completing 2017 gouache interior 2 / collage from 2014 /  by Philip Tarlow

12:07 PM: being sure not to do too much to the delicate balance of white space and color in the second 2017 gouache interior series, i feel i've reached resolution. the way i'm working on these gouache paintings is actually closer to watercolor than gouache. i'm not utilizing the opacity of the medium; rather making thin, transparent applications, creating an overall tapestry of form & color that mirrors the richness of the elements gary & loekie have artfully combined in their interior, reflecting their love for 17th c. dutch genre painting.

14x8.5"/35.5x21cm. collage on paper i just found while searching through my photo collages, dated 5/20/14

2017 gouache interior 2, day 2 /  by Philip Tarlow

3 PM: we got back late from our walk, so i didn't get as much work done as i would have liked. i think one more good day tomorrow should do it. below is a comparative view of yesterday's version and today's.

drawing for gouache interior 2 /  by Philip Tarlow

2017 gouache interior 2  14x14"  gouache on arches paper

3:26 PM: this is where i'm stopping for the day. this is a more complex composition than yesterday's. the elements that will make the difference in the livliness of the image have not yet been painted, such as the rich material of the fabrics on the sofa to the right; the rug on the lower left and the grain of the wood floor. i have painted this room before, in about 2000, but from a different angle. even though 17 years have passed, all the elements in this room are very familiar to me. and somewhere in my awareness, i can see the river vecht out the windows to the right, not visible in this composition. and i can see the very special netherlandish light, bathing everything it touches in a warm glow that, i believe has a lot to do with all the water surrounding, enveloping that small country, as well as the particular cloud formations i've never seen anywhere else. we're hoping to visit this fall, to see our friends gary & loekie and to visit the newly renovated rijksmuseum.

drawing for 2017 gouache interior 2, 14x14"

 

 

 

 

12:47 PM: the completed drawing; about to squeeze my colors.

 

 

 

 

12:13 PM: i've begun the drawing for 2017 gouache interior 2, which i should complete today & be ready to start painting tomorrow.

completed 2017 gouache interior 1 /  by Philip Tarlow

2:05 PM:  i completed this first gouache study, titled 2017 gouache interior 1 which is 14x10 in./35.5x25.5cm. & am ready to move on to the next one in this new series. gouache is a medium i love, which i worked in for many years during the period i lived & painted in greece. in looking at this one, i can see my evolution in the looser, sketchier technique. in part i believe this comes from having greater certainty in my mark making, in part from my familiarity with interiors, having painted hundreds. no matter the medium, you still have to be in the groove. 

stage 1, study in gouache on paper /  by Philip Tarlow

3:48 PM: today i started a study in gouache on archival paper for a larger oil on linen, which i'll start as soon as this study is complete. it's 14x10"/35.5x25.5cm. and is based on a 1994 photo collage of the living room at my friends gary & loekie's home on the river vecht in the netherlands. the two seated figures are friends who joined us on that trip. i should be able to complete the study tomorrow, as well as stretching the 36x38"/91.5x96.5cm. canvas. it's a refreshing change from my gaze series, and i'm anxious to see what it feels like working in oil after more than a year of making paintings in acrylic & collage.

shifting course /  by Philip Tarlow

4:25 PM: while it's likely i will continue my gaze series, i've been feeling the urge to return to oils. so i'm stretching new linen canvases to start a series of interiors based mostly on photo collages of interiors i shot in the '90's. 

continued work on gaze 37 /  by Philip Tarlow

gaze 37, 38x36"  acrylic & collage on canvas

3 PM: we had a great time over dinner last night with our friends sophie, her husband christian and sophie's parents. her dad is the realist painter willard dixon, with whom i showed at fischbach gallery in the '80's. i so valued his visit to my studio, his observations and comments. then i showed him the tsarouchis book, which he totally got. great evening.

i resumed work on gaze 37 a bit late today, applying more collage to areas i felt needed it. i hesitate to call it resolved, because i seem to do that every day! so i'll wait till tomorrow morning for that. in the mean time, mikela will come over later & give her take on it, which is almost always an accurate evaluation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BELOW: left to right: the progression of gaze 37 since may 26th

look what i found! and, more work on gaze 37 /  by Philip Tarlow

2:47 PM: stopping a bit early today to go help prepare for our dinner guests. i did a scrumble of parts of the canvas, then worked into it. i think i was able to address my friend wendy's concerns regarding the area with the collaged map to the left of her hand, which was a bit too white and now has a pinkish hue. as a whole, the image is now less in your face and the harshness which can happen with acrylic paints has softened. as usual, i'll know better tomorrow morning.

BELOW: left-yesterday's version, right: today's

 

1:03 PM: i was away from the studio yesterday for a meeting in boulder regarding actionlab360. 

my all important first gaze told me that parts of gaze 37 need to be scrubled then worked back into, so that's what i'm about to do.

i was organizing a roll of 2012 abstract collages on canvas when i ran across this one, which i think is pretty good. it's 77x25" and it needs some repair to sections that have air bubbles, which is very do-able. for now i plan on tacking it to the wall in our entryway, since i don't have the right size stretcher bars. we'll see how it holds up to scrutiny.

i'll post pics later this afternoon of the work i'm about to do on gaze 37.

gaze 37 ; a playful intervention /  by Philip Tarlow

1:17 PM: upon entering my studio this morning and reviewing gaze 37, it was apparent that, yet again, i was sticking too closely to the prototype, vermeer's the milkmaid. the detail that i find most compelling in his painting is the hand holding the pitcher, the pitcher itself and the milk flowing into the waiting bowl. so i painted over the other elements and introduced a repeat image of the hand holding the pitcher, this time with a bit more of her sleeve showing. as a result, for now at least, what we see brings to mind stop motion video, as the viewers eye bounces from pitcher to pitcher, hand to hand and arm. the rich green of her sleeve is now evident, acting as a counterbalance to the beautiful green of the maine maps collaged onto the surface. the previously problematic upper left region of the canvas has now come alive. it's graphically more interesting, and helps lead the eye around the forms and colors without getting stuck on a fucking teapot!

it's what you could call a playful intervention. one which serves the purpose of putting the all important integrity of the picture plane first and content second. i mean, if you compare yesterday's version, below left, with the most current, which sings more? which provokes more? and which is more visually satisfying?