"korgy"....out with that grey! / October 10, 2017 by Philip Tarlow

12:23 PM: yesterday i started work on a new late summer series painting: korgy. today upon entering my studio, my first glance led me to remove several areas of grey at the top of the composition. not only did they seem unnecessary; they were weighing down the lightness and playfulness of the painting. whenever an area draws your attention to the detriment of the whole, it has to go. in this case i distinctly remember the impulse to put in that grey. it was coming from my mind, not my gut.

BELOW, a comparison of the two:

ruminations on my pathstarting/ starting "korgy" 36x36" / yesterday's plein air at the creek / / October 9, 2017 by Philip Tarlow

4:43 PM: so where are we? well, we're in a very interesting space, i'd say. a lifetime of painting plein air, both in greece during the '60's-70's and in crestone for over 25 years, has led me to this moment. i don't recall ever thinking of this as the development of a visual language until recently. it was gorky who sparked this realization. while perusing the catalogue/book of his philadelphia retrospective, i related strongly to the path he followed. suddenly, i feel the potential for a real explosion of work reflecting this coming together. a pregnant moment is what we have. of course in the back of my mind looms the question: " and where will you show all this new work?" at the rate i'm making these late summer series, they'll start taking over my studio space and our home as well. next step solutions have always appeared in my life. but i need to reach out & take action in order to prime the pump. if you are reading this, envision that solution, that doorway showing up soon.

BELOW: left: detail of todays painting, korgy. right: one of the two plein air gouache paintings i did yesterday

2:48 PM: today was supposed to have been a snowy day, and it was, but not in crestone/baca. it' been snowing up above 11,000 ft. all day, but we were, as usual in the donut hole.

i started a new painting in my late summer series, titled korgy, an anagram of gorky. i'm experimenting working on a canvas stretched without the wood backing i've been using to facilitate collaging. it makes the canvas much lighter & easier to move about or hang, as well as avoiding un-stretching and re-stretching once the painting is complete. i'm not yet sure if i like it, because, for one, i'm used to making marks with crayon or graphite and having a hard surface allows me to press more firmly, making the marks darker and richer.

as with the others, i'm glancing at an array of plein air paintings and collages on paper as inspiration for the marks, shapes and colors. so in examining what i did today, i can see branches, rocks, tall grasses and flowing creek water, but i can also see the head of a walrus; a breast; a vagina; a bird, more more. i'm still experimenting with leaving white shapes in applying the tinted ground, which today is tannish; the color of an aspen trunk i drew on our trail walk yesterday..

YESTERDAYS PLEIN AIR: BELOW ARE PHOTOS OF THE 2 GOUACHE PAINTINGS I DID YESTERDAY AT THE CREEK. the little jar with red liquid on my painting table is port, which i consumed while working. mighty good it was. can you discern any of the discoveries i made yesterday having entered into todays painting: korgy?

creek day / October 7, 2017 by Philip Tarlow

4 PM: i painted 2 plein air gouaches today at the creek. now that it's getting into october and we've had some windy, wet weather, the campsites have emptied and i pretty much had my pick. the one i chose, 5, i hadn't been to in a year or two. the beavers have been busy and there was a large, very striking dam, with gnarled branches large and small criss crossing one another in a manner that seemed perfect. you could never duplicar the wildly elegant structure.

my plein air backpack, with gouache colors, brushes, water container, paper & palette

my light weight collapsible table & stool

10:26 AM: in a few hours i shall once again sally forth. after days of wind and rain, we have a stunning day, clear and with perfect plein air temperatures. right now it's 50F and should be right about 60-62 when i venture out at about 1pm MST. it's good timing, in that my new late summer series is demanding new sources of inspiration, and i yearn for that creek.

here are is plein air gear, light and portable enough to make scrambling down the brush to my painting site a piece of cake. as long as i can physically venture out, weather permitting, i will continue to do this on a regular basis. right now i'm going to prepare a new canvas for tomorrow.

starting to paint "story" / October 6, 2017 by Philip Tarlow

4:16 PM: this is story at the end of my painting day. as of yet, no collaging has taken place, although the white shapes i've left in the siena/orange ground almost read as though they might be collaged pieces of white paper. the language of the creekscape dominates, with it's patterning based upon lichen growing on rocks, growth marks on branches and some unbelievable bright scarlet-carmine grasses growing from mossy green beds on the creeks edge and waving in the downward stream of water like so many boneless fingers.

*story*, 38x36" as it looked moments ago

2:43 PM: i stretched a new canvas this morning and began work on story, 38x36." right now it's in an early state of becoming; the most exciting part of the process. the ground i made is a warm siena with undertones of orange. as with the previous painting, we found a way, i left areas of the white canvas in the ground, creating a counter point that i like. as long as it doesn't become mindlessly repeated in future late summer paintings. but i feel i'm just beginning to explore the possibilities of this direction, so it may very well appear in at least the next few.

as with we found a way, story is loosely based on several plein air paintings, as well as a few collages on paper from 2014.

simplifying "rain" / October 5, 2017 by Philip Tarlow

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

starting "we found a way" / October 4, 2017 by Philip Tarlow

**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.

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.

more work on "rain" / how realist transforms to abstract / October 3, 2017 by Philip Tarlow

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.

returning to "rain" / October 2, 2017 by Philip Tarlow

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 gorky drawing / October 1, 2017 by Philip Tarlow

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?

studying gorky...and tree bark / September 30, 2017 by Philip Tarlow

*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.

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.