noon: yesterdays work on we found a way made rain look too busy. so, after a small addition to we found a way, i re-worked rain, making it a far less busy composition, thereby increasing, i believe it's mystery and power.
rain as it looked yesterday afternoon rain moments ago after a re-work
we found a way following a slight modification
and here's we found a way following today's slight modification
DETAIL of we found a way at 2 pm today
2 PM: i'm stopping a bit early today; in part due to poor light as a result of the bands of rain blowing through the valley today. so far, we found a way differs from the others in its development. it's loosely based on a 2014 plein air oil, 16x16." it has only one collaged area, and a lot of space. the white spaces in the yellowish ground, which were deliberately left as i was applying the ground, are key to the abstracted quality of this painting as it stands.
BELOW: left-we found a way, 38x36" as it looked at 2pm, and right: 10/20/14 plein air oil, 16x16", which i'm referring to as i paint.
we found a way as it looked at noon
12:06 PM: here is stage 1 of we found a way. as usual, it's tempting to leave it in this elegantly spare state...
11:18 AM: today i'll begin work on #8 in my late summer series, 38x36", titled we found a way, and dedicated to my grandson philip, who turns 11 in july. as the series progresses, the paintings are finding their voice. yesterday during a skype with philip, he played me 2 pieces on the piano. there was deep feeling in his playing, indicating to me that he too is finding his voice. we found a way honors something profound he said to me a few days ago, as well as the sound of his playing.
i'll post pics of this new painting as they become available during the day. in the mean time, here are 3 trail drawings made last month, which, in addition to the plein air oil you see above, will serve as inspiration for we found a way.
rain as it looked at 1:30pm
1:51 PM: i entered my studio full of energy and desire to take rain to the next level. it needed to become simpler and to find it's voice. i think i may have accomplished both. but let me be clear. it's not so much me as it is the painting itself guiding the process. i am an accomplice. granted, an accomplished accomplice, but an accomplice nonetheless.
AN IDEA: as i was photographing rain for this post, i noticed hanging right next to it a framed plein air gouache, painted on september 2. as you can see, there's a clear relationship between the two. that led me to envision an exhibition of late summer paintings, some of which would be hung next to one of my recent plein air gouaches. this would tell a story for the viewer, illustrating vividly how realist transforms to abstract. i may propose this idea to my gallery in houston for a possible future show.
2:16 PM: following my 2 day break from rain, during which i made 2 studies; one of a gorky painting, the other of one of his 1944-5 drawings, i'm back at work on rain. i can see, in the work i did this morning on rain, some of the things i learned from gorky. it's as if, if you were pretty far along learning a language and someone from that country spent a few hours with you, making subtle observations on rough spots in your pronunciation or syntax, thereby sharpening your focus and clarity.
the space in the painting is now more coherently divided, the forms more defined. and the entire composition is filled with suggestive plant and animal references.
a delicate balance exists between the random and the intentional. the palette is warmer than it was a few days ago, and a voluptuousness prevails.
study of a 1944-5 gorky drawing
1:35 PM: continuing my study of archile gorky's work, today i made a study in crayon & graphite on paper of an untitled drawing made in 1944-5. it looks eceptively spare & simple on first glance, but was in fact far more challenging than yesterday's study of his 1947 painting, the limit.
i learned a lot; maybe even more than yesterday. in studying one of his more successful drawings, you are more immersed in his though process and more attuned to his ways of defining and punctuating space. what you see here is actually not a very good study. i would have to make 2-3 more to get into the flow of his lyrical lines. mine are hesitating and unsure. nonetheless, just studing his judicious use of color is a huge lesson in itself.
i may be ready now to return to rain, which has been sitting patiently on my studio wall, waiting for me to re-engage. come on tarlow, she says, what are you going to do with this new knowledge?
study of tree bark 25.2x17.2cm gouache on paper
2:13 PM: it's been dark & pouring rain all morning, so i took the unusual step of turning on my lights. i rarely work under artificial light, but i really wanted to make this study of tree bark, from a photo posted on facebook by my friend sarah. as you can see, it's intimately connected to the study i made yesterday of a gorky painting, and to what's going on in my end of summer series. i've reached a point in that series where studies such as these may light my way.
study after gorky's the limit, painted yesterday
11 AM: recently i've been looking a lot at the work of archile gorky, the armenian-american painter born in armenia as asdanig adoian. i feel a connection to him on many levels, which i can discuss at a later date. for now, lets say there's a lot i have to learn from him. because he too was passionate about imagery derived from natural animal and plant forms, and was able to translate this passion into his well known whimsical/lyrical painterly abstractions, i decided to go beyond just looking at reproductions and attempt a small gouache study of one of my favorite paintings: the limit, painted in 1947 in oil on paper mounted on canvas, 157.5 x 128.9 cm.
9-21-17 plein air gouache, 9.5x7"
my study is small: 9.5x24"/13x33cm. in gouache on paper. i learned more making this little study than i could have in looking for hours at reproductions, or even at the actual painting. this is how i learn best. before returning to the latest late summer series painting, rain, i plan on making one more study, and then see how it affects my work.
BELOW: looking at this 8x7.5" plein air gouache painted on september 21, 2017 at north crestone creek, it's easy to see why i feel so connected to gorky right now.
today, rather than making a study of the gorky painting i had planned, i'm going to make a small gouache study based on this extraordinary photo of tree bark, posted on facebook by my friend sarah.
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.
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.
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.
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.
