day 2: "sound of a flute over the river"/remembering a vermeer inspired painting from 2016 /  by Philip Tarlow

DETAIL of grey 8, which was one of a vermeer inspired series. this one was painted in january, 2016 and then painted oevr.

2:57 PM: i think we’re unused to this humidity, and it has us both feeling sluggish & tired. i probably shouln’t have done any work at all on this painting today, but i did. so here’s the current state. we’ll both take a break tomorrow so i cqan go to a doctors appointment in salida, where we’ll treat ourselves to a really good pizza & beer at moonlight pizza. if you ask them to make the crust really crispy, it’s the best you can get in this area.

tomorrow morning before we leave, i’ll take out that rock at the bottom, which doesn’t belong in this painting at all.

sound of a flute over the river 78 x 26” / stage 2 of our joint painting: showa, 22x48" /  by Philip Tarlow

3:28 PM: today, after stretching 2 new kyoto series canvases, i began work on the fourth in the series: sound of a flute over the river.

my level of engagement & excitement over this series is still very high and climbing. i don’t think i’ve ever worked on a series that is so me. it integrates all the elements that have shown up, at one time or another, in my work. the japanese aesthetic, even more so than the chinese, fits like a glove.

 
 

DETAIL of k’s rendering of a bird on a snow covered branch

12:19 PM: yesterday i continued work, with 13 year old k., who i’ve been mentoring, on our joint painting, shôwa, which is 22 x 44” in acrylic & oil on linen. we made good progress, and may be able to complete the painting on his next visit to my studio next weekend. it’s inspired by a 1920’s japanese coat. i find the bird he painted yesterday exquisite.

more work on dp creek III leads to a re-work of dp creek II /  by Philip Tarlow

dp creek III, 42 x 66”, following todays tweaks

dp creek II, 42x66” following todays re-work

2 PM: i started my day not knowing. which is a good thing. feeling like “oh, i know what i need to do now with this painting” is a recipe for uninspired painting. don’t mess with a good thing and don’t do too much or something unnecessary were running through my thinking, plotting brain.

so the first place i went was an area that seemed too white, on the bottom third of the painting. once i worked on that area, using the side of a small rectangular oil stick, i felt the painting was improving & was emboldened to do more.. as i worked, i cast glances at dp creek II & at some point i got it that i needed to simplify a lot. interestingly, the work k. & i did together yesterday had a positive effect on what i did today.

BELOW: before (left) & after images of dp creek III (top) & dp creek II

stage 4 of dp creek III/ JOINT PAINTING WITH K. /  by Philip Tarlow

5:31: at 3:30 k. showed up & we started work on the canvas we stretched last time he was at the studio, 22x48”, inspired by a 1920’2 japanese kimono. we once again worked together, creating a dark blue ground with white stars using acrylic paints, which dried within minutes. there will be 4-5 birds , one of which, at his request, i started using oil paints. on his next viisit, we’ll continue work.

DETAIL of dp creek III

1:44 PM: today, tired from our 6:30 am creek walk, i went straight to work on dp creek III & didn’t make any gouache studies, as i had on the previous 2 days. i knew i only had a couploe of good hours in me, and then i’d likely need to go back to the house & lie down for an hour before my mentee k. arrives at 3:30.

so i continued work, careful not to overdo it, taking it slow. the area of shade on the upper right was the most dramatic change that happened, allowing the rocks & water in the foreground to consolidate & take their place in the composition, giving a sense of foreground & background without slipping into description. it’s a delicate balance, perhaps less raucous than the previous version but with just as much movement.

BELOW: 3 stages of dp creek III, with todays version on the right

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