then and now; some thoughts on mark making /  by Philip Tarlow

8:39 AM: BELOW: on the left, a plein air painting in oil on canvas, 16x16” dated 10/11/12. and on the right, roiling, 36x36”, mixed media on canvas, completed just a few days ago.

DETAIL: monastiraki, 2010 oil on canvas

my plein air paintings, both in gouache on paper and oil on canvas, have been the inspiration for my recent motion and meta-motion series of larger studio paintings, most of which are mixed media on canvas, either 36x36”, 38x38” or 36x38.” in the case of plein air, they are always spontaneous and in the moment, with no changes being made after the initial session of 30-60 minutes. my relationship to the rocks, water & branches in that moment is all there is, and i am guided as much by sound and smell as i am by the visual.

in the larger paintings made in my studio, i use crayon, colored pencil & oil pastel in the beginning, working from the plein air paintings themselves as well as photographes of the creek i’ve taken and printed out on large sheets of paper. i frequently step back 20, 30 feet, sometimes the fulll length of my studio: 60 feet, to evaluate what i’ve done & where i’m headed. the marks, as a friend from santa fe observed recently, are the same in both cases. they are the same marks you will find in this detail of a 2010 painting titled monastiraki.

but it’s easier for most people to relate to monastiraki. who can’t relate to this subject matter: a woman walking her dogs; a man selling tiropites (cheese pies); a pigeon on the pavement? the work i’m creating currently challenges the viewer of engage more deeply, i think. you are not handed a familiar subject to look at. you are invited to explore and enjoy mark making in a more essential, perhaps pure form. as far as i can see, that’s the real difference. the marks an artist makes are his or her signature and usually don’t change all that much over time; they constitute his or her self portrait. they carry and convery the entire life history of the artist as well as his or her spirit & energy.

if you play10 seconds of pablo casals on cello, playing bach, you know, just from listening to those 10 seconds, that it’s him. his signature sound is evident at any point. likewise, if you isolate 6 square inches of any matisse painting or drawing, you instantly recognize his marks.

katarachtes /  by Philip Tarlow

kataráchtes, 48x50”, as it looked at 3:45 PM

DETAIL of kataráchtes at 3:45 pm

2:52 PM: kataráchtes in greek means waterfalls or flowing water. i started the drawing for this one a few weeks ago, & it’s been patiently sitting & waiting it’s turn. today was it’s lucky day. freshly inspired by k,’s boldness, which expressed yesterday in the work i did on roiling, i carried that inspiration over to the under-drawing for kataráchtes. i’m stopping here so that i have time to clean my brushes before sallying forth with mikela on a walk up the trail; always a delight.

roiling continued /  by Philip Tarlow

1:11 PM: inspired by my mentee, k., i introduced a bolder energy to roiling today. so thanks, k., i think it’s becoming a stronger painting as a result. lets see how it progresses as i continue work till 3;30, when we’ll take our walk up the creek.

more work on roiling, but not yet there /  by Philip Tarlow

4:58 PM: we did a lot of driving yesterday; to gunnision & back for an event with diane at the university, then beer & pizza at the brewery. got to bed at midnight & woke up achey & tired.

my mentee, k., came at 3:45 & continued work on his painting of a cello. usually when he’s here i get a lot of work done & today was no exception.roiling is getting there, but it ain’t there yet.

i’m walking a fine line lately, where if the image starting moving too far towards description, i scrape over it and work back into it. it needs to be evocative, suggestive. so that you see something different every time you come back & look.

BELOW: 3 stages in the process, with the most recent on the right:

back in my studio working on roiling & purple rocks II /  by Philip Tarlow

we got home yesterday afternoon & this morning i was back in my studio doing more work on roiling (above left) & purple rocks II (right), which i’m taking over to the house for evaluation.

sometimes i wonder if my obsession with the creek and my need to use what i have garnered from my many plein air adventures is really going anywhere. these paintings, in what i am calling my post motion series. are edging towards an abstraction influenced as much by baselitz as by 10th century chinese masters of calligraphy.

i took a little break before this last campaign trip and made a small gouache on paper (see last tuesday’s post) in which i revisit my 15 year greek period. while i loved making this little painting of a well known athenian café housed in a neoclassical building opposite the acropolis, it did feel like a journey into the past. increasingly, i feel my “subject” is mark making. period.

