wiping my macbook air /  by Philip Tarlow

3/28/20 creek photo

3:32 PM: yep, that’s what i spent most of today doing. i sold it on eBay. the sale of my early 2015 macbook air completed yesterday and i had to ship today. but first i had to wipe the hard drive, which sounds quick & easy, but it’s not. i waited on hold for abou 30 minutes before i got an apple tech support person, who turned out t o be really great. i was on the phone with him for over an hour, and then boxed it up & took it to the post office. the woman from florida who bought it has 5 kids, and they will be using it for online learning. when i heard about the kids, i threw in an external speaker, a couple of earbuds and an extra power cord.

so no painting today. i think i’ll be able to make a new watercolor in the morning, before starting the process of putting the 16 carbondale watercolors in their frames.

some of the creek photos i’ve shot recently, like the one above right, i would call iconic, and demand revisiting when i’m starting a ne watercolor. so maybe tomorrow….

artists statement / completing watercolor 107 /  by Philip Tarlow

the completed, signed watercolor 107 13x20”

FINAL VERSION of my Artist Statement for the Carbondale Exhibition

11:46 AM: i’ve got to get this artists statement in to the director at carbondale arts by the end of today. this my my second re-write. the first version was too heady and not well suited to visitors to this exhibition, who i think will appreciate something more specifically related to the paintings, giving them a kind of guide. here it is, subject to change:

MOTION

I’ve made hundreds of landscape paintings over the course of my career. This is the first time I’ve made paintings of a landscape in MOTION. 

The water in the creek is in constant motion, rushing and spilling over the rocks. so they are never the same from one minute to the next. Every spring, the snowmelt descending from the 14,000 ft. peaks creates a wild, out of control, loud torrent of rushing water. It splashes onto and over the rocks and fallen branches, shoots droplets into the air, following the path of least resistance.

SO,  how to make this ever changing creek-scape-in-motion into paintings? That’s what I’v`e been experimenting with. The splashes create patterns. I love patterns. My brush began to mimic the movement of the torrents of water. Beneath the pools of water, in quieter spots, are grey/siena/orange rocks, large and small in the creek bed. The creek water above these multi-colored, multi-shaped rocks creates ever changing patterns. I use it as a springboard for inventing forms and using colors that emerge in my studio based on my mood and my kinaesthetic memory of the many plein air paintings I’ve made sitting next to the creek. 

GAZE

I’ve loved the Fayum portraits painted in Egypt during the first century AD ever since I first discovered them in the ’70’s. I’m also very drawn to the faces in Vermeer’s 17th Century Dutch paintings. A few years ago I was into making collages, using old newspapers, maps and various scraps of paper. I began experimenting, making paintings, some inspired by Vermeer’s faces, others by Fayum portraits, collaging and painting over them. The resulting series of paintings are titled Gaze.

WATERCOLORS

Watercolor is by it’s nature a fluid medium. Perfect for making painitngs of a creek in constant motion. As soon as my wet brush touches the paper, shapes occur. They can be guided, but, as with the creek itself, they have a life of their own. Allowing this fluid meduim it’s freedom and then working over it once it dries, I use the characteritic marks and patterns of the creek-scape to begin creating an image.  The medium doesn’t allow corrections and revisions. When the strokes are not spot on, that watercolor is discarded and I start a new one.

I may make a few tweaks, like changing the order so that watercolors come first, motion next and gaze third. there are a few typos as well, which i’ll correct & re-post. Also, I’ll include a few images.

so i did a bit more work on watercolor 107, which is a pretty strong one i think. here’s where it was at moments ago.

starting watercolor 107 /  by Philip Tarlow

2:36 PM: while composiing my artists statement for the carbondale exhibition, i started watercolor 107 today. it’s in the larger format: 13 x 20”

i’ve brought it to this point and will stop for the day and continue tomorrow. of course if you’re a regular on this blog, you know i’ve written more than once about how it’s not a good idea to go back to a watercolor i’ve started, since watercolor is such a fugitive medium and tomorrow, especially after our morning trail walk, i’ll likely be in a different space.

