a new motion series painting? a gaze series painting at poreia theatre, athens / February 7, 2018 by Philip Tarlow

8:45 AM: depending on what i experience in my first glance at motion 9 this morning in the studio, i may declare it resolved and begin a new one, which will be motion 10. stay tuned.

one another front, my son dimitri, who is the owner/director/sometimes actor at poreia theatre in athens (https://poreiatheatre.com/english/) has framed & hung one of my gaze series paintings in his his theatre.

gaze

a series of paintings inspired by vermeer and fayum portraits

you can view this and other paintings in this series in the dropdown menu on the tool bar, or simply click on the GAZE link below.

continuing "motion 9" / February 6, 2018 by Philip Tarlow

12:43 PM: this morning i dove back in to motion 9. i'm doing more on this one than usual. so now i'm taking a break to reflect.

BELOW: yesterdays version, left; todays: right

it's a definite improvement, but i'm not sure it's there yet.

a fresh look at motion 9 / February 5, 2018 by Philip Tarlow

3:44 PM: i'm stopping for the way, a bit bleary eyed. as usual, the morning glance will tell all. right now, i'm going to clean my brushes & drive to town for soy milk & eggs.

motion 9, 38x32", at 3:30 pm

1:08 PM: during my revision of yesterdays work on motion 9, i turned it sideways, making the canvas 32" high by 38" wide.

this painting simply did not want to be vertical! in working into it, i'm sensing the essence of what i experienced sitting by the creek on that day in 2013. at the same time, i'm playing with the forms of the rocks, which want to jostle and play with each other like a painters jigsaw puzzle, demanding a bit of green here, a warm tan there, a deep umber accent...

work continues for at least another hour or so.

11:57 am: i decided to switch the plein air oil i was working from to this one, painted on 11.11/13 which i find more interesting compositionally. i'm working on this revision right now, and will be for the rest of today. i'll post new images as they become available.

8:38 AM: when i enter my studio at about 10 am, i will take my critical first glance and determine what needs to happen with the new motion 9. it's always unexpected, always a new challenge which can never be met in a predictable way.

here's a long view, from our kitchen, of motion 8 hanging on our east living room wall this morning.

motion 9: starting the over-painting / February 4, 2018 by Philip Tarlow

9/16/14 plein air oil serving as the inspiration for motion 9

today was the day i looked at the under-drawing and felt complete, and ready to flip it on it's head and begin the over-painting, inspired by another of my plein air oils, this one painted on 9/16/14. it's a square, 16x16" canvas, and the one i'm now working on is 38x32," so i had to make some compositional adjustments. but it's alway a kick to spend so much time on the detailed under-drawing and then paint right over it. it's a process that evolved organically out of years of experimentation, and i know it's temporary. but i'm enjoying the hell out of it!

day 3: drawing for "motion 9" / February 3, 2018 by Philip Tarlow

2:32 PM at some point, especially if you live in our little town, you have seen an aspen trunk up close, and that image lives somewhere in your memory bank. that aha moment causes you to actually see the canvas differently: "a tree! yes, i know trees! i love trees!"

once it is turned on it's head and painted over with a different image, also derived from nature, it may function as a counter melody does in music; enhancing, supplementing, enriching the dominant, overlying image. ideally, the canvas would vibrate with harmony, mystery and a familiar note. it would sing!!!

continuing the "motion 9" under-drawing. the series will now be known as "motion." / February 2, 2018 by Philip Tarlow

6:00 PM: a late affernoon reflection in our entryway.

3:39 PM: here's where the under-drawing for motion 9 stands at the close of my work day. the fact that i'm using a very tight shot of an aspen trunk as my source for this drawing keeps opening up new possibilities and i feel like i'm bathed in patterns & color.

tomorrow i'll continue work on this under-drawing, and begin to contemplate which plein air oil i'll be using for the over-painting in oil.

12:52: here's where the under-drawing was at noon today. i'll continue working on it until about 3.

this under-drawing is, as i mentioned in yesterday's post, different from the others in that it's based on a cropped version of a photo of an aspen bark i shot months ago on one of our walks up north crestone creek trail. if you didn't know that, you might be able to guess, but it leans more in the direction of pure abstraction than the previous under-drawings, which were also based upon photos shot during our walks, but are of an overall view of rocks and creek water.

