preparing canvas / end of summer: examples of inspirational sources /  by Philip Tarlow

12:11 PM: we went on a trail walk this morning, so i'm getting somewhat of a late start. i'm preparing a 38x36" canvas for the next late summer painting. these paintings are directly inspired by plein air studies in gouache and oil and a series of 2014 collages on paper. the collages were also inspired by my plein air paintings, but not as obviously and directly.

on the right: examples of two 2014 collages on paper.

 

below: a recent plein air gouache on paper, which is one of the images i refer to when working on the late summer series.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

below: 2 examples of my current late summer series paintings

yesterday's trail drawing / starting a new painting /  by Philip Tarlow

1:30 PM: after working into fall with acrylics & crayon and applying some collage, this is what the painting looked like moments ago.

 

 

 

 

12:31 PM: the tan ground has been applied and a pattern scraped in. if you click on the image, you'll see tyhe graph-like scrapings.

so stage 1 of fall, 36x36" is now completed. the drawing is in graphite. work continues...more pics when available

9:28 am: this afternoon friends are coming to my studio to view new work, so i'll be framing a few creek gouaches for them to see, as well as my late summer paintings. i plan on starting a new late summer painting in a few hours, and i'll post images as they become available. 

here's the trail drawing i made yesterday morning on our trail walk, and a view of my studio in the afternoon light yesterday.

preparing a new canvas / 2 plein air gouaches this afternoon /  by Philip Tarlow

DETAIL: 8/30/17 plein air gouache 1

5:11 PM: mikela and i had a meeting with a local this morning, so i got a late start. i'm preparing a new 36x36 canvas for the next late summer painting, which i should be able to start tomorrow. this afternoon, i was in the mood to go out to the creek and make a few gouaches. i felt like leaving a bit earlier than usual: 2:30 pm. as i returned, at 4 pm, a strong thunderstorm broke out, with torrential rain, lightning & thunder. normally, i'd still be out at the creek at 4pm, so my intuition was spot on.

i discovered a new spot, which is not attached to a campsite and thus very private. i did have the feeling there were bears nearby, but they will rarely approach unless they smell food, in which case all bets are off! having looked recently at a few bonnard murals, i was more aware of patterns in the creek-scape than usual. and more inclined to paint in colors i normally don't use in my landscapes. 

red orange re-worked /  by Philip Tarlow

3:11 PM: i hung all 4 paintings from my current late summer production on my east studio wall. when i came in this morning following our trail walk, red orange jumped out and announced it needed work. although titled red orange, that was exactly the problem; the underlying red-orange ground was peeking through the rest of the composition and popping far too much.

BELOW: earlier version on the left.

so i re-worked the entire composition; an option not available, or far more difficult if i were working in oil. i set up 6 small paintings on paper, all recent plein air gouaches except for one collage dated 2/29/14. i was referring to them as i worked, and you can probably see where some of the shapes and colors came from.

stretching a new canvas / christine sun kim /  by Philip Tarlow

6:13 PM: after starting work on turtle island, 36x36" in my studio, i packed my materials into the car & drove out to north crestone creek to paint plein air gouache paintings on paper. when i found an empty campsite to park and began unloading my little collapsable table & chair and painting materials, a car came down the trail and stopped. the driver asked me if i planned on spending the night at the campsite. i explained that i was there to paint. she let me know that the guy who had been camping at this site had left food in his car, which was broken into by a bear this morning. the bear did considerable damage to the car, breaking windows and  ripping off the door to get to the food inside. this is the time of year when the bears are stocking up on food in anticipation of their winter hibernation; something all crestone residents are aware of.

i was able to make 3 gouache paintings, all the while staying alert to the possible presence of a bear.

on the drive home from the creek, the late afternoon skies were asking to be painted.

