April 16, 2018 by Philip Tarlow

DETAIL of motion 20 at 3pm motion 20, 54x35" at 3 pm

2:38 PM: here's where i'm stopping for the day. it's exciting to be working larger, and on a rectangular format. i have a good feeling about this one, which is really a result of a conversation i had last week at a gallery in denver.

and now, off to the post office. we have a 40% chance for snow/rain on friday, which we hope pans out this time. 50-60% above 10,000 ft. we're in an extreme drought, with high fire danger due to the combination of high spring winds gusting to 40mph, low humidity & very dry conditions.lets hope we catch a break on friday...

1:17 PM: at work on the drawing

12:15 re-stretching the canvas for motion 20. yesterdays stretching was flawed so i had to remove all the staples & start over.

if it goes well this time, i should be able to start the drawing soon....stay tuned. (i hate any wrinkles, however minor, so if i see any i can't use keys to resolve the issue due to the masonite braces you see in this photo, so i'm forced to do it over.)

8:28 AM: this mornings sky was too good to pass up, so i stepped briefly outside before getting dressed and took this shot.

DETAIL of *motion 19,* colored pencil & crayon on paper

in an hour or so, i'll walk over to the studio & finsih stretching the new 54x35" canvas so that i can start work on motion 20 , which will differ in some critical ways from it's siblings, with less oil paint & more colored pencil & crayon playing the dominant role, in harmony with motion 18 & 19, which were on paper.

i'll post updates as they become available.

starting motion 20 / April 15, 2018 by Philip Tarlow

**DETAIL** of motion 18, colored pencil & crayon on paper

this morning, following a few days away from my studio, i began stretching the canvas for motion 20. unlike the rest of the paintings in this series, it will be a 54x35" painting. it will also differ in that i won't take it as far, so that the under-drawing plays a greater role. after drawing motion 18 & 19 on paper, which are basically pure under-drawing with no oil painting covering them at all, i fell in love again with the light feel of these drawings, with lots of white space in a swirl of fine colored marks.

once i complete the stretching tomorrow morning, i'll begin the drawing, possibly referring to one or more of the rock photos i shot today on the trail.

these forms, and so many others we see as we walk, move & inspire me. from the time i was 5, at birchwoods in the berkshires, i have had a love affair with the rocks. in crestone & the baca, we have the rare "crestone conglomerate," from an article in our crestone eagle:"

those fascinating rocks that are colorful collections of all different rocks rolled up into one, and range in size from hand-held to big as a house. Many locals tell visiting friends and family that they are unique. They may not be one-of-a-kind in the world, but they are rare and the formation they come from is very rare.

looking about / April 12, 2018 by Philip Tarlow

8:54 AM: i'm going to have a meeting with the owner of a gallery i'm very interested in. so i've been going through some of the work in my studio, deciding which pieces to take with me as examples of my work. as you might imagine, this is giving me a whole new perspective on the arc of my career as an artist. i'm trying as far as possible to survey my output as if i'm seeing it for the first time.

be;ow are 3 randomly selected examples of work i've done over the past couple of years. the one on the far left is a detail of one of a series of collages, in the center is one of a series of creek scrolls i did last year on rice paper. on on the right, one of my gaze series, based upon details of vermeer paintings. more later...

another experiment on paper / a look at plein air oils translating into larger works / April 11, 2018 by Philip Tarlow

*motion 19,* 30x22 1/2" at 3pm colored pencil & crayon on arches watercolor paper

i drew motion 19 on paper today. i wanted to make it more spare than yesterdays motion 18, which it is. it's an entirely different experience making these drawings on paper, and having them not be under-drawings on canvas which are destined to be painted over. one of the biggest differences is that my awareness, when it's an under-drawing, that it will largely disappear frees me up & actually promotes more spontaneity. so i want to make a few more of these, perhaps interspersed with the motion series paintings in oil on canvas, and get to that all important place of not caring.

