changes to watercolor/collage 152 / new couches arrive / starting watercolor/collage 153 /  by Philip Tarlow

5:50 PM: after doing more work on watercolor/collage 152, i started watercolor/collage 153, based on photos i shot this morning of our new couch delivery. here you see watercolor/collage 152 as it looked at the end of my painting day.

after working, perhaps too much, on this one, i felt i needed to start something new. this morning our new couches were delivered and i shot photos from above of the delivery team bringing them in, carrying them upstairs and putting them in the living room. i drew on one of those photos for this next watercolor/collage 153. this is stage one of the new painting. it vhas that stark simplicity i always envision maintaining throughout the process. the two guys, at the top, and mikela opening the door, on the left, have been drawn in watercolor with no preliminary drawing.

watercolor/collage 152 at 1pm

1:09 PM: after looking at watercolor/collage 152 last night & this morning, i felt it needed more work. the bare breasted figure wasn’t working and the diagonal log was too prominent, taking over the whole composition. so today i got back to work on it & made numerous revisions, i think for the better.

but i still feel it needs work. i’ll update following the next round.

this morning the 2 new couches we’ve been waiting for arrived in a big semi. one of our friends came & took the old ones to use in his studio & the delivery team took the new ones up the stairs and placed them in our west facing living room. our first impression is 5 out of 5 starts for looks; 4 out of 5 for comfort. they’re a bit too firm, but we’ll get used to them i’m sure. the ones they replaced were 35 years old.

changes to watercolor/collage 151 and starting watercolor/collage 152 /  by Philip Tarlow

2:44 PM: i started my day by making some additions to watercolor/collage 151, which i started yesterday. while i liked the suggestive emptyness of yesterdays version, i wasn’t satisfied with the composition and felt it needed something more. 3 collaged pieces were added: a small bit of a map over the head of the woman on the let, who looked like the was geass growing out of her head; a piece of a previous cut-up creek-scape between the two figures and ont he right of the male figure, a few pieces of cut-up calligraphic brush marks i made last week, with the intention of using them, as i did today, in a future watercolor/collage. and beneath them i collaged a piece of paper whiter than the arches watercolor paper i used, creating an optical shift.

once i completed those modifications, i went on to start a larger composition: watercolor/collage 152, 13x20.” elements form my creek paintings: roiling blue water, a large log & some fallen leaves play against elements taken from some of my photos of figures from above. the figure on the right wears an open robe draped around her shoulders, and may have just emerged from her bath. on the left in a green top is a woman wheeling a baby carriage, the outlines of which we can just make out. i’ll have to wait till tomorrow to know if any further work is needed on this one. we’ll look at it together with mikela this afternoon & see what we each feel.

watercolor/collage 152 13x20”

new parka / new watercolor! /  by Philip Tarlow

watercolor/collage 151

3:09 PM: as i did yesterday, i made a watercolor with figures seen from above. seems to be what i’m into now, and i’m not yet sure if these figures will enter larger creek-scape compositions or not, but i suspect they will. it’s the juxtaposition that excites me. taking figures who were attending a gallery opening and transporting them to a wild natural setting turns me on.

in the studio wearing my new parka just now

11:56 AM: just received the new down parka i ordered. perfect timing on this cold crestone day, when temperatures are not predicted to rise above 25F. i got it for half price on a black friday sale. warm as toast without layering, with a removable, warm hood & plenty of big pockets. it’s pretty light weight, well made & (this is important) the sleeves tighten well around the wrists, where cold air can seep in. it’s going down to 8F tonight, so i’ll take a stroll & see how it feels.

getting ready to get to work; more as the day progresses.

a snowy day / preparing to start watercolor/collage 150/ a 2016 painting in progress /  by Philip Tarlow

1:35 PM: it’s a cloudy, snowy, cold day. current temperature is 20F, dropping to 8F tonight.

i’m making the preliminary sketches for the next watercolor/collage, which will likely include figures in our entryway photographed from above. they had just come into our entryway & mikela is giving one of them a hug. it remains to be seen how these figures will be used in the final version of watercolor/collage 150.

here’s a shot of me painting plein air in 2009. i’m in heaven, unaware of the passage of time, any possible discomfort at sitting for hours on this little canvas stool, enlivened by the sights and fragrances.

let’s see if i can get back out there next spring…

painting plein air at the creek, 2009

this is a 2016 painting in progress i just came across while searching through my files. the final painting looked nothing like this, and i don’t know which one it is, although i could likely find out by going back through my records. i find the colors interesting. i love that pink with the grey & pale green on the upper right.what interests me right now however is how these forms and colors can be traced through the arc of my development.

and BELOW is another one i just came across. it’s one of my gaze series paintings in progress, also from 2016. and, like the one i speak of above, it no longer existsin this state. fayum portraits lend themselves to painterly interpretations such as this. the artists who created them were likely descendants of ancient greek painters whose work has been destroyed or losr over time. whereas these 1st c. portraits survived as a direct result of being placed in mummy cases and buried in the dry egyptian earth, where no moisture could infiltrate.

