back from denver / watercolor 109 continued /  by Philip Tarlow

1:57 PM: i was half thinking i’d prepare a few small linen canvas surfaces in preparation for some plein air, possibly on monday, since tomorrow is trail walk day. but then i felt the urge to continue work on the very lightly painted watercolor 109. so i did. it’s not lightly painted any more!

too heavy handed? let me sit with it for a while, then bring it to the house to see what mikela thinks.

BELOW left: thursdays version, right: todays

BELOW: i made a couple of quick sketches in colored pencil in the doctors waiting room. both of them left before i could complete the drawing, so in in the one on the left, i substituted the head, in profile, of a different figure.

this is currently my favorite ipa, brewed in lafayette, colorado by liquid mechanics brewing

8:28 AM: we did a 12 hour trip to denver yesterday, leaving 6:45 am and returning 6:45 pm, 3 1/2 hours of driving each way. the temperature when we started our drive was 52 F. as we left denver yesterday at 3pm, the temperature was up to 103 F! and when we got home at 6:45, a very comfortable 72F.

we dropped off our loaner car & picked up our repaired one, with a brand new windshield; picked up 3 motion oils and 3 large motion pencil on paper pieces from space gallery for my carbondale show next month; went food & beer shopping (found my favorite ipa) and saw my specialist about shoulder & groin issues. he diagnosed my shoulder as impingement syndrome of the right shoulder. ice & physical therapy.

a very long day! i’ll be back in my studio in an hour or so, and see what happens today and if i start a new watercolor. based upon what my doc said about my shoulder & groin, i may be able to start making some small oils as well as resuming our morning trail walks!

re: hopacity one reviewer gave it 4.03 out of 5 and said: ”Nice fruity aroma that is not too sweet and holds an earthy quality at the same time. Semi-cloudy golden am er with large off-white head. Drinks smoothly with full hop flavor of fruit and a little grass. Has touches of sweetness but avoids going to sweet fruit flavor. Soft bittering from from to back that does not grow in intensity very much. A nice drinking ale. Complex enough to offer thoughts, but not too intense. Pleasing. A couple of these would be nice.”

BELOW: the views of our san luis valley at 7:07am, heading out of crestone/baca for denver.

trail walk / watercolor 109 /  by Philip Tarlow

watercolor 109 10 x 13”

flowering plant seen on our morning walk

12:44 PM: after my doctors evaluation yesterday, it seems safe to walk up the trail again, since my groin pain appears to be a mild strain and shouldn’t be affected by our trail walks. that’s a relief, since it’s our only form of exercise and it’s shocking how quickly you get out of shape! so it was a bit of a push, and i stopped at half an hour, but it felt great to be walking up the trail again.

i started watercolor 109 once i got back to my studio. i tried something different, using my fan brush to create a kind of under-painting and then working on top of that with very diluted watercolors.

the characteristic i love in this one is the freshness and immediacy. nothing has been overworked, and it emerged in just 2 passes. by that i mean that when i work on one of these watercolors, i can only go for a very short period, and then i need to take a break; either because i need to do something else while casting furtive glances to see how what i did reads, or to allow the area i just worked on to dry so that i can paint over it without blotting and bleeding happening.

so the under-painting, done with my fan brush, introduces an element of randomness i strive for. my personality type, according to some systems, is AR, or abstract random. here’s an interesting article about AR: https://child1st.com/blogs/resources/113568135-the-abstract-random-learning-style

continuing work on work on watercolor 108 / Ένα το Χελιδόνι - Μίκης Θεοδωράκης /  by Philip Tarlow

watercolor 108 13 x 20”

12:40 PM: watercolor 108 was bare bones yesterday. so i worked more on it today. i wasn’t crazy about that central rock, and i was thinking i might need to scrap it and start over. what snapped it into focus was that deep red on the left. i had just been reading about the history of the color red last night before falling asleep. it’s an amazing story told by victoria finlay in her book, but lets save that for another time.

in this instance the addition of deep red on the left of the composition, rather than distracting the eye because it’s stronger by far than any of the other colors in this watercolor, it gives us a focus to bounce off of, and actually allows the rest of the softer colors to announce themselves.

i was afraid it might be getting too busy, and as soon the those reds showed up, that fear dissolved.

this morning i was abruptly awoken by a strong dream. once i awoke, i couldn’t fall back asleep, and this song by greek composer mikis theodorakis began playing in my head and wouldn’t stop. the translation of the poem by odysseus elytis, as with all translations of poetry doesn’t even come close to doing it justice you can hear it performed on this youtube video, with the extraordinary voice of bithikotsis. i was at the very first public performance with my ex, and to think of it sends shivers down my spine.

Single Swallow

A single swallow, and the cost of Spring is dear

For the sun to return, much work is needed

It takes thousands dying at the wheels

it takes the living, also, giving their blood.

God, my Master builder, you built me inside the mountains

God, my Master builder, you enclosed me in the sea!

The body of May was taken away by Magicians

They have buried it inside a tomb of the open sea

They have sealed it up in a deep well

Its scent filled the darkness and all the abyss.

God, my Master builder, you too among the lilacs

God, my Master builder, you felt the scent of Resurrection

morning trail drawings / STARTING WATERCOLOR 108 /  by Philip Tarlow

watercolor 108 13 x 20” stage 1

2:59 PM: as some stron thunderstorms move across the valley towards crestone/baca, the skies have darkened and i halted work on the new watercolor 108, which you see here. it’s 13x20” and inspired by some photos i shot this morning as i was making the drawing you see posted below.

i received a ups delivery of some tape i had ordered, which is designed to cover the edges of the oil paintings i’ll be showing in carbondale. some painters are very careful not to let paint drip over the edges and onto that 1.5” strip of canvas attached to the stretcher bars with staples. i’m not one of them. hiding the drips of paint is close to framing them, and allows them to be viewed without those distracting and messy drips of paint. i think i’ll wrap it up for today & go back over to the house.

11:30 AM: we take our trail walks m-wed-fri. lately i’ve been accompanying mikela to the trail head, meditating in the car and then going to make a drawing or two. this is due to my groin issue, which will be diagnosed by my doctor tomorrow. it’s been a cool experience. my car meditations are turning out to be twice as long as the ones i usually do in the bedroom, and much deeper. this morning, for example, i had the distinct sense of floating about somewhere beyond our planet, even beyond our solar system.

that makes my experience just after my car meditation quite different. i slip easily into that zone state that often happens in my studio, but it’s different. can’t explain how or why.

so far there are 4 of these drawings, which you see BELOW. they are all colored pencil on 90g equisse blanc 6x9 1/2” sennelier paper, purchased years ago in paris and ever since, sitting in my drawing book cabinet. todays drawing is bottom right. if you fancy one or two, let me know; they are very reasonably priced.

i’d like to make a new watercolor today, before continuing my carbondale exhibition prep work. will post photos when available.

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.