refining motion 11 / February 21, 2018 by Philip Tarlow

3:32 PM: i just wasn't satisfied with how this painting was evolving, so i turned it 90 degrees and created an entirely new image, which still contains elements of it's former self. it now seems to be singing, but i need to see it in the morning.

did i do away with some cool passages? yes. was that sacrifice for the sake of the overall composition and coherence? i think so. a quick glance at the previous incarnation, below in my 1:53pm post, tells the story i believe. there are some very strong, memorable passages, but for me it just doesn't hold up. the greens on the lower left and center dominate, rendering the more sensitive elements in the central and upper quadrants almost irrelevant. so couldn't i simply have painted over those green passages? sorry, it just doesn't work that way.

now, it's kind of like early guston waxing lyrical, with suggestive, biomorphic shapes: whales, open mouthed shouting humans commingling with rocks, water & branches. this seems to be the direction this motion series is heading, listening to the commands of some invisible painterly goddess.

1:53 PM: here's the painting as it looked a few moments ago, after revising it over the past few hours. compared with how it looked this morning, it's less cluttered, but it still isn't singing. so i'm going to do more and see if i can let go of any attachment to the plein air gouache i've been working from. i've already placed 2 other plein air gouaches upright on my work table, and will borrow freely from them.

eliminating the branches in the upper right has definitely given the composition more breathing space, but it doesn't exactly know who it is yet.

BELOW: a few details

12:08 PM: upon entering my studio i cast a glance, that all important glance, at motion 11. too much going on. needs simplification. that's my focus today, as i get a rather late start. my ipod shuffle has presented me with joplin singing "what good can drinkin' do?" a masterpiece if i ever heard one!

motion 11: the oil painting begins..... / February 20, 2018 by Philip Tarlow

*motion 11* at 3:15 PM following a brief tweak

4:22 PM: i mteade a few last changes before leaving the studio, and photographed the altered painting with my iphone. so this image may not be as accurate as what i normally shoot with my nikon.

this *9/8/17 plein air gouache* is my inspiration for *motion 11*

2:03 PM: this morning i lay the under-drawing down on my newly cleaned work table and began painting. at first sketching in the composition with graphite, then applying oil paint, scraping, blotting, etc.

as expected and planned, elements of the under-drawing are peeking through, adding another, unexpected and unpredictable dimension. a hint of sky here, traces of warm pink patterns there.

the green shape on the left was some creekside moss, out of which was growing shocking alizrin fingers of leaves, which swizzled and danced in the roaring current.

work will resume tomorrow morning.

BELOW: the progress of motion 11. yesterday's under-drawing is on the left; middle: the p;ainting at noon; right: and at 2pm.

motion 11 / February 19, 2018 by Philip Tarlow

2:57 PM: the drawing progressed further. i haven't yet put brush or oil to canvas, and am engrossed at the developing patterns of blues, pinks, and greens emerging from the grey/blue/tan rocks. as long as i'm having fun with the process, the under-drawing will continue using just colored pencils and, occasionally, crayons.

i'm beginning to consider making smaller square canvasses, maybe 6 at first, that are made as one composition. then the buyer can hang them as they were painted, or move them to different positions as they wish. they could then be moved about whenever and in whatever order and however frequently they might desire. personally, i would love that because, lets face it, i get tired of looking at the same composition every day.

DETAILS BELOW

continuing motion 11 under-drawing: roiling the drawing... / February 18, 2018 by Philip Tarlow

4pm: wrapping up for the day: back from my 1.5 hour break, i continued roilling the drawwing,

rolling and glisendoing across the skateboard canvas to james' velvet whipped cream voice

and throwing words about like colors or whasping wind on a february afternoon up high, high in the mountain air-r-r-. my pencils, scattered like so many stalks, are available on call anywhere anytime.

the rocks, alive with spots of grey and brown, celebrate their transformation. my pencils, trembling, vie for position finger-side, where they convulse in orgasms of tinted pleasure.

at about noon, the under-drawing looked like this. ...continuing work, will update this afternoon. will it remain as a finished piece? we'll see....

1:45PM: taking an hour break to participate in a Zoom session presenting our educational product to a couple of teachers....back to work around 2:30pm MST.

how minor tweaks make a major difference/starting the drawing for "motion 11" / February 17, 2018 by Philip Tarlow

3:38 PM: i stretched a new canvas, using the artfix portrait linen that was delivered yesterday, and began the under-drawing for motion 11. i love when the drawing in colored pencil occupies only a fraction of the 36x36" canvas, and there's lots of white space. dream space, you could call it. it's based upon a photo i shot one day recently on our walk up to the stupa, looking down at the frozen creek, the rocks and branches.

making minor tweaks this morning to *motion 10*

11:21 AM: this morning upon entering my studio i took a first glance at motion 10. something was off. i called mikela over & we both agreed that the central event in this painting was too central, and left the 2 sides of the canvas looking empty. so i made just a few strokes, on the mid/upper-left and right. that's all it needed, and now the composition works. i've shown this BELOW in the comparative views of yesterday's version (left) and today's.