8:17 AM: today i'll be continuing work on the drawing for the next painting in my motion series. the title of the series was made up in the spur of the moment, and now seems boring, cumbersome and not really representative of what i'm up to. so i'm thinking today of something that will be more on target. the direction i'm taking and the process involved has developed over the past few months, and is now ripe enough to inspire a good two worder.

last night as we prepared to leave for a local political meeting, i shot this of mikela putting on her boots in our tv room. it reminds me in it's everyday intimacy & composition of a bonnard painting we saw on our recent d.c. trip, in the national gallery. not altogether impossible it may one day bethe inspiration for a painting.

i'll post pics and comments as the day progresses.

stretching a new 38x32" canvas for #9 / February 1, 2018 by Philip Tarlow

3:07 PM: i started the drawing for motion 9 this afternoon. it's different than the others in that it's based on the details of one of the many photos i shot of aspens, while walking up the trail with mikela. patterns. i'll continue tomorrow, my friends. and now, hows about a walk up to tashi gomang stupa? waddaya say?

12:24 PM: today i'm preparing a new 38x32" canvas for landscape series 9. i don't kinow yet which images i'm going to draw on. that decision will come as soon as i'm done stretching the portrait linen. on the wall & to the left you can see the now completed landscape series 8, which will head over to the house as soon as it dries a bit more.

i wasted lots of time this morning dealing with a ridiculous issue while trying to order epson inks for my photo series printer. after an hour of hassle, i called & discovered I couldn't get into my account because they were having issues recognizing passwords. very frustrating.

motion 8: painting over the underdrawing / January 31, 2018 by Philip Tarlow

1:38 PM: my first foray into the new overpainting in oil was ok, but flawed compositionally, and read as an interesting but off balance drawing in oil.

i went into it with gusto, using 2 different palette knives and a variety of brushes, including my favorite fan brushes. the result, thus far is more satisfying to the eye, and reads more like a painting in oil, rather than a drawing. it has become suggestive of biomorphic creatures and has a level of movement not quite achieved in the original plein air oil, which you see below, to the left of landscape series 8. so much so, that, if it were hanging on your wall, you might be moved to anchor it securely!

the underdrawing peeks through just enough to create a graphic counterpoint, akin to what you hear in a bach fugue. bum-ba-BUMMM-ba-ba.....

BELOW is an early drawing by n.y. abstract expressionist painter philip guston brought to mind by this phase of the painting.

11:57 AM:just back from our brief trip to boulder/denver, where i had a root canal, my follow up appointment with my eye surgeon & mikela had an excellent actionlab meeting with our developer. for some reason, we're both very achy & sore, but we pressed into it, and mikela is doing some more great work on the curriculum, and i on the painting. today is the first day i'm painting over the underdrawing, which was turned upside down to avoid any attachment to precious elements. i'm working from a 2014 plein air oil on canvas.

below: the underdrawing on the left and the overpainting in oil on the right, which is in progress

motion 8, day 4 / January 28, 2018 by Philip Tarlow

3:56 PM: i brought the painting back to the house for evaluation, and now i'm certain this one wail follow the path of the previous paintings in this series and become the ground, or foundation, upon which an oil painting will be be built.

here you see todays version hanging above landscape series 6 in our tv room, as we watch the australian finals, with federer playing cilic.

notice how todays version comes off as an all over patterning, as opposed to the pop & punch of the one hanging above it.

the next stage, on thursday, will be very active. compared with the slow, precise mark making of the past 4 days. but i have to be in the right space. i'm hoping i'll be pain free at that point, and that my dentist's intervention will have been successful.

2:49 PM: i'm taking this under-drawing much further than i have in the past. i know i've said this before, but i have a feeling this "under-drawing" may end up being the final, resolved painting, with the possible addition of a few accents in oil. we'll just have to see how it evolves following my root canal, scheduled for tomorrow.

right now, from a distance of about 25 feet, it carries surprisingly well for a piece executed, thus far, in only colored pencil and crayon, with a bit of oil pastel thrown into the mix. patterns, patterns, patterns. my tooth hurts like hell, so i'm stopping early.

motion 8, day 3 / January 27, 2018 by Philip Tarlow

this was a short day due to an unexpected trip to salida this afternoon. i drew with the awareness that i only had a couple of hours. this actually helped focus my energy, and my hand moved swiftly and with certainty. this is probably further than i've taken any of the previous under-drawings. no telling what might happen tomorrow; something each of us can say.

BELOW: details