at work on motion 16 & 17 today / August 6, 2018 by Philip Tarlow

after working on motion 17, BELOW, i went back to motion 16. it was beautiful when i ended my painting day yeasterday, but it didn't carry very far, and from 30 feet looked like a grey, undifferentiated kind of blah painting. on the other hand, it had some very subtle, suggestive passages, which i'm hoping i didn't screw up. Here's the comparative view of yesterday (left) & todays version.

11:13 AM: i'm leaving my re-work of motion 16 for the moment & returning to the recently whited over motion 17. i was in a drawing mood, so i worked into it mostly with dark drey with accents of blue & a tad of pinkish violet & siena. i'm going to keep at it as long as i have my fresh morning energy.

a lyter touch / August 5, 2018 by Philip Tarlow

i've been painting over motion series paintings i consider less than great. this one, motion 16, had been worked on july 28, after 3 months of sitting. the feeling i'm having is for a lyter touch. so why not lighter? because its lyter!

it's a bit too lyte right now, so i may let it sit & contemplate until tomorrow morning.

motion 31, 30x22 1/4" / August 4, 2018 by Philip Tarlow

*motion 31* at the end of my painting day today

4:43 PM: this morning, after picking up a dozen stellar eggs from judy at the kiosk, i began the drawing for motion 31: 30 x 22 1/4," colored pencil on saunders 300gm. acid free paper.

it's likely going to be shipped, along with 3 or 4 motion series canvasses to gremillion gallery in houston next week. i'll determine in the morning when i'm fresh whether it needs more work. i've made 2 other motion series pieces on paper, one of which is at space gallery in denver.

back in my studio, working on motion 20 & 30 today / August 3, 2018 by Philip Tarlow

mikela addresses a group of volunteers at the old barn in basalt on 8/1/18

diane mitch bush, kyle & mikela at the 7/31/18 fundraiser in carbondale, colorado

2:10 PM: we got back from basalt yesterday afternoon. mikela addressed a group of volunteers for the campaign of diane mitch bush on wednesday afternoon, generating a high level of enthusiasm amongst those who attended. she gave a great overview of what it means to be a volunteer and how they could best use their skills at getting out the vote for diane. there was a very well attended fundraiser the previous night, at which diane was present, which also went really well, quadrupling the amount they had hoped to raise.

on my first day back, when i glanced at motion 20 & 30, i felt they both needed more work; especially since they may be shipped to gremillion in houston next week.

i had taken out the revisions i made to motion 30 just before leaving. so i re-visited that area today, making marks with oil pastel and oil paint. it's always tricky to get back into the flow of a particular painting once some time has passed. on the other hand, that space of time can give you a fresh perspective, which i think happened today.

motion 20 is a painting i hadn't worked on since may when i re-visited it on july 23rd. today i took those revisions even further, and that may be all it needs.

BELOW: TOP ROW: motion 20 before (left) and after todays revisions. BOTTOM ROW: motion 30 before (left) and after todays revisions.

motion 30: small but potent changes today / July 30, 2018 by Philip Tarlow

12:48 PM: after having motion 30 hanging in the house for 24 hours i spotted and area on the left that was a "dead spot," & noticed that the central rock form was a bit too dominant, so i worked on it, made a few other updates, photographed it and, when i saw the images of yetsredays and todays version side by side on the screen, it was clear i had done too much. so back it went on my easel, and here's the current state. comparative views of yesterday & todays versions are below with the current state on the right.

back to work on motion 30 / July 29, 2018 by Philip Tarlow

3:25 PM: i'm continuing work on motion 30. the painting looked like this (above) at the end of my painting day today. almost gone are the original marks inspired by our visit to steamboat springs a few weeks ago, and my hike up to fish creek falls. all that's left, for now, is the nude figure of a woman standing on the rocks in the upper central portion of the composition. she looks hesitatingly into the swirling maelstrom of rushing water beneath her feet. in the photo i shot, she was a teenage boy wearing shorts, so i took a few liberties. i'll see in the morning, as usual, weather more work is needed.