white as the driven snow.... / February 16, 2018 by Philip Tarlow

1:37 PM: interesting using a plein air gouache as the image i'm drawing from, rather than a plein air oil!

the gouaches have a softer look & feel. they are, in a way, more atmospheric. unexpectedly, they are even more conducive to translation into oil than the oils! fewer hard edges; more sfumato; the subtle blending of colors into one another that the technique of oil painting was originally implemented to achieve all the way back in the 15th century, by van eyck & his cronies!

methinks i'll stop early for the day, let this dry a bit, & pick back up in the morning. my new roll of quadruple primed french portrait linen just arrived, and i'm anxious to stretch a new canvas for motion 11.

*motion 10* at noon, partially covered with off-white oil paint

12:22 PM: i took a break yesterday and am back into it today, with a passion. it's good to know that the new roll of portrait linen is on the truck for delivery today, so that as i work on motion 10, i can prepare the canvas for motion 11.

today is WHITE day, when all the colored pencil & oil pastel marks i made over the past week are being partly obscured by off white oil paint, so that i can then paint into the still wet surface with a brand new image, based this time upon a gouache plein air study, rather than an oil. more pics as the day progresses.

a fresh valentines beginning / February 14, 2018 by Philip Tarlow

6:02 PM: i may not be able to resume work on this tomorrow; we have guests in the morning for yemeni coffee. if you haven't tried it, it's unbelievable! when i do get back to it, much of the drawing will be covered over,

motion 10 at 1:08 PM: lookin' kinda wild & crazy, in keeping with the high winds blowing through the valley.

11:28 AM: at the end of the day yesterday, and while the paint was still fresh & wet, I wiped out everything i could, except for the initial marks i had made in acrylic.

and today i started fresh, unconsciously focusing on pinks & reds for valentines day. the under-drawing will continue for the remainder of this windy day. it's a relief to have white spaces again, with accents of color flying about. today, i celebrate life, and being in a lively, pulsing body.

more to follow as the day progresses.

drag n'scrape gestural painting; a renewed appreciation of oil paints / February 13, 2018 by Philip Tarlow

5:41 PM: it was too heavy & not in the spirit of the other motion paintings, so i wiped it out while it was still wet & will start over in the morning.

*motion 10* as it looked at 2:30 PM this afternoon

2 PM: as i was preparing to clean my brushes, a few things caught my eye that needed a little work. BELOW is the BEFORE (left) and AFTER. can you discern what i did, and if it improved the painting? hint: click on the 2 images to make them full screen, then click back & forth & compare the grey of the rocks on the left, center & bottom.

12:29 PM: today i was in a way better space than yesterday, when i was in a lot of pain from my jaw/molar issues. so i leapt into action, scraping, painting, drawing with oil pastels & scraping some more with my many toothed instruments that leave parallel marks akin to splashing water.

at work on *motion 10*. to the left is the 16x16" plein air oil i'm referring to when i paint.

my whole body is involved, so i better be feeling good. right now motion 10 is in a good place, with an energy inspired by all the great movement/action painters i've admired & studied, from hals to rembrandt, guston and of course the one and only dekooning. great art transcends time, so internally i don't really make a distinction. and, having spent many months using acrylics with my gaze series, i have a new appreciation for what can only really be done with oils, which stay moist long enough to work into them, creating effects that would be impossible with any other medium.

motion 10 / February 12, 2018 by Philip Tarlow

4:11 PM: i had begun work on the under-drawing for motion 10 before the weekend, which was taken up with our indivisible meetings in 4 locations around the valley. the meetings went better than expected, and the format devised by mikela and barb, where the cadidates sat at small tables surrounded by the attendees, who got to ask them pointed questions in a relaxed atmosphere, worked like magic.

i had some difficulty picking up where i left offf with motion 10, technical and otherwise. i'm still having pain in my jaw, even after the root canal & crown, which was done on friday. there's something going on with my lower molars, and i'm most likely going to have to make yet another 4 hour trip to boulder.

so i was not in my "right mind," and did something i've never done before, mixing up acrylics with oils in a way that screwed everything up. so right now, this is the state of the painting, which is far from resolved. i can only hope i'll be in a better space tomorrow, when i continue work on this one.

political meetings this weekend; back to work tomorrow am / February 11, 2018 by Philip Tarlow

at the end of the meeting last night in monte vista, the candidates stood in front of the room to make their closing statements

we have back to back meetings with candidates this weekend in 4 different towns here in the SLV.

today the meetings are in crestone this morning & saguache, about 45 minutes west of crestone this afternoon. mikela & "indivisible" friend barb designed these meetings so that attendees could sit with each of the candidates at a small table allowing a close and intimate connection, so that each of us can say we genuinely got to know the candidates and what they stand for.

it worked! both speakers and attendees agreed they way preferred this format to one where the candidate stands in front of the room & holds forth.