tweaks to "9-1-16 6-47pm" /  by Philip Tarlow

9-1-16 6-47pm as it looked after tweaking followed by spanikopites with melted cheese this afternoon

1:41: e. and k. will arrive at my studio in 45 minutes, so i have to be quick so that i can prepare the easels, brushes, colors, etc. 9-1-16 6-47pm was worked on earlier today, primarily the 2 areas you see below. i accentuated the sunlight falling on the peaks, but not too much, so that they pop more, as they actually do in certain lights, especially in the month of september, when the photo i drew from was shot. the bushes and small trees on the hillside needed more definition, but needed to be kept as secondary to the main act; the moody sky & the peaks. she sings now as the sensual being she is, writhes and twists her body in delight at the fading light. as she awaits the coming snows, she quivers with my marks.

11:34 AM: as usually happens the following morning, i found some areas of the painting that could use some tweaks. these often proove to be the most critical marks in any painting i’m working on. i’ll update later. i have limited time, as my mentee k. and his step mom e. will be arriving at 2:30 for continued work on the portraits we’re making of her.

"9-1-16 6-47pm" ....work continues /  by Philip Tarlow

9-1-16 6-47pm as it looked moments ago after a morning of painting

2:40 PM: this morning i made changes to the sky, which i thought i’d never do.i darkened an area above the mountains on the left, where more of a sharp contrast was needed between the gathering clouds above the sun-struck peaks. as well, i added the bushes & shrubs that cover the steep slopes beneath the peaks, and created more variation in the color of the peaks themselves. now it feels more like it’s singing. i may do a bit more before stopping on this frigid, snowy day.

starting work on "9-1-16 6-47pm" /  by Philip Tarlow

9-1-16 6-47pm 32x36”, as it looked at the end of my painting day today

3:21 PM: here’s the current state of the painting. right now, i can see there needs to be some variation in the siena of the mountains, and the large shaded area of trees & rocks needs more definition. it hasn’t popped yet.

2:14 PM: at work on the lower portion of the painting.i’ll probably paint for another half hour before cleaning up. my mentee k. will come tomorrow afternoon, so whatever i can get done before that. can’t rush this one.

12:27 PM: after preparing a siena tinted ground yesterday afternoon on this & one other 32x36” linen canvas, i began work this morning on 9/1/16 6:47pm. thus far, i’ve done most of the drawing on the mountains, on the lower portion of the composition. not without fear & trepidation, i launched into the very subtly toned grey/purple/orange sky, which allows only small areas of blue to emerge from the clouds. so now i’ll proceed to the lower portion, once again with fear and trepidation. did lucien freud feel this way every time he prepared to work on a portrait? hockney’s portrait, for example? in the photo of the 2 of them together in freud’s studio, hockney has a quizzical look, and freud, brush in hand and apron on, has an enigmatic one, hard to read.

continuing tweaks on "8/29/16, 7:45 am " /  by Philip Tarlow

8/29/16 7:45 AM following this mornings tweaks

DETAIL

the passage on the lower right just above the distant mountains was bugging me. it seemed as if there was another mountain behind the narrow strip that is the san juan mountains, and it was too dominant. as well, that narrow band of bluish mountains as a whole was a bit too dark in tone. all i had to do was open my studio door and take a glance, and i could see that strip of the san juans was a bit more greyed out due to the atmospheric effects of the 45 or so miles separating us and that horizon. an unexpected result i that the beautiful brushwork in the cloud formation on the upper right is no longer overshadowed by the intensity of the lower portion of the composition and, when you’re looking at the actual painting (this is almost impossible to reproduce on the screen) there is a satisfying balance of form, tone and color. oh, and one more thing: isolating that cloud passage ofund in the upper right quadrant of the painting inspired me to experiment with making a new painting in which the entire canvas is filled withf a detail such as this.