diane mitch bush event last night in carbondale/snow this morning /  by Philip Tarlow

today we woke up to about a foot of snow here in snowmass. we’re staying with friends on our ongoing travels around southern colorado in support of the campaign of diane mitch bush. there was very good turnout at her event in carbondale last night, where mikela introduced her and then, after her talk, gave a pep talk to prospective volunteers in the audience.

athinaion cafe completed /  by Philip Tarlow

athinaion café 38.5x11 cm. gouache on archival paper

today i was able to complete athinaion café, a painting in gouache on paper which will be sent to athens, greece & become part of in an exhibition about the “athens school” of painters who were active during the ‘60’s and ‘70’s. i was the only non-greek member of this group, who were interested in making paintings of everyday life in athens.it was not a formal group, but some of us did exhibit our work together, especially in ora gallery.

nikos vatopoulos, who has organized this show, emailed me & asked if i could make a painting in that genre, which would also incorporate an example of one of the remaining neoclassical buildings in central athens. nikos has written about my work & reviewed some of my shows in greece.

the smaller paintings in gouache that i did at the time were all done on site. so for this one, i would have been sitting opposite the café with a portable easel, ideally in a shady spot.

obviously, that was not possible in this case, so i found a photo i had shot on a trip to athens in 2011, printed it out on a 17x11” piece of paper and worked from that. although many years have passed since i made paintings like the one you see here, it’s easy for me to get back into the vibe. sometimes i can even smell the air & hear the conversatipons happening at this landmark café just across from the acropolis, in a neighborhood called thision.

had i been on site, the colors would likely have been softer. those tans, earth reds & ochres have remained my favorite palette. almost all of athens & piraeus was, until the 50’s, dominated by neoclassical architecture, which had been introduced by the germans in the 19th century, in their passion for recreating the purity & beauty of ancient greece. they even introduced a form of greek closer to ancient prototypes, called katharevousa, which, for a time, all school children were required to learn. it never caught on, and was used mainly in legal documents and, for a time in newspaper articles.

neoclassical architecture, on the other hand, soon filled cities, towns & islands, so suited is it to the landscape. many of these buildings are still standing in places like syros, capitol of the cycladic island grouping. but in athens & piraeus, a combination of greed and ignorance of the importance of these landmark buildings won out, resulting in the demolition of many of them and, as result, the degradation of the visual beauty that was athens.

starting Athinaion Cafe /  by Philip Tarlow

today i began work on a small (15x4.5”) gouache painting] for an exhibition titled athens endochora, opening december 4 in a new venue in the mets neighborhood of athens. the intention is to exhibit paintings by well known greek artists ( and one american) focusing on what is left of neoclassical athens. when i first arrived in 1963, there were still a large number of beautiful neoclassical structures in athens. slowly, they were thoughtlessly demolished, with ugly, characterless cement appartment buildings taking their place. with my then mother-in-law, painter niki karagatsi, wife of the famed author d. karagatsis, we regularly went to neighborhoods in athens & piraeus and made paintings, many of which included these buildings. i was asked by nikos vatopoulos, a well known athenian writer to participate in this show, preferably with a painting made within the last 2 years. so i’m woking on this painting of the athinaion café in the thision neighborhood near the acropolis. i’ll send it off as soon as it’s complete.

continued work on katarachtes, 50x48" /  by Philip Tarlow

katarachtes 50x48” as it looked at 2 pm today

last month i began a larger post-motion painting titled katarachtes (waterfalls in modern greek).

work has been interrupted and will continue to be sporadic until the midterm elections next month, nov.4, as we are traveling around the southern part of colorado supporting volunteers for the campaign of diane mitch bush for congress.

there is a certain advantage, as i’ve said in the past, in taking breaks from paintings i’m working on. obviously, after being away from them for a week or so, i get a fresh perspective. and sometimes i also become bolder as to where i’m moved to take the painting next. or, more precisely, where it wants to take me next.

another trip is imminent, and i’ll resume work once we’re back.

looking back: august 23, 2017 /  by Philip Tarlow

my east facing studio wall photographed on august 23, 2017.

seems like a decade ago. but that’s the way it works. time bends, swerves. a little over a year ago, i was experimenting on 36x36” canvases, searching for a way to translate the collages on paper i had been making up to that point. these 3 are representative of that period. they no longer exist as you see them here, having been painted over numerous times. there are collaged areas you can make out, such as the map on the lower right portion of the painting on the right. if i saw them today in a gallery or museum, i would definitely stop & spend time with each of them. makes me even more curious what i’ll do once this election is over next month, and i’m back in my studio full time.