a day off /  by Philip Tarlow

6:46 PM: this morning friends came for a breakfast of walnut/blueberry pancakes with fresh peach compote. the conversation was stimulating, funny, inspiring. then we just hung out, watched the tennis finals, relaxed. this is new for us. we never take days off. 

i hung the just completed irma in the house today, next to the drawing tsarouchis gave me. i wanted to see what it looked like in a setting other than the studio. first impression, it looks good! as i said yesterday, looking at this one in the studio hanging next to turtle island, on the LEFT, it became clear that turtle island needs more work. too fuzzy. yhe forms are not as clearly defined as they need to be. so that may be what i'm up to tomorrow.

irma tweaks today /  by Philip Tarlow

2:28 pm: when i entered my studio this morning, irma seemed a bit too stark. the blacks were too black & not allowing the forms & colors to sing. so i did a little revision. BELOW is a comparative view of yesterdays version, LEFT and todays.

what i did was to simplify & clarify some of the shapes, lighten the blacks in some areas on the right and collage a few new shapes over ones which i found a bit confusing. i think the introduction of pink in the central area has enriched the whole composition .

based upon what i'm learning working on irma, as i look at the other paintings in this series, i'm seeing some changes i might make to turtle island, but i'm not ready to do that yet.

irma /  by Philip Tarlow

irma, 38x36" as it looked at 2 pm

2:09 PM: in keeping with my decision to name paintings based on what's happening now, today, i've named this painting irma. i've been pondering a dark grey/black ground for days, so that's what i did. as with the other 5 in the late summer series, i'm referring to of my 8 plein air  gouaches and a few of my 2014 pieces in collage on paper as i work. they give my ideas and a direction, and then i just riff.

viewed next to the others, this one jumps out at the viewer because of the stark contrasts. my language of forms, always biomorphic, is gaining more of an identity as i progress through the series. one can discover a rooster or a fish as easily as a branch or rock. there's even a hint of a watch face; a carryover from the 2014 collages on paper, which of course cannot be considered a biomorphic shape. well, maybe....

6;49 PM: i went out to the creek this afternoon and made 2 new plein air gouache paintings. it was a new spot we discovered on our trail walk a few days ago.there are actually 2 sites, one next to the other. i saved the more interesting site for my next creek adventure. but this one ain't bad!

changes to "fall," tweak to "red orange" /  by Philip Tarlow

DETAIL:  fall, 38x36" after todays intervention

2:10 PM: today i intended to start a new painting in my late summer series. but there was a minor tweak i needed to make to red orange, which i got done very quickly. when i cast my first glance at fall, which is the most recent in the series and popped out in just one session,  the yellow seemed off to me. i had been thrilled with the immediacy and freshness of this piece, but i can't ignore what my gut feeling is, so i launched back in to it. i'm not sure how i feel about the changes i made, but i'll be able to know better once we're back from a quick trip to edwards & denver on thursday. the revised painting is on the left; before & after images are below.

                           BEFORE                                                                  AFTER

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: