5th portrait of vail tedx speaker /  by Philip Tarlow

2 pm: today i was able to get back to work in my studio. i didn't feel quite ready to continue work on gaze 14, so i completed the 5th of 15 portraits of the speakers at next months vail TEDX event. they will be posted on the TEDX site, and i'll supply the link when they're up.

i haven't yet met these speakers and am working from photos, using colored pencils, graphite and a few highlights using acrylics.it's an interesting experience, switching form my large scale gaze series portraits, which are mostly 32x32" and 38x38" to this much smaller drawing book scale: 8x6." i've always loved working small, and didn't realize how much i missed it until i began this commissioned series for TEDX vail, which is being organized by our friend kat.

BELOW: the 5 completed portraits, out of 15

4th portrait of vail tedex speaker /  by Philip Tarlow

11:16 AM: i was able to complete the 4th in a series of 18 drawings of the speakers at the VAIL TEDEX, scheduled for next month. i haven't yet met her, and am working from a photo, so we'll see next month how close i got to capturing her spirit. colored pencil, graphite with a few acrylic highlights, using my pentalic drawing book.

our day at school, 3rd portrait of 18 of vail tedx speakers /  by Philip Tarlow

5:11 PM: we had a full day at school today, working with the kids and their great teacher in developing their projects, to be presented at the april showcase. i spotted yet another beautiful notebook cover, created by a fifth grader.

 

after returning to kat's house, where we are guests, i launched into my 3rd portrait of 18, of the speakers at the vail TEDX taking place next month in vail. the already poor natural light was fading fast, so i had to work quickly before darkness fell. i may re-do this one when i have better light. i love the photograph of the speaker on which it's based, and could envision this becoming one of my 32x32" gaze series paintings. perhaps even the larger 38x38" size.

many of the photos i have to work from are unsuitable. either the speakers have that look at me smile, or are poorly lit, or otherwise unimaginatively photographed. shadows are important, and often they are missing or too light. i look for the spirit of the subject. after all, if they are speakers at a TEDX event, they've got to have some vibrant interior world they want to share with the world. it should be present in their gaze.

creating 18 portraits for the January, 2017 TEDEX Vail /  by Philip Tarlow

12:53 PM: i was asked this morning to create a series of 18 portraits of the speakers at the upcoming TEDEX Vail, scheduled for january, 2017. once completed, they will be posted on the TEDEX site. this morning i did the first two, in colored pencil and graphite, with acrylic highlights.

below are the first two, which i just now completed. it's helpful that i'm more than a year into my gaze series of paintings, and thus have been uniquely focused on the human face. 

mousou, the official mascot of poreia theatre /  by Philip Tarlow

8:51 am: mousou appeared at dimitri's house in paiania unannounced one day. she has since become the official Mistress of dimitri's poreia theatre, in athens. she is the recipient of daily petting and hugs from the almost 50 employees, actors & actresses at the theatre, here you see her, nose to paw, in a recent photo of dimitri.

http://poreiatheatre.com/english/

we have the weekend off, and i'm considering making a few drawings. if so, i'll post them. here are a couple from 2014 i just found in one of the drawing books i brought with us.

thanasis, by the way, whose name you will see written in greek at the bottom of the drawing on the right, is a high school teacher who came to the usa from greece. he specializes in, and is excellent with, learning challenged students. we collaborated with him at a denver high school in 2014, where we were testing an earlier iteration of actionlab360.

2 drawings i made earlier today; all in colored pencil on archival paper:

LOOK BACK AT GAZE 15 /  by Philip Tarlow

7:04 PM: in march, 2015, i started a new painting: gaze 15. the inspiration for phase 1 was an ancient greek mosaic. it was painted over many times, but this is the bones of the painting, which perhaps one day will be discovered by an art historian using x-ray technology.

back to edwards /  by Philip Tarlow

7:22 PM: after leaving the school in crestone, we drove up to edwards; normally a 3 hour trip. due to snow packed conditions in the higher elevations, it was a bit longer. as we approached vail, it began snowing, and continues to snow, with cold temperatures.

 

 

tomorrow morning early, we'll be at the edwards middle school to continue supporting the kids in developing their projects. i'll be video taping the process, as usual, and this time will make a concerted effort to edit the footage within days of returning home, while it's still fresh in my mind. here's an interesting drawing I photographed this morning at the crestone school.

break /  by Philip Tarlow

10:12 AM: i'll be on a break from painting till we're back from Edwards & Denver. Historically, this has been an opportunity to reflect on recent work, and i always return with fresh energy and inspiration from our connections with the middle school kids. 

this new painting, gaze 14, still needs work here you see the history of gaze 14:

continuing work on the altered gaze 14 /  by Philip Tarlow

1:26 PM: today is an overcast, windy day with skies that threaten but never deliver snow. the light cascading through my large north facing windows is soft. as the cloud cover hasn't been too thick, the light is actually ideal for painting; bright enough to see the colors clearly without the excessive brightness and glare sometimes created by a sunny winter day with the snow cover reflecting the light.

below you see the painting before my collage intervention, where i'm indicating a dead spot in the composition, and on the right below you can see me collaging maps to the surface. they have been cut with a matt knife creating curves and suggestive biomorphic shapes which echo the natural curves of the face and introduce a shot of blue as a counterpoint to the earth tones dominating the painting. the suggestion of piero della francesca in the head piece was unintentional, and i think enriches the mystery of this rubens inspired image.

total re-work of gaze 14 today /  by Philip Tarlow

BELOW: gaze 14 before & after today's re-work

gaze 14, 32x32" as it looked at 2:30 PM 

2:34 PM: as i said yesterday, after looking at the gaze series in the house for many months, 3 of them stood out as being unresolved & needing work. so today i began work on gaze 14. it began somewhat timidly and rapidly became a total re-work, with a different image, drawn from the same rubens portrait i was inspired by for the recently completed gaze 36.

i had grown a bit tired of the previous image, but some of it remains in the bit above her head. maps were collaged, which can be seen on the upper and far right, and lots of brushing and scraping took place with a variety of tools, most of which were not intended for use on a painting surface!