making critical changes to "8/24/17 7:34PM" /  by Philip Tarlow

8/24/17 7:34PM as it looked at the end of my painting day today

1:55 PM: as soon as i entered the studio, i immediately saw what needed to be done. now, why couldn’t i see that yesterday afternoon? you could probably write an entire doctorate on that topic. for now, lets just say i didn’t have enough distance, in time and space, to see what i saw this morning, and will likely see tomorrow morning.

in yesterdays version, on the LOWER LEFT, while the basic bones of the painting are there, the trasitions from cloud to sky and from darker cloud to lighter, are too abrupt, and the blue too strong and too much of a contrast. as a result, the eye gets stuck on, for example, that central blue & the dark grey, almost black next to it. now, as i gaze at the painting on my studio wall, the new, subtler transitions allow the eye to roam unimpeded. as a result, the mood of this painting comes through, and the eye wanders freely, now able to appreciate the warm magic of this moment in time: 8/24/17 7:34PM, and the painterliness with which it is rendered.

starting the new "8-24-17 7-34PM" 32x36 in. /  by Philip Tarlow

8-24-17 7-34PM at the end of my painting day

3:39 PM: it was a snowy start to the day this morning, with poor natural light. but it became brighter as the day progressed, allowing me to start this new sky high series painting, titled 8-24-17 7-34PM, which is the date and time i shot the photo this painting is inspired by. it’s a rather dramatic early evening sky at the end of august, announcing perhaps the arrival of fall, which comes early here in the valley.

these sky paintings tend to emerge in a burst of energy. often, however, i spot things that need to be modified the following day. so we’ll see what tomorrow brings. “how long did that take you?” is a question i frequently get from someone looking at one of my paintings. usually, i say “about 60 years.” and that’s the truth.

stretching 2 new canvasses & making unexpected last minute changes to 10-31-18 55-46pm /  by Philip Tarlow

3:25 PM: today is a snowy, dark day. i had planned to stretch & prime 2 new canvasses, which i did, and to start a long overdue studio cleanup, which i didn’t do. the reason being that at the last minute, (this happens a lot), i was drawn to make some changes to 10-31-18 55-46pm. in part, this was a result of finding, under my pile of disorganized oil tubes, 2 almost finished tubes of exactly the sky blue color i had been searching in vain for yesterday. so, despite the poor natural light, i made the changes to 3 areas of darker bllue that were a bit too dark, i’ll have to wait for some sunlight to see exactly what the result was, but i think it worked. i can see a few more things that may need work…maybe tomorrow.

earlier this morning i watched a compelling interview. john richardson, known best for his 3 volume bio of picasso , was being interviewed by charlie rose, and told some great picasso stories. if you look for it on google, click on the interview he did in 2007, because there are a number of them.

starting work on 10/31/18 5:46 pm /  by Philip Tarlow

10/31/18 5:46 pm 32x36” at 3:00 pm

3:12 PM: i did make some slight modifications to the earlier version, below. but those slight changes did, i think, make it a more compelling painting.you have to see it in person to get what i mean, but now when i gaze at it, i don’t say to myself: “ where’s the horizon line?” tomorrow is forecast to be snowy, so i don’t know if there will be enough natural light to do any more to this painting. which may be a good thing. by morning the paint will have partially dried, and this kind of work is dependent upon being able to paint “wet into wet.”

10/31/18 5:46 pm 32x36” at 2:30 pm

2:38 pm: this is the first painting in my new sky high series where there is no horizon; no land, just sky. i may do a bit more on it, and i’m curious to see if it remains a sky-only painting. the truth is, i’ve been thinking for a while about taking this direction. lets wait till the end of my painting day & see what happens.

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.