more work on studies for "dp creek III" /  by Philip Tarlow

dp creek III, 42 x 66” as it looked at the end of my painting day today.

DETAIL of dp creek III at the end of my painting day

4:02 PM: after doing what amounted to warm-ups for a few hours, i returned to work on the dp creek III canvas. i think the warm up studies in gouache on paper are definitely helping when it comes to the larger version. dp, who has commissioned this painting for his bedroom, will make the final choice between dp creek II & dp creek III. i’m taking it slow & easy on this second version. i’m taking it slow & easy, wanting to preserve the freshness & abstraction, while introducing more & more realist elements into the mix, mostly in the form of patterns. at this point, i don’t have a favorite. BELOW: dp creek II (left) & the as yet incomplete dp creek III side by side.

1:31 PM:today i’m continuing to work on scaled down studies in gouache, colored pencil & crayon for dp creek III, which will be 42x66” on portrait linen. i started the larger painting yesterday, but felt the need today to work out my ideas in these smaller pieces on paper. i may do more work on the canvas soon.

starting a 3rd study for dp creek III and stage one of the actual 42x66" painting /  by Philip Tarlow

stage 1 of dp creek III, 42x66”

4:42 PM: this morning i began study # 3 in gouache on paper, for dp creek III, which will be 42x66” oil, crayon & colored pencil on portrait linen. as i was working on the gouache study, i kept looking over at that freshly stretched linen sitting on my easel. when i could no longer resist, up i jumped, grabbed a blue colored pencil & began the drawing. it seems to me that the only way i can resist over-working it tomorrow is to start my day by continuing work on the gouache study, pretending as far as possible that i’m not going to transition to the oil when i can no longer resist. it’s an interesting strategy, which i may adopt when i’m able to continue my taiga/kyoto series. it’s smart, it’s fun & it’s a clever fakeout. i’m seeing increasingly that my time in the zone is only about 60-90 minutes. i have to allow that to be enough! just do other stuff, philip! you most certainly have enough backed up paperwork to keep you busy once you have left your flow state! on the RIGHT: stage 1 of the gouache study

2 studies for dp creek III/ & a few more dp creek II tweaks /  by Philip Tarlow

dp creek II, 42x66” following a couple of tweaks i made while working on 2 gouache studies for dp creek III

i listened to mikela’s suggestion, and before starting work on the 42x66 dp creek III, i began making some studies in gouache. i have always loved pianting in gouache, so it wouldn’t seem like a stretch to interrupt my painting in oil & spend a few days fooling around in gouache. but i had huge resistance. so i made a couple of small gouache paintings on paper, & plan on making a few more today before launching into the second 42x66” dp creek III in oil on portrait linen.

all-important tweaks to dp creek II /  by Philip Tarlow

dp creek II at the end of my painting day today, following some all-important tweaks

3:16 PM: today was the day for final (?) tweaks to dp creek II. if you compare yesterdays version, on the left, with todays, it should be clear how & why the painting sang after todays changes. especially important was the addition of the blue bit of creek water on the mid-right. if you let your eye go from one to the other, you should finmd that, with todays version, your eye more easily takes in the entire composition, the whole picture space as a coherent whole. a good example of this is the area of blue on the very bottom. in yesterdays version, it draws your eye in such a way that it dominates the space. on the right, you see that area of water broken up by white wavy shapes and splashes of water that push that entire area back in the picture plane in a way that it no longer demands your attention to the exclusion of other passages.

simplifying; grooving; ab-stracting /  by Philip Tarlow

dp creek II as it looked moments ago

2:07 PM: dp creek II was becoming way too congested, with no overall focus. so i placed it on am makeshift table using saw horses & long stretcher bars. and i got to that place i’ve been waiting for. i dropped my attachment to making this commissioned painting look like the one it was inspired by, and just painted. i used a lot of white. i eliminated some tortured passes using solvent & rags, scraping with my palette knife. there’s more to do. or undo, and it’s all part of the process. i may stretch a second canvas, same size: 42x66” but using a piece of the artfix portrait linen that was delivered yesterday.

"dp creek ii," day 3 /  by Philip Tarlow

6:34 PM: i had a very wonderful meeting this morning, and my mentee k. came over at 3:30. so there wasn’t a lot of time to paint. but paint i did, and made some important additions to dp creek II. i found a way to get passed feeling constrained by the need to model this commision on motion 28, which was completed a year ago. in part, this can be attributed to the fact that an 11 yard roll of 85” wide artfix portrait linen was delivered this afternoon. that will allow me to stretch a second 42x66 canvas and make another version using portrait linen, which has practically no tooth & takes colored pencil & crayon almost like smooth watercolor paper. tomorrow may be the make or break day for this first version i’m working on. in the mean time, i’m getting a bit antsy & feeling the urge to get back to my kyoto series. could be worse, right? these are all terrifically juicy, exciting options. it’s not like, “of fuck, i’ve got to do another motion painting before i can return to kyoto.” this feeling of swimming in a sea of possibilities; ways of expanding my vocabulary, it’s such a gift. i’m always aware of that.

BELOW: left: yesterday, right: todays version

"dp creek II," day 2 /  by Philip Tarlow

dp creek II at the end of my painting day today

at work today on dp creek II

4:20 PM: i took dp creek II further today, taking it slow, as i want to preserve the white of the canvas in some areas. the challenge is that it seems impossible to allow that energetic to take over, the one that allows my hand to follow my heart & my gut completely & not pay attention to what’s happening until i take a moment to step back & look. that’s the quality in the original, motion 28, which dan admired & is therefore the inspiration for this commissioned painting. when the roll of portrait linen i ordered arrives early next week, i’ll stretch a second canvas with the same dimensions, which will allow me to play more, since only one of the two is destined to hang in my friend’s home.

starting "dp creeek II" /  by Philip Tarlow

DETAIL of dp creek II

4:10 PM: yesterday i stretched the canvas for dp creek II; a commissioned 42x66” painting in oil, colored pencil & oil stick on quadruple primed french portrait linen. as i wrote in an earlier post, it’s based upon motion 28, which my friend saw in the exhibition at space gallery. it’s an interesting challenge, in part because it involves returning to an older, by a few months, way of working. i don’t have motion 28; it’s in the gallery, but we went by last week & i studied it. my mentee k. is here today, & when he saw todays version he loved it and, as mikela might say, he was tempted suggest i leave it as is.

but i’ll definitely be doing more work on it tomorrow, so check back in & find out what happens!

tweaks to seventh month /  by Philip Tarlow

8:02 AM: yesterday i stretched the canvas for my dp creek II commission. at the very end of the day, i spotted some areas of seventh month that needed to pop more. BELOW tou see the painting as it looked before my tweaks, and on the right, after.

more work on seventh month /  by Philip Tarlow

4:45 PM: after being away for a week, yesterday in the studio was a blank. i couldn’t figure out why i was there or do anything productive.

today i was able to return to seventh month, one of the kyoto series, which are all 78x26” oil on linen. i think i did some good work, but i can’t write about it right now, as we have a visitor who just arrived at the house.