day one of oil interior 2: the gamble paid off! /  by Philip Tarlow

mikela and i in 2006 at my show at skoufa gallery in athens

2:46 PM: as i said yesterday, using this high quality cotton canvas for this genre of painting was a gamble. i originally purchased it to use for my gaze series acrylic & collage paintings, reserving the far more expensive portrait linen for more delicate work, along the lines of the oil interiors. how would it be to work on this cotton surface?  i started applying color before even finishing the drawing, so anxious was i to find out!

with the very first brush strokes, i realized that, not only is this canvas just as good as the portrait linen; it's better! because it's less absorbent and whiter, the colors are easier to work with and pop more. easier to work with because sfumato, or blending of colors and tones is far easier when the colors sit on the surface and are nor immediately absorbed into the canvas. and last but not least, it's about 1/3 the price of the portrait linen & i have almost an entire 84" wide roll. have provided a detail of oil interior 1, to show what i mean.

now some might read this, and some of my other posts, as say "tarlow, what are you doing giving away all your secrets?" to them i say: knowledge, in whatever form, is to share.

tomorrow we have meetings in edwards, a 3 hour drive. we plan on going & returning in one day. a long day, but at the end we get to sleep in our own bed! so no studio tomorrow.

completion of gouache interior 7/ preparing for the oil version /  by Philip Tarlow

4 PM: i just stretched a canvas for the oil version of this painting, and was able to start the drawing, which i'll continue tomorrow.

i'm not using the artfix portrait linen i used for oil interior 1. i think it works better for smaller canvasses. on larger stretcher bars, it tends to wrinkle easily because it's so fine & delicate. i love the surface, but i don't think it's the right surface for these larger oils. we'll see once i complete the drawing & start painting how this surface compares; it's a heavier high quality weave cotton canvas, which i've used thus far for my gaze series, when i was working in acrylic & collage. cotton canvas is considered to be lesser in quality than linen. the real question is: how does it take the paint? if it has the level of sensitivity i need, that's fine. the other option, which i've never actually tried, is polyester, which, unlike cotton & linen is not affected by moisture, making it a favorite of conservators. believe it or not, polyester canvas made by the same company, artfix, is more expensive per yard than either of the 2 i've mentioned.

2:07 PM: this is the completed gouache interior 7. now i'm ready to stretch the canvas and begin the oil version. pics when available. BELOW: a few details of the completed gouache.

DETAIL of gouache interior 7, 14x14"

12:47 PM: gouache interior 7 is taking longer than expected; it's filled with intricate details & patterning and this is one of the reasons i'm going to attempt a larger version as soon as this is complete. i think the oil painting will actually allow me to simplify and extract important shapes and details in a way not possible on this 14" scale.

stage 3 of gouache interior 7 /  by Philip Tarlow

3:30 PM: thunder is  rumbling from storms on the peaks to the east of my studio, and the skies have darkened, so i'm stopping here for the day.

the wood floor seems rather dark in comparison with the rest of the composition, but that will balance out tomorrow, once some other darks are added on the left beneath & to the right of the lamp. completion of the rug on the very lower portion, beneath the couch with the throw, will also balance out the tones.

 

 

 

 

1:44 PM: making good progress towards completion of gouache interior 7. later this afternoon, i'll stretch a 32x32" canvas in preparation of doing this one on a larger scale. indeed, it's a composition that could easily work on a 60x60" scale.

completing drawing for gouache interior 7/starting color/why interiors? /  by Philip Tarlow

WHY INTERIORS?

i've made paintings of interiors for decades. from hat makers shops in piraeus to living rooms in paris, the netherlands and new york. what they have in common is intimacy, patterns, warm colors and of course my spirit. my preference is to have at least one figure. my role models are bonnard, vuillard, karagatsi and tsarouchis.

in my world, each new interior represents a personal breakthrough. a new, ideally more elegant & economical way of working, with the interiors as a scaffolding. the result should move you and satisfy your aesthetic self.

3:18 PM: stopping here for the day. love this stage. the figure on the sofa is mikela. this one i could see on a larger scale in oil. i'll do more tomorrow. scroll down to see the beautiful bull snake that showed up a few hours ago at my studio door.

2:11 PM: below is the completed drawing for gouache interior 7. it's based upon a photo collage i made in the early '90's of a converted firehouse we were invited to by our friend joan, in chelsea, NYC. a great space!

i'll start painting in moments; pics as available...

