it's beginning to develop an identity. this is the point when i must listen carefully to what the painting wants, and not make any moves without that guidance. the newly collaged elements, the outlines in blue and siena point in a new direction for this series. we'll see tomorrow morning.....

grey 20, day 2 /  by Philip Tarlow

3:50 PM: i'm stopping here, to be continued tomorrow. grey 20 is 36x38", mixed media on canvas. it has gone through 3 distinct stages thus far, one of which was based on a turbaned head, a detail of a painting by rembrandt. here, i've returned to vermeer's lacemaker. collaged elements continue to peek through. the look of a time worn poster, or perhaps graffiti art keep good company with the painterly strokes i so love in the entire history of art. as was the camera obscura for vermeer, so are the wiki commons hi-def images for me. they give me a window into the subtle details of these paintings i could not otherwise access, even in person, unless the painting were isolated in a restoration room under bright lights. "painters," my friend hockney used to say, "will use any means at their disposal that facilitates their goal of making high art." 

BELOW, some details

1:05 PM: current state of grey 20. still working; commentary later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

11:55 AM: this is the current state of grey 20. at the moment, it's a variation on the lacemaker theme. quick break, then back to work. more pics as soon as available.

grey 20, stage 1 /  by Philip Tarlow

2:37: great as always to be back in my studio. i spent most of this morning uploading the video i shot at the school in edwards. now, little by little, i'll be going through it and organizing it into projects, which we'll use down the line for various sales and investment purposes.

while waiting for my painfully slow old iMac to complete the task, and after having to re-boot once, i began work on the next in the grey series: grey 20. while it will very likely be based upon a detail of a rembrandt portrait, for now it's a totally abstract image, which emerged from my gut. as you know, if you've been following my posts, very little of what you see here will be visible in the completed painting. however the forms; the colors; the energy will be there. the torn piece of an ad from a schnabel exhibition in spain can be found in the lower central quadrant. maps of the london underground; canada; nova scotia and a slice of the pacific northwest are also visible, as well as a snippet from the wall street journal sent by my friend in houston, louis. 

i'll continue work tomorrow morning, it which point the imagery will begin to emerge. maybe.

BELOW: some details of the collage/painting titled grey 20

dress rehearsal /  by Philip Tarlow

9:22 PM: the dress rehearsal was superb. the kids gave each other mostly great feedback, pursued their excellent dreams with one pointed passion persisting through the spring winged day so far, so far, away from anything mundane or mediocre. or mellow or even matriarchal.

looking back / looking forward /  by Philip Tarlow

6:50 PM: while watching the n.y. election returns with our friend kat i'm writing a bit on my blog. i hate to let a day go by without blogging. it helps me think, know where i'm at. during a break at school this afternoon, i did some research for upcoming paintings. moving away from vermeer, i was looking at de hooch and rembrandt, making radical crops. below is a crop of one of my own grey series paintings: grey 11, beside a severe crop of a rembrandt painting. it's where my eye & sensibility are at right now. so when we return, and i have about 3 solid unbroken weeks in my studio, that may be my focus. 

snow continues /  by Philip Tarlow

a paper palette I saved; a piece of palette cut into a biomorphic shape; and a collage from April 2014, which includes pieces of palette as well as other bits, some from maps, others from a vintage Japanese animé book.

leaving shortly for edwards to do more work in the schools....

8:29 AM: so it was premature to say, yesterday, that the storm was over. the slow moving low remains over colorado & won't move out till wednesday. which means on our drive to edwards later today we'll encounter snow packed & icy roads. the bit i'm always most concerned about is the CO 24, from leadville to minturn. it's only a 30 mile stretch, but is full of twists & turns and in this kind of weather can be treacherous. more later....

zen luncheon / preparing for grey 19 /  by Philip Tarlow

4:05 PM: just back from our lunch at the zen retreat center, here are some pics. reconnected with people in the community we haven't seen for a while. great conversations, great food, super great desert.

i managed to stretch 2 canvases this morning: 38x36" and 32x32," which i'll start working on when we're back from edwards.

10:53 AM: marking off the canvas for grey 19 and 20.

7:29 AM: today our work day will be broken up, since we're invited to the lunch at the Zen Retreat Center at noon. but we've gotten an early start, so we should be able to get some work in before leaving. my plan is to prepare a new canvas for the next in the grey series, grey 19. i think the kind of cropping you saw in this most recent grey 18 might continue, although i never know until i get started. and even then, as you've seen, these paintings morph 3-4, sometimes even 5-6 times before finding their space. here's an example; these are stages grey 18 has gone through:

snowstorm / continuing work on grey 18 /  by Philip Tarlow

1:40 PM: a few tweaks before cleaning up & going to the house to make bernie calls to n.y.

12:55 pm: latest grey 18 pics. the painting has been scrumbled and worked into, with a focus on the lips & the whites of her collar. since i drove our car over today, i might bring it back to the house this afternoon to evaluate it next to it's brothers & sisters. in person, cropping the eyes has a profound effect on the impact this painting has on you. once again, as my friends, David Hockney & the late Henry Geldzahler have said, a photo of a painting, no matter how great, is not to be confused with the painting itself, which is a living, breathing entity. so whenever it is that i show the grey series, which i hope will be in germany, come see for yourself!

11:19 AM: as predicted, the snow is flying & the wind is blowing. so far, not as much as was forecast, but this is a large storm and is supposed to continue into tomorrow.

 

 

just now i did a scrumble on grey 18, which looks like this now, and i'm about to start working into it. 

grey 18 scrumbled & prepared for revisions /  by Philip Tarlow

2:45 PM: as promised, grey 18, 36x38", has taken a sharp turn and is now based upon vermeer's girl with a flute. the girl's face is tightly cropped, so that her eyes are not visible. the brushwork , inspired by vermeer's uniquely painterly style, is loose and free. as my fan brushes skate over the surface, with it's thinly veiled sections of maps & newsprint, i celebrate my freedom following 2 days of almond blossom prison.

i may stop for the day, as the wind picks up and storm clouds roll in, so that i can go help prepare for our dinner guest.