8:32 AM: yesterdays completed motion 17 experiment on paper was a bit overdone, and today i'm going to start another one: motion 18, which will hopefully have a lighter touch. the paper takes the colored pencil & crayon very differently than the portrait linen, with its smooth, fine surface. so i have to adapt my marks to this different surface. bristol paper, with its very smooth surface, might be a better choice than the arches watercolor paper i used yesterday, which has a tooth.

i'm also reviewing my most successful plein air oils & looking at the larger oils that were inspired by them. BELOW you see one of those plein air oils, on the left, 16x16" & next to it, motion 8, 36x36." what are your observations?

motion 18 (on paper) stage 2 / April 10, 2018 by Philip Tarlow

*motion 18* 30x22 1/2" colored pencil & crayon on arches watercolor paper

1:09 PM: today is a gorgeous day. warm. no wind. i'd have to be crazy to not go out & paint plein air. the question is: oil or gouache? leaning towartds oil, which i haven't done for a year at least. lots of prep, but worth it.

i took my motion 18 experiment about as far as i wanted, and will likely leave it as it looks here. i liked this experiment & may follow it with another, slightly less complex, more spare. it's an interesting direction, which will allow me to provide more variety when i finally show the entire series together in a show, probably next year. i would alternate the motion oils on canvas with these crayon & colored pencil drawings on paper. it will give the oils some breathing space, as well as switching up the potential predictability of looking at one oil after another.

start the day with calligraphic warm ups/ determining what's next: an experiment on paper / April 9, 2018 by Philip Tarlow

2:47 PM: every time i make an under-drawing on canvas for one of my motion series, mikela encourages me to do a few on paper, without painting over them, as unique works unto themselves. today i'm experimenting with that. i'm stopping for the day so we can take a walk up the creek, but i'll continue tomorrow.

my studio at 11 am, with yesterdays *motion 17* on the wall, in the middle just to the left of the 3 plein air oils

11:35 AM: once again i started my day with matcha tea & toast while making some warmup calligraphic marks in a sketchbook. lets see what's in store....i'll post updates as they become available.

start the day right/ yesterdays evening sky/starting to make the motion 17 over-painting / April 8, 2018 by Philip Tarlow

2:45 PM: the siena was too strong, and the pink triangle in the upper left was distracting & serving no purpose, so i made these adjustments before wrapping up for the day.

i'm anxious to go back out to the creek with oil paints & see what i do. i'm feeling the need for new images to draw from, and i know when i go back out i'll be seeing differently, based upon how this series has evolved over the months.

2:16 PM: i began the painting based upon one of my most loved plein air oils. then i scraped & wiped it out completely, leaving beneath traces of the under-drawing, over which i made this drawing in diluted oils. i may stop here for the day. i like what's happening, how familiar rock forms are distilling down into essence, with their own calligraphic logic, which is more than ever reminiscent of human & animal forms.

*motion 17* as it looked moments ago, at 2pm

after passing over the entire canvas with an off white oil color & scraping off the excess, i'm working into it loosely referring to one of my plein air oils. shortly this image will blur or disappear entirely as i search for solutions... updates will be posted as they become available

11:03 AM: start the day right, with calligraphy exercises made while having my matcha tea & toast!

the under-drawing for *motion 17* yesterday afternoon

8:37 AM: last nights dramatic skies announced some sorely needed precipitation, which fell as rain below 11,000 ft & snow above.

in about an hour i'll walk over to my studio & begin the over-painting on motion 17, which has richest under-painting yet in this series.

BELOW: this mornings west (left) & east skies following last nights precip

under-drawing for motion 17, day 2 / April 7, 2018 by Philip Tarlow

DETAIL of the under-drawing for motion 17

2:54 PM: lots of work on the under-drawing for motion 17 today. perhaps the most i've ever done on one of these under-drawings.mikela keeps saying "make a few on large sheets of paper that you keep like that without painting over them!" i might do that in the near future. it's always somewhat heartbreaking to paint over these beauties. makes you wonder what psychological dynamics might be at work...