1980 photo-collage of hockney's living room, ‘70’s drawings & a watercolor / starting studio cleanup /  by Philip Tarlow

studio entryway after cleanup

1:43 PM: i could no longer stand looking at all the papers & cardboard piled high on top of my flat files, which are on the right as you enter the studio. same with the stuff piles on my large evaporative cooler on wheels, next to the flat files. so i cleaned them both off, along with a bunch of cardboard boxes. swept the floor and now my entryway, at least, is looking cleaner. i’ll be going through the rest of my studio interior in stages.

1980 photo-collage i made of hockney’s living room

as i sorted through various paper, collages, drawings…i came across this pre-digital age photo-collage i made of david hockney’s living room in 1980. we had been introduced by my then friend, the late henry geldzahler. henry went on to become curator of 20th c. art at the metropolitan museum in nyc, and from there commissioner of cultural affairs for the city of new york. hockney and i have remained friends since that time.

along with this photo-collage, i also came across a number of drawings made in my athens and andros studios in the ‘70’s. the drawing of a man looking off to his right is kyriakos, my favorite model. he was a sreet cleaner on the block in the plaka where my studio was located. i made many drawings and paintings of him, all of which are now in private, corporate and museum collections in greece.

1975 tarlow watercolor of the venetian castle on andros

the watercolor is one of many i made during our summers on the island of andros. it was painted at piso yialia beach, looking towards the old venetian castle, which is a landmark structure in the capitol of andros: chora.

looking back: 2015 with a gaze series painting in progress revising a collage from 11/23/2017 /  by Philip Tarlow

2:50 PM: for the past few days i’ve been in the mood to take older collages and revise them. the one you see BELOW left, made in 2017, was ok, but it seems too busy in light of my current aesthetic. so i worked on it a bit, and the result, for the moment, is what you see on the right.

the composition has been made more spare, with elements of the 2017 version intact. bits of my recent mark making frenzy have found their way into the picture, and two figures have appeared on the lower left, echoing my latest passion for using ano kato-esque figures seen from above, adding another dimension of time and space, as well as a note of mystery.

i don’t think i’m quite done with this one, especially the figures. but i’m too tired to continue this afternoon, so i’ll pick it back up tomorrow morning. but before i do continue, it’s very interesting to me looking at these two side by side, in terms of the story i’m almost ready to tell about the development of my vision; what’s essential and what’s not needed.

july, 2015, with one of my gaze series paintings

8:58 AM: this photo of me with one of my gaze series paintings was shot in july, 2015. the entire series can be viewed here: https://philip-tarlow.squarespace.com/config/

i should make it over to my studio by about 10:30, and will post about my studio process later today.

watercolor/collage 149 /  by Philip Tarlow

2:29 PM: i just accidentally deleted a text i was preparing to post, in which i talk about the birth of this new watercolor/collage 149. it’s just as well. i was waxing philosophical and talking about the mayoruna’s concept of time and how those 2 pages in amazon beaming, which i’ve been reading and rereading for the past 3 nights, has been infiltrating my consciousness. and the effect that’s been having on my process of painting.

watercolor/collage 149 emerged from a new pile of cut up marks i made a few days ago. i made them with the intention of cutting them into pieces for use in future watercolor/collages. some are present in this new one. it had the appearance of an abstracted creekscape until at the last minute i added the figure: the same school girl i photographed last year, which has appeared and 3 or 4 recent works.

compositionally, this is one of my stronger recent paintings. the dominant colors are blues and pinks, with a few bands of warm grey setting them off. a piece of a map found its way in. my recent study of the works and words of vuillard, as well as 18th c. japanese master of the brush, taiga are evident. if you were here right now, i could walk you through what i mean by that statement. i could make a short video & post it on youTube, but who has time?

that’s it for now. i’m going to pack it up & head for the house, so we can take our walk a bit earlier,and come back down the mountain before the sun sets.