1:11 PM: i seem to be in a phase where i'm re-working various motion series paintings rather than starting new ones. today it has turned out to be motion 30. this was one of those paintings that had all the freshness of the under-drawings i've been making then painting over. but the mpre i looked at it, the more i could see that it needed more layers, more stages, more process. i mean look what happened yesterday with motion 16, which i hadn't touched since april! it called to me and i made a revision that allowed it, finally to sing. you just never know. what you see above are the changes i made so far today to motion 30 on the right, and how it looked before the changes on the left.

unexpected return to motion 16 / July 28, 2018 by Philip Tarlow

3:34 PM: the last time i worked on motion 16 was back in april. today was spent preparing surfaces to work on tomorrow. late in the afternoon, when i'm usually done painting and i'm cleaning up, i ran across motion 16 and that passage on the bottom left was bugging me. it just didn't work with the rest of the composition, and kept drawing my eye; never a good sign.

while searching through my drawers of colors, i had stumbled upon a treasure trove of holbein oil pastels, which means i can delete them from my blick order. i opened a few to make sure they were viable after so many years sitting in the drawer. and, lo! after scraping off the tip of the stick of oil pastel, which has hardened, they were fresh as when i first bought them, probably about 10 years ago.

so basically, i was trying them out on motion 16, which i felt did need something. so here's the result, and i'll see tomorrow what more i need to do.

back in my studio / July 27, 2018 by Philip Tarlow

4:35 PM: after a quick trip to boulder/denver i'm back in my studio. my news is that i'll be having an exhibition at space gallery in denver with 2 other artists in may, 2019. i'm excited!

so today, fresh from the excellent feedback mike, owner of space, gave me on 4 new motion paintings i dropped off, i'm trying an experiment on a canvas that already had a few layers of paint, motion 27-a. i'm calling it an experiment because i'm being a bit bolder in my mark making and overall composition, in preparation for making larger paintings for the show; probably 60x60". that's almost twice the size i've been working in, and will require some adjustments and new solutions, which excites me. i'll continue work tomorrow.

more work on motion 27 today / July 25, 2018 by Philip Tarlow

3 pm:just before k. arrived, i did one more quick round on motion 27. it felt a little too defined. like ok this is a rock and here's some flowing water, oh and here's some indications of blue sky....

so although it still needs work, my eye has an easier time taking in the whole composition . that said, there's something missing, which may show up after a one day break to go to my dentist in boulder & to my denver gallery to drop off some motion series paintings & have a conversation about them.

lately i'm back in the 9th-10th c. chinese space i was enjoying about 2-3 years ago. in part this is due to the fact that i've been using my book on taiga as inspiration for k. to make some studies. he's developing rapidly and next time wants to show me his new drawing program, put it on my desktop imac and do something together.

1:39 PM: i had given up on motion 27 and was about to un-stretch it yesterday, when i got the message to give it one more chance.as it turns out, i'm doing more work on this one than i had done on many of the others in the series. i'm going to stop & clean up now to prepare for another visit from k., the 12 year old student i'm mentoring. i have some thoughts about where to go with him today, and we'll see how that develops. i'm always sensitive to where he's at & which direction he wants to pursue, even though he often seems to want to leave it up to me. i'm thinking of asking him to make a study of a chinese or japanese landscape, like the spectacular one he did last time. except this time i may suggest he add just one color towards the end.

taking motion 30 further, inspired by taiga / last minute intervention to motion 27 / July 24, 2018 by Philip Tarlow

*motion 27* at 4 pm, following an unexpected revision

as i was about to clean my brushes & pack up for the day, i took a look at motion 27 & felt it was too heavy. since i already had my paints on the palette & my crayons & colored pencils available, i launched in to a major rework. it's still rather dark compared with the others, but it gives a feel for the mystery of the creek-scape. so now i'm cooked, and i'll see how it looks in the morning.

1:05 PM: today i'm focused on one painting, rather than four, as i was yesterday. my challenge is to maintain a lot of the white space, or breathing space more accurately, while enriching the previously uncomplicated one-layered composition. i might consider leaving it as is, letting it settle into itself & see how it looks after a day or two.

12:20 PM: this morning while having my breakfast snacks i perused the book i have on 18th c. japanese painter taiga. i found a few statements relevant to what i'm thinking & feeling lately.

the concept of painting as soundless poetry

and capturing the essential meaning

i'll leave it at that for now, and get back to work on motion 30. this new motion series painting started out as a translation of images i saw & photographed recently at fish creek falls. the figures i witnessed at the creek, in various characteristic poses of people who are delighted at being in such beauty and are exploring it, entered the picture plane, i'm dealing with how to make them part of the essential meaning emerging in this painting. and i don't know yet what that is.