BELOW is where it stands at the end of my painting day. and now, off to a friend’s house to photograph the newborn birds in the nest outside their home. they’re traveling and we promised them we’d go see if the mom had given birth, which we did yesterday. i took some shots with my phone, but this is a situation that demands my nikon with the telephoto lens and a stool to get up on.

watercolor 107 13x20” at the end of my painting day today

starting watercolor 106 / morning trail walk / new watch /  by Philip Tarlow

watercolor 106 10 x 13 “

12:09 PM: watercolor 106, completed moments ago is influenced by the drawing i made this morning at the creek. and some new watercolors i had ordered, which just arrived yesterday, also played a role. especially the purple and blue. it struck me this morning that, in my ongoing adventure of simplifying, some might say abstracting the landscape, i noticed my brain, even while standing directly in front of the creek, automatically translating what i was seeing into brighter, more primary colors. don’t ask me why; all i can say is that it’s a process and that the process evolves over time. so that what we see actually transforms. but we don’t make it transform. it transforms itself.

cottonwood creek, 7am today

11:07 AM: we took our trail walk this morning. because of my groin strail, i let mikela go ahead and i meditated in the car then went to the creek and made a drawing standing up, which at this point is easier on my body than sitting on that little 3 legged stool. once again, the light was spectacular. the drawing is in colored pencil and making it got me revved to start another watercolor, even though i have lots to do in preparation for the carbonedale arts show next month.

i’m going to start the watercolor; will post pics and updates when available.

yesterdays blog title mentioned new watch, but i didn’t have a chance to post about that.

BELOW are photos of the watch, which is a ratio freediver. it’s a dive watch (no, i’m not a diver) and is water resistant down to 200 meters or 600 feet. my passion for watches has more to do with the design and less with the functions. it all started when i was a kid and my dad gave me a croton. he was a cpa and they were clients of his. it was a beautiful watch, but what really got me was how brightly it glowed in the dark. so i used to wear it to bed and marvel at the luminescence of the numbers and hands.

this ratio is a chinese take on the many far more expensive dive watches out there. it’s well made, beautifully designed, very light on the wrist, with rotating bezel and a case measuring only 10mm thick. most watches are 12-14mm. it came with a rather ugly dive strap, which i promptly removed and replaced with a textured silicone strap in black and crimson. i probably won’t wear it to bed, as i did with my croton when i was 12, but for the foreeable future it will be on my wrist the rest of the time.

more carbondale prep and watercolor 106 happening tomorrow / new watch /  by Philip Tarlow

4:25 PM: today was devoted to selecting watercolor candidates for framing. there will be a total of 16. once i made my selection, i began combing through my files and choosing images i may use for my outdoor talk at carbondale arts on saturday afternoon, august 8th. BELOW are nine examples:

how will i use a selectiopn of these images? attendees will download a program allowing them to view relevant images one by one, as my talk progresses.

another stunning trail walk / preparing for carbondale /  by Philip Tarlow

7:49 am: making one of two drawings

4:33 PM: today was trail day. because of my groin pull, mikela went ahead and i sat and made a couple of drawings and then slowly meandered up the trail and met her on her return.

i watched as the sun rose over the creek and the entire creek-scape was bathed in a sahrp yet warm light which seemed to transform the rocks, water and branches in a way no photograph could ever capture. know why? because that sparkling light was combined with diverse fragrances, sounds and peripheral events all of which enliven the soul.

i spent most of today re-shooting and adjusting photos of my motion series paintings for the website invitation to my exhibition next month at space gallery. tomorrow i’ll get into the process of putting together images that attendees at my gallery talk the afternoon of august 7th will be able to access on their phones.

back from denver / watercolor 105? /making brownies / 90+ /  by Philip Tarlow

watercolor 105 at the end of my painting day today

at work on watercolor 105 today

4:39 PM: great call with carbondale arts, and it looks like, if we get it approved, i’ll be doing an outdoor talk and attendees will be able to see images corresponding to the points i’m making. that should also be available to anyone entering the gallery during my show. the announcement of the exhibition should be up on the gallery site by the end of the week; i’ll let you know.

i progressed with watercolor 105, which feels like it may be resolved. as usual, i’ll bring it back to the house & know in the morning if it needs more work…maybe a few touches here and there, which always make all the difference. didn’t think this morning, after yesterdays adventure, that i’d be up for any work at all.

watercolor 105 stage 1

12:56 PM: i was able to do more than anticipated. made brownies & started watercolor 105, which i’ll continue following my zoom in half hour.

plein air painting, october, 2017

8:14 AM: returned from denver last night; a round trip which started at 6:30am and ended at 8:40pm. picked up the rest of my frames at ikea, picked up more motion paintings from my denver gallery for the carbondale show, had a great lunch with our friend dan and his wonderful girlfriend, had my knee shots at stedman, almost picked up our car from acura, but they ran into windshield problems so we once again drove the loaner home and have to return to denver next week, did some food shopping (amazing strawberries!) and returned exhausted. with all that activity, my groin pain is back, so i’ll be icing this morning.

i’m going to get to my studio late & have a zoom at 1:30 with the director of carbondale arts re: the show. so i may or may not have time to start a new watercolor. stay tuned!