12:09 PM: i'm stretching a new canvas for my next painting, 36x36" as i was preparing the canvas, mikela called and sent me this link to an extraordinary 7 minute video. watch it. http://rubinmuseum.org/mediacenter/christine-sun-kim-the-world-is-sound

 

 

more when i start the painting

red orange tweaks /  by Philip Tarlow

1:13 PM: i made some important changes to red orange just now. i eliminated the orange red half circular form in the upper center because it was making the composition too busy.

the bit i added which i'm pointing to here, that breaks up the green shape on the lower right is, i think, quite successful on two levels: first of all, that brown carrot shaped bit introduces a much needed shift in the dominant orange-white-grey color scheme. and the accompanying graphite drawing, when you see the painting in person, transforms the green shape into a sculptural, dimensional event. the two aspen trunks drawn with blue crayon in the upper right also add balance and complexity and movement to the dominant orange-red-grey central events. 

below is a comparative view with yesterday on the left, today right:

more work on red orange /  by Philip Tarlow

10:06 AM: i'm only going to have an hour in the studio today, as i have appointments the rest of the day. right now i'm going to go back into red orange & see what comes out in 45 minutes...

10:45: here's how red orange looks as i complete my very short studio day. scroll down one post to view yesterdays first stage of this painting.

ron gorchov/red and orange, 38x36" /  by Philip Tarlow

red orange  38x36"  acrylic, crayon & collage on canvas

2:30 PM: this morning i stretched a new 38x36" canvas, prepared a red-orange ground with acrylic and began a painting of the same name: red orange. like yesterdays painting, it rests on a drawing inspired by a few of my recent creek drawings, then collages and painted. it's unusual for me to make a painting this size in one shot, but it may actually be complete. i'll tell you tomorrow morning. i've been inspired by reading robert shorrs's interview with alex katz in artspace, to which i gave the link yesterday if you scroll down. the timing seemed to be right for his perceptive questions and katz's answers to make their way through my thinking mind and directly into my being. it's rare, but it happens. and you better act on it when it does!

 “I think painting, per se, is an ideal way to criticize the work you already admire because that way you can take the best things in it and try to make your work to be the next consequential step. I mean, to me, that’s a given tradition in creative thought: to build on what you’re seeing that you love and try to bring it to new and unknown terrain.” ron gorchov

unknown terrain....think about that for a moment. what does that mean to you?

DŌWD/storr interview with alex katz /  by Philip Tarlow

alex katz, girl with the red scarf, oil on canvas
60 by 48 in. 152.4 by 121.9 cm.
Executed in 1976.

6:35 PM: this afternoon i found a wonderful interview with painter alex katz by robert storr. it all started while i was reading a piece storr wrote in the archile gorky retrospective catalogue. Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective (Philadelphia Museum of Art)

here's the linkhttp://www.artspace.com/magazine/interviews_features/book_report/alex-katz-robert-storr-interview-54050

here's a short excerpt:..."

De Kooning famously remarked in the 1950s that he didn’t want to “sit in style.” 

That’s total baloney! I mean, it’s embarrassing! He said, “I don’t want to paint any style” and all his paintings look alike! That’s the dumbest thing this brilliant man ever said.

Okay, granted. But it expresses a certain wish to... 

I know what he meant. He didn’t want to paint a stylized picture, where the artist changes subject matter and keeps the same style. “Stylized” is what he really meant. And stylized is a total failure. A stylized painting is in a coffin, really. It’s in bad taste. It’s bad art.

so that's storr, and that's katz. if you can get your hands on that gorky retrospective catalogue, read his section. i'm still reeling and i haven't yet read the entire piece. his insights are deep and incisive, and are making me re-evaluate everything i thought about 20th c. american art.

 

2:15 PM: i began a new painting/collage this morning, titled DŌWD. i am painting/collaging it on a siena ground i created on this 38x38" canvas. in this early stage, the collaged figure of a girl seated on a rock, looking off into the distance, contrasts with the loosely brushed creek-scape based upon recent creek drawings i've made. i'm going to leave it like this for tioday & see how it strikes me tomorrow morning.

lucien eclipse /  by Philip Tarlow

12:43 PM: i introduced some brighter colors, some through collaging, others, like the yellow, by brushing on acrylics.

there are enough marks suggesting rocks that the painting can be seen as a creek-scape. but there are also ambiguous elements, which allow the imagination to leap in other directions, mostly connected to the natural world: critters of one sort or another; plant life; even the sky & stars.

this is bringing me closer, i'd say, to my aesthetic and visual self, and to my mentors.

lucien, 36x38" as it looked moments ago

 

 

 

 

 

 

11:15 am: as the eclipse progresses and we are enveloped in stillness, i continue work on lucien, which has now been flipped 90 degrees and is 36x38" a distinct influence is now coming form my creek drawings, two of which i'm glancing at as i work on this painting.