1:32 PM: i've just about completed the drawing for gouache interior 7, 14x14" so i may squeeze my colors & begin painting.

updated pics to follow...

gouache interior 6 completed, preparing for gouache interior 7 /  by Philip Tarlow

2:24 PM: i completed work on gouache interior 6 this morning. it's not right for making a larger version in oil, so i'm preparing a surface in archival watercolor paper to beging gouache interior 7, which will likely be made larger once it's complete. i'm not ruling out #6 becoming a larger oil, i'm just looking for a quality right now that this one doesn't have....more elements, more spaces

starting fresh /  by Philip Tarlow

                       stage 2, gouache interior 6, 10x11

2:33 PM: i was able to do a bit more before my lack of sleep caught up with me.

                        stage 1, gouache interior 6, 10x11"

 

 

 

 

1:11 PM: once it became clear that oil interior 1 was a bad start and couldn't be salvaged, i'm moving on to a new theme, starting by making a gouache study. i'm taking it slow, and because i've been up since 3:30, am stopping here for the day. this gouache study won't necessarily become a larger oil. i'll make several, and go with the one that sings.

starting oil interior 2, 32x32" /  by Philip Tarlow

7:44 PM: my current feeling is that i need to cut my losses, un-stretch this canvas, toss it and start fresh. i was in too much of a rush this morning, and no matter what i do, it can't be saved. it's a good lesson. i think that making the drawing with paint rather than graphite, as i've been doing, was a mistake. the graphite allows me to find my shapes and their relationships in a way that can be easily modified and leaves painterly tracks i can later weave into the painting.

here's an example of what i'm talking about; an early stage of interior oil 1, where you can clearly see the role of my graphite drawing in the development of the painting.

2:51 PM: stopping here for the day. i know it seems a bit heavy handed and fraggity when compared with, say oil interior 1. but hang in there. it's just day one. i had to block it out to see where it wants to go, and i can refine. and, it may turn out to be a lousy painting! tomorrow will be a key day. we're going walking at 5am, so lets see what state i'm in after that....

12:13 PM: starting with this delicious red chair....pics & commentary as available...

11:11 AM: stretched a new 32x32" linen canvas yesterday afternoon & just now began the preliminary color drawing with my favorite fan brushes. about to go to the next stage...pics & commentary as available.

final tweaks to oil interior 1 /  by Philip Tarlow

noon: oil interior 1 may be resolved. it will move to the house, be hung on my famous east living room wall and evaluated by the two of us.

BELOW: one of the areas i worked on extensively this morning.

 

 

 

 

noon: it may be resolved; here it is on my easel at noon.

 

 

 

9:19 AM: today will be another hot one, so while it's still cool i'm going to make a few final tweaks to oil interior 1. this afternoon i think i'll bring it to the house for the true test of whether a painting is resolved. as well, i'm going to stretch another 32x32" canvas for the next in this series: oil interior 2. the subject will most likely be based upon a photo collage i shot in the '90's in our friend audrey's home in westchester, ny. she & top, her husband, have an exquisite collection of artifacts & paintings they acquired while living in china, and the patterns excite me.

 

more work on oil interior 1 /  by Philip Tarlow

1:35 PM: this morning after our 5am trail walk, i was able to get to work early, albeit a little bleary eyed. i made more important tweaks to the painting in many different areas, such as the face of the central figure; details on the door panels and lamps, etc. as i look at it hanging on my east studio wall, it pops more, at the same time that certain details, which drew they eye too much, have integrated more into the whole composition.

 

BELOW: yesterday (left) and today (right)

oil interior 1 continues /  by Philip Tarlow

1:11 PM: until i can cover my skylights with material that blocks some of the sunlight, i'm attempting to get to work early & stop around now to shield my face, which is still very sensitive to sunlight 5 days post-therapy.

this morning i did quite a bit of work on the figure on the right, which was too large & dominant, as well as painting into many of the remaining white spaces where blank canvas was showing through. portrait linen works best with a light touch, so there's practically no buildup of paint to be seen. it's a very musical composition, with many diagonals guiding the viewers eye back & forth across the composition, with a richness & warmth of color characteristic, i believe, of much of my work over the years. 

                             YESTERDAY                                                                    TODAY

working on a white ground, rather than the tinted ground i've used for many of my oils in the past, has freed me up and allowed for that luminous quality you can only get when the bright white canvas informs the thinly painted colors. sometimes i miss that hectic flimflam and the constant surprises of my collaged gaze series. i may make more.

i think it's worth checking out the details of oil interior 1, which you see below.