BELOW: comparative view of the painting yesterday, on the left, and today

continuing work on "8/29/16, 7:45 am " /  by Philip Tarlow

the painting at 2:00pm, after extensive revisions

DETAIL

2 PM: i had intended for this high sky series to be painted, as was the first in the series, in one fell swoop. that’s not how it’s turning out. i’m doing the same kind of wiping, scraping, overpainting that i was doing regularly with my post-motion series, but not quite as radical, where i obliterate the entire image. so today, dissatisfied with the painting as i left it yesterday, i worked into it, using two or three different sky photos i’ve shot over time. this particular view is what we see out our west facing windows in our upstairs living space. i have looked at this view, usually around sunrise and sunset over a period of about 25 years, since we built & moved into the house. BELOW: a comparative view of yesterdays version, on the left, and todays.

continuing work on "8/29/16, 7:45 am " /  by Philip Tarlow

8/28/16 7:45 am as it looked today at 2pm.

2:06 PM: i skipped a day of work on this painting. it was a challenge to go back into something that was so fresh and in the moment. plus, this is a new direction for me. i’ve painted many skies in my life, but after spending so much time on motion and post-motion paintings, which were abstracted landscapes, it’s a new feeling when i stand before a blank canvas. the tinted ground is, again, something i’ve utilized many times, but not in years. i love switching it up however. fittingly, perhaps, last night we watched a 1979 austin city limits episode, featuring tom waits. people either love him or hate him. we were spellbound. what i strongly relate to is exactly that: how he switches it up. not from song to song, but within a song. he twists, he moans, he smokes non stop, even lighting up as he sings, and he delivers the raw emotion that can happen when it’s not all planned & plotted out.

starting work on 8/29/16, 7:45 am /  by Philip Tarlow

8-29-16 7-45AM as it looked at the end of my painting day today

3:28 PM: so here’s where it’s at now. one could say i am enamoured with the clouds. that would be accurate. our skies here in crestone/baca are especially rich, and our air is so clear that the clouds gain a dimensionality and presence. but i still have a lot to learn about painting them. more tomorrow…good night my friends!

2:33 PM: this morning i started work on the canvas i stretched yesterday, which is 32x40.” it’s inspired by a photo i took on that time & date from our west facing upper story windows, overlooking the vast expanse of the san luis valley. but it’s more of a cloud-scape, which was my intention for the series, titles sky high.

as i work on this 3rd painting in the series, i learn more about the subtleties of painting skies, which the great british master constable spent his entire life studying.like all painting, it’s really about mark making and distributing and balancing forms in space. back to work in this last hour of my energy resources for the day…i’ll post photos once i stop work.

working on the lower portion of "5/24/18, 8:06 PM" /  by Philip Tarlow

5/24/18, 8:06 PM as it looked at 1pm

here’s the painting as it looked just now. i’m going to take it to the house for evaluation and then it might need the green bit to be grayed a bit.

at work on the lower portion of 5/24/18, 8:06 PM

12:26 PM: mikela’s critique of the lower portion was, as usual, spot on. i spent the past few hours making significant changes to that tree covered mountain side. green has never been easy for me, and i din’t want it to detract from the success of the upper 2/3 of the painting. so here’s where it’s at. scroll down to yesterdays post to see the difference.

it’s always tricky to go back, the following day, into a painting that emerged in one burst of energy, as did this one. but if it’s going to happen, morning hours, when i’m fresh are prime time.

starting "5/29/18, 8:06 PM" /  by Philip Tarlow

the painting as it looked at 4pm

4:01 PM: this is how 5/24/18, 8:06 PM looked at the end of my painting day. i knocked myself out, so i’m going home to take a bath!

12:34 PM: started working on 5/24/18, 8:06 PM, which is 32x40” oil on linen. it’s a delicate process & right now i’ve got to get back to work; more later

a bit more on "12-10-18 sky 4-42pm" /  by Philip Tarlow

12:46 PM: it was with some trepidation that i decided to do a bit more work on this painting. my intention was to leave it “unfinished,” but i did feel it needed a bit more.

BELOW: yesterdays version is on the left. now that i see them together, i feel i did the right thing. so i’m going to stretch another canvas for the next painting in this new series, called Sky High.