RIGHT: shot in october 2017….that’s where i hope to be again this fall.

re:90+ i envision being active as a painter past the age of 90. don’t know why i’m posting this today. perhaps because i’ve been reading every morning about the lives of some of my japanese and chinese role models. they were agelss.

a splendid trail walk! / watercolor 104 /  by Philip Tarlow

the creek at about 7:30 this morning

at work on watercolor 104 at 12:30PM

11:31 AM: i was 50/50 on whether i would join mikela on a trail walk at 6:30am this morning, because i didn’t want to put unnecessary strain on my pulled groin muscle. i decided to go at the last minute. GOOD DECISION! instead of going up cottonwood trail, as we have been for the apst fe wmonths, we opted for north crestone creek trail, which used to be our main trail for walking.

it was like revisiting a dear old friend, so familiar are the rocks, the twists and turns of that creek. the views of the creek were so stunningly beautiful, especially when the sun rose above the mountains i din’t know what to photograph first!

everywhere i looked was a potential painting.

watercolor 104 at 12:30 PM

so i’m getting started right now on watercolor 104, which is 10x13” and will post picks as i progress.

12:38 PM: with the fresh energy generated by our morning walk, i began work on watercolor 104 about 90 minutes ago. it’s obvious looking at it that there is a new energy present. my first bold move was to use red in an area that in reality was a green patch of grasses. i’m stopping here and may start another one.

a bigger little guy... /  by Philip Tarlow

watercolor 103, 8x8” in it’s frame

yesterdays watercolor 102, 6x6”

3:20 PM: watercolor 103 is 8x8” and fills this little frame, which for me indicates that yesterdays, which was 6x6” was just too small, and (see image BELOW) got lost. i may do a few more tomorrow, with more open, breathing spaces. but there’s something i love about this direction, where the swirling creek water comes alive with warm colors, and the yellows, oranges and blues dance together.

11:45 AM: yesterday i experimented with a 6x6” watercolor for the little frames mikela found while shopping for the larger frames. after gazing at it last night and this morning, i decided that the watercolor needed to be larger, almost filling the frame. so now i’m about to make one that’s 8x8”. lets see what that looks like. i’ll post pics as they become available.

framing watercolors /  by Philip Tarlow

3:26 PM: testing out a little guy:

watercolor 102 6x6” in a 10x10” frame

yesterday as we were purchasing 7 of the white wood frames, mikela found some small ones, measuring just 10” square. i didn’t have anything that small. the watercolor would have to be about 6” square to work in that format. so i cut some arches paper and made a 6x6” watercolor, which is #102, to see what it might look like in this little frame. kinda cool actually. what do you think? she got a few of them, so maybe i’ll make more tomorrow. right now i can’t even believe i’m working at all, i’m so tired from yesterdays adventure.

watercolor 14 in it’s new white frame

12:42 PM: we returned from denver yesterday evening following an exhausting 8 hour round trip drive. we accomplished a lot in denver, where we dropped off our acura for service & repairs, had our teeth cleaned and evaluated and purchased some of the frames i’ll be using for the 16 or so watercolors i plan to include in my carbondale show next month.

so this morning i experimented, placing one of the 13x20” watercolors: watercolor 14, in one of the white frames we purchased. i have to order some board and tape, but i think i’m on track and can have the 16 (8 13x20” and 8 10x13”) watercolors ready to go at the end of this month, when they need to be delivered to carbondale arts.

what a difference a frame makes! i’m very happy with how they look framed. my friend/mentor, the great greek painter tsarouchis used to refer to the frame as “the john or trick (who services prostitutes) of the painting.”

so i’m in the process of ordering the necessary mounting board and tape to mount the watercolors and place them in their frames; a good way to spend my time today, as i’m too wiped our from yesterday to make a painting.