why ike taiga? / modifications to watercolor 147 & 135 /  by Philip Tarlow

four 2011 studies in gouache on paper of the work of ike taiga

11:20 AM: as i prepare to start my painting day, i was just perusing one of my books on ike taiga (1723-76). why do i keep coming back to him? why is he one of the only painters whose work i have made studies & copies of? 19 years have passed since i made the 4 studies you see ABOVE. as i begin constructing the history of my work over six decades, taiga could be considered a landmark; a turning point in my journey.

if you take a look at my recent watercolor/collage series, you will see the clear influence taiga has had on my work. click on the 2020 watercolors drop down menu at the top of this page & scroll down. i’ll say more about this later, but for now, click on some of these watercolor/collages, especially the first few rows, make them full page and look carefully at my marks. then make the 4 studies i just posted full page and see if you can identify what it is about taiga’s marks that i relate so strongly to.

i’ll leave you with this for now so i can get to work, and come back to it later in the afternoon.

1:17 PM: as a direct result of revisiting taiga, i made some modifications to a few of my recent watercolor/collages. BELOW, if you compare the previous version of watercolor 147, you’ll see what i mean. first i went over the entire watercolor with a very light tan wash, which left faint vertical marks because of the fan brush i used. if you take a look at my taiga studies, ABOVE, you’ll see that i did something similar, but those marks are beneath the painting rather than on top of it.

then i worked into the watercolor with small leaf-like marks. for now, that’s it. you can observe how the stark white background has transformed as a result of these small changes, and the mildly annoying starkness of the dark geometric shape to the right is integrated more into the composition.

i’m now turning to other recent watercolor/collages to see where this might take me. but i have to be careful not to disturb the integrity of what i’ve already done by doing something i might regret. i’m going to continue working till about 3, when we’re taking our stupa walk. i’ll add more to this post if something interesting happens between now and then.

3:06 PM: i also made a few modifications to watercolor/collage 135. this one has undergone modificatoins over the past few days. today the most obvious is the addition of subtle verticle tan-ish stripes, which, as with watercolor/collage 147, which i worked on earlier today, add coherence to the composition by modifying the stark whiteness of the background. as well, the area to the immediate right of the figure has, for the 3rd time, changes to a pinkish color, and the blue marks to the lower right of the figure were broken up a bit.

BELOW is the before (left) and after.

3 thanksgiving watercolors /  by Philip Tarlow

3:11 PM: mikela & i work every day and today is no exception. so i revised watercolor/collage 135 & 137, and started watercolor/collage 149.

137 has an interesting history. i had cut it in two, thinking i was saving the most inetresting part. but mikela and i both agreed that the original was better, so i rejoined them and that was that. or so i thought! with my recent passion for introducing figures into previous watercolor/collages, it was the turn of 137 today.

it’s as though this boy with the green patterned hat was always there! i’m very pleased with the result, and feel it enriches the composition tremendously. not only that; the whole reason for going back into these older pieces is to add the human dimension to what previously would have seemed to many as an abstraction.

watercolor/collage 135 is the one i’ve been revising since yesterday, when i first introduced the figure in the lower right. today i introduced a new element, collaged to the lower right of the figure. it’s a little like the punctuation mark that was needed in the composition. it kind of reads as a path the figure is about to take. but it’s enigmatic, since this guy seems to be standing in the creek. i love enigmas.

and finally, i started a new one: watercolor/collage 149. right now, it’s very spare, with lots of white space, and the figure of a boy reaching for something . the coloring in this figure on the lower right is mostly crayon, unlike the previous figures i’ve introduced, which were painted in gouache. and, whereas the tree trunks in previous iterations are in gouache, this one, thus far at least, is drawn using a wooden pen and chinese ink. i love how spare and essential it is, in every aspect. we’ll see how long that lasts!

our thanksgiving dinner will consist of mikela’s delicious squash soup & salad, so i’m headed back to the house to prepare for that. happy thanksgiving everyone!

rework of watercolor / collage 135 /  by Philip Tarlow

5:04 PM: just before leaving my studio, i made a small tweak, collaging over the bit to the right of the figure, which you can see in the image below.

watercolor/collage 135 after todays rework

2:51 PM: i decided watercolor/collage 135 was too scattered and decided to rework it, introducing a small figure. it’s still in process, but it looks right now as though it’s benefitting from the changes i made thus far. i’m going to call it a day so we can take our walk up to the stupa & i’ll see how i feel about it in the morning.

BELOW: watercolor/collage 135 before (left) and after todays revisions. i had to sacrifice, as usual, some very beautiful but unnecessary passages for the sake of the whole; something biden may find himself confronting soon.