letting rain rest /  by Philip Tarlow

1:23 PM: upon entering my studio and re-connecting with rain, i found it to be more compellingly beautiful than i had remembered. the central area with the red oval is the one that needs work. but i just didn't have the juice for it. so i'm going to take a little break and make some gouache studies as i sit facing the painting, reviewing it's strengths and weaknesses and contemplating my next move. there's no rush, especially with a painting like this, which has so much going for it. it would be a shame to jump back in and wipe out any of it's more beautiful passages.

i'm learning from experience not to be so hasty and throw out the baby with the bath water.

stage1, rain, 38x36" /  by Philip Tarlow

rain, stage 1

DETAIL

2:21 PM: i began work on the seventh in my late summer series, titled rain.it's far too early to critique this one; it's still very much in the becoming phase and doesn't yet know it's identity. once the weather improves next week, i'll resume my plein air excursions, which always have a good effect on the paintings in this series. those experiences make it easier to discover what the melody is; what it is i'm riffing on.

stretching 2 new canvases /  by Philip Tarlow

the completed irma, ready to travel to the house

3:50 PM: today i re-stretched the completed irma on stretcher bars without the hard backing, making it much lighter. in a few minutes i'll drive it over to the house, where it will be hung and undergo scrutiny to determine if it is, indeed resolved.

it's a rare dark day, with rain on and off, which will transition to constant rain shortly. so i took advantage of the poor light in my studio to stretch 2 new canvases on stretcher bars with masonite backing, both 38x36". i painted a naples yellow tinted ground on both, and on one, which you see BELOW, left a few windows of white to fool around with once i start painting tomorrow.

continued re-work of irma /  by Philip Tarlow

11:50 AM: in my continuing re-work of irma, i greatly simplified the composition this morning. BELOW are comparative views of yesterdays version, this morning and just now. i realized about half an hour ago that the pink was all wrong, and was fighting with the main events of this painting, taking away form their beauty and individuality. so now they sit in a naples yellow atmosphere, where they can sing.

irma re-visited /  by Philip Tarlow

irma 38x36", as it looked before the re-work

2:14 PM: after living with irma since it was completed just over 2 weeks ago, i  decided it was too black and needed a radical re-work. nothing excites me more than a radical re-work! well, maybe i can think of a few things.

irma at the end of my painting day today

so this morning i launched into it while listening to a youtube video of an amazing klezmer band from barcelona, with a vivacious singer. it's unrecognizable, although there's still some black lingering beneath the surface. it's not yet resolved, but it's in a state where i feel comfortable stopping for the day. mornings have become a bit nippy for our morning trail walks, at 35 F this morning and 31 projected for tomorrow morning, so we're going to shift to afternoon trail walks, and we'll be leaving in about 25 minutes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

BELOW stages of work on irma today

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

a few final adjustments before starting a new painting /  by Philip Tarlow

chia following a slight toning down of the red dot

12:42 PM: this morning i un-stretched and re-stretched the last of the 6 late summer paintings to have remained on hard backed stretcher bars: chia and turtle island. in both cases the adjustment was to an area of red which i felt was a bit too strong, pulling the eye away form the composition as a whole. these adjustments were so minor that most viewers see the difference unless i pointed it out.

because, now that they are re-stretched onto stretcher bars without the hard backing, which facilitates collaging, they are now quite light weight and i'll be taking them over to the house as soon as i finish this post.

turtle island following a slight toning down of the red in the lower left

my intention is to have all 6 late summer paintings hanging in the upper floor of our house, which is kind of like a gallery space; large, light, and open. i'll take down the gaze series paintings that have dominated the space for the past 6 months or so, so that it's more like an exhibition. that way, we'll be able, under varied lighting conditions, to get a better sense of how this series hangs together. or not!

i had intended to start a new painting in the late summer series today, but it's a short day because of a couple of local events we'll be attending this afternoon. so it's better if i start something new when i know i have the entire day in front of me.

a new beginning /  by Philip Tarlow

2:04 PM: today is a stormy day with fair to poor light. a perfect opportunity to unstretch the late summer series paintings from their masonite backed stretcher bars onto fresh ones with no backing. that makes them much lighter and more easily transported over to the house, so that they can be hung and evaluated. then, as you see here, i'll cut fresh canvas to stretch onto the now available stretcher bars with hard surfaces, to begin 3-4 new late summer paintings.

as well i shot a few more details of the final version of lucien eclipse, which i'm posting below.

lucien eclipse /  by Philip Tarlow

4:31 PM: after more work on lucien eclipse, this is what it looks like at the end of my painting day.

 

 

 

BELOW: comparative view before my interventions (right( and after.

DETAIL of lucien eclipse moments ago

2:48 PM: trail walk this morning, more work on "lucien eclipse" this afternoon. got to my studio late because of our morning trail walk, and because i had to remake mikela's coffee after discovering a dead spider was part of the brew.

the brown on the right wasn't working. nor was the white collaged paper on the upper left. so i did fairly extensive work, but as far as i can see right now, it's still not there. although it does have a beautifully lyrical air, i must say. it conjures in the imagination red headed cartoon characters; blue eyed dragons yellow haired faceless spirits and branches making love with rocks and water. as much as i love the upper left blue/black passage, it's from a different universe at this point and must go. as a matter of fact, i may actually banish it forthwith!

BELOW: comparative views of the painting yesterday & moments ago:

plein air this morning, and a few tweaks to lucien eclipse this afternoon /  by Philip Tarlow

5:36 PM: this morning i sallied forth to north crestone creek, where i found a new spot to make a couple of paintings in gouache on paper. as always, i entered a zone state the moment i sat down to paint. the landscape on all sides is profoundly stimulating to all the senses. so, in a very real sense, the paintings paint themselves, with me as the vehicle. happy to be of service! my table is so light weight and fragile that i have to be very careful not to bump into it, sending my palette, gouache colors and brushes into the fast flowing creek. it's happened in the past.

DETAIL of the upper right portion of the painting 

4:02 PM: i went out to the creek to paint 2 plein air gouaches this morning. i didn't get enough sleep last night, so making a few improvements to lucien eclipse was a bit of a struggle, but i felt compelled to do it. you can compare yesterdays version on the left below with todays and see if you agree with me that the painting has improved. all the changes i made consist of collaged elements; the most obvious and impactful being the brown paper on the upper right.

 

BELOW

comparative views of lucien eclipse yesterday and today

re-working lucien eclipse /  by Philip Tarlow

4:02 PM: i had very good energy today and tok advantage of it by going back into lucien eclipse, which was created a month ago. being an early example of my late summer series, it lacked the punch of later paintings in the series. it was fuzzy & kind of blah. so i set to work this morning making substantial changes, which were ongoing until about half hour ago. it's always a danger to mindlessly fall into yesterdays solutions, or, in my case too obvious sexual references. up until half hour ago there was a penis in this composition that jumped right out at you. figuratively of course. so i tamed the beast. then a large area of green showed up. nice idea, but didn't work at all. so here's how it looked at the end of my painting day. below is a comparative view, with the august 21st version on the left.