and on to motion 17....and an adjustment to my drop down menus / April 6, 2018 by Philip Tarlow

re: SITE CHANGES: over the past few days, i played around with my drop down menus. there were too many of them & it was confusing. so i placed all the pages showing paintings or drawings under works. since greece spans a continuous 15 year period in my life & career as an artist it's a separate header. CV & story are also separate topics & deserve their own headers.so if you're a regular visitor, this will clear up any questions you might have. i'll probably continue to refine & improve this site in the future, & i'll let you know if something changes.

the under-drawing for *motion 17* a the end of my work day

studio interior at 2 pm, an early stage of the *motion 17* under-drawing on the easel . on the wall the just completed motion 16

early stage of the under-drawing: *motion 17*

1:35 PM: for the moment, and until it undergoes the house hanging test, motion 16 is declared complete, resolved, finito. this morning i stretched a new canvas, 38x38" and am currently engaged in making the under-drawing for it.

for those of you who haven't been following my blog, in this motion series, an under-drawing is exactly what it says: a drawing in colored pencil, graphite & crayon which, when it's done, will be sprayed with fixative & partially painted over in oil, so that bits of it peek through the final painting; an underlying energy boost, it is, contributing unplanned & often brilliantly placed accents to the oil painting above. leaving everytrhing to chance is foolish. as is eliminating the possibility for it.

motion 16 : thought it was resolved, but not so fast! / April 5, 2018 by Philip Tarlow

1:43 PM: i just had the thought that one of the more appealing aspects of working on the motion series the way i have been over the past 4 months is that fortuitous accidents happen with greater and greater frequency, leading me to wonder whether i'm aware in advance they will occur, and only need to shake up my habitual behaviors & expectations to the point where they can spill over and across my consciousness and present themselves on the canvas. in this painting, the most highly treasured such happening is the one you see here. the white upside down triangle with the white line moving down through the gray turns out to be a pivotal axis for the entire composition thus far. slightly out of character with the rest of the marks in the painting, it's like being touched by your lover in a way and in an area never before touched. who knew?

and all this is certainly connected to matt & jason being here the past few days. our conversations over dinner roil up the waters & take mikela & i out of our habitual behaviors & conversations into new territory. it's been coming out in my dreams as well. as we're talking, little flashes of insights & discoveries occur. and the rule of thumb in my work: shake it up, gains in dimension & ends up guiding my movements and decisions moment to moment here in the studio.

1:21 PM: a wandering lady, she is. she desires to pull me towards those new signs matisse speaks so reverently of. there's one particular plein air oil that is especially rich in signs. on that day, november 7, 2014, it seems the rocks spoke to me in a way that enabled me to make one of those rare discoveries.

they are emerging slowly in this re-work of motion 16, filtering into my consciousness. i shouldn't call them re-works, really; they are really more like a part of a process of exploration, you might say. itoday it involved a clean wipe, followed by flipping the canvas upside down, creating a new right side up and a fresh experience of the space.

maybe i need to stop for the day & let it breathe. yes, that's what i'll do.

so here's the evolution of motion 16 thus far, in 3 stages.

12:35 PM: our team is here through tomorrow for actionlab meetings. this is giving me the opportunity to get up & ready early so mikela can start meeting with them by 9. as a result, i had time to make some adjustments to the motion page as well as my fluid landscape page, while casting glances at motion 16. the answer came up: nope! nice try tarlow, but this puppy needs work. so i did a clean wipe, resulting in the canvas looking like it does below on the right. the previous version is on the left. the post clean-wipe look is bare bones, you might say, oddly reminiscent of certain 10th c. chinese calligraphers. and evocative of moby dick's vast white form.

lets see where it wants to go next...

my studio at 10 am this morning, with the new *motion 16* on the wall

10:28 am: upon entering the studio, which is a bit of a mess, my fist take on the new motion 16 was that it looks resolved. i may do a few more things.....we'll see as the morning progresses.

as i drank my matcha tea, i was reading a chapter on zaho mengjian in how to read chinese paintings. he specialized in painting the narcissus, known in chinese as shuixian, or the water goddess. imagine spending your entire life as an artist drawing & painting one flower which, in the opinion of scholars, he was able to raise to the level of the orchid.his portrayal of their twisting, turning leaves is especially effective at evoking movement, which of course is of great interest to me right now in my motion series.