WATERCOLOR 167 /more work on 2020 sound of a flute 2 /  by Philip Tarlow

3:22 PM: after doing some work on the oil you see below, i made a new watercolor: 167. i’m not calling it watercolor/collage 167 simply because i don’t anticipate there will be any collaging in this one. inspired by a series of recent photos i’ve shot of the creek, i chose one which is more “abstract” in the sense that you are looking straight down at a tightly cropped patch of icy creek water and rocks. period.

here we see the natural abstraction occurring in all of nature. the way i use this as a channel for mark making is perhaps more of an opportunity to explore the movements my hand, arm and body make when holding a brush, as well as the colors i gravitate towards.

we could be looking at a portion of the vast galaxy just as well as a few meters of the creek. as is true with all of the paintings i post, in real life it’s far more vibrant and alive than what you perceive on your screen.

watercolor 167 11x14.5”

1:23 PM: i was about to start a new watercolor when my eye caught yesterdays 2020 found of a flute 2. i felt the urge to work into it, which i did. BELOW is a comparative view of yesterday’s (left) and today’s

now maybe i’ll start work on a new watercolor/collage.

renewing my sound of a flute series /  by Philip Tarlow

12/29/20 sound of a flute 78x26”

12/29/20 sound of a flute 2 20x16”

2:32 PM: today i entered my studio in deep despair, and i don’t know why. i had forgotten to take my phone, so i drove back to the house to get it, shared with mikela who gave me a quick pep talk, and returned. i was determined to get some work done. the 78x26” canvas i stretched last month has been leaning against the wall all this time, so i grabbed it & decided that, rather than make a horizontal creek inspired painting, which was my original intention, i would make a vertical. kind of a continuation of my sound of a flute series, informed however by the 165 some odd watercolor/collages i’ve done since then. rather than go over the canvas with a ground color, like the beige i used on most of the sound of a flute series, i started working straight onto the white-primed linen. as i worked, i came across a 20x16” creek-scape i had painted over, and went back & forth between the two, using mostly oil pastel crayons. we’re walking to the stupa in 20 minutes, so i’m going to complete this post & see what happens in the morning.

more work on 12/19/20 creek oil as the snow falls / revisiting taiga /  by Philip Tarlow

3:19 PM: the ground on this painting, which has been painted over at least a dozen times, was simply too dark. i liked the deep pink, but everything was tending to sink into it, creating a dark vibe that wasn’t me. so naturally i went over the whole thing with a thin coat of titanium/zinc white and then started painting & drawing into it while it was still wet. the result thus far, which you see in this final photo of the day, has a warmish grey tone, with the underlayers peeking through as usual, creating a somewhat mysterious image, which i’ll paint and draw into tomorrow morning. the seated figures are inspired by taiga’s paintings of scholar/poet/painter/musicians sitting under the trees near a waterfall, sharing their stories. i feel a strong connection to these guys and their way of life, endangered as it was by the uncertainties of ever changing regimes, which made it necessary for them to flee at a moments notice, in fear for their lives.this human presence in a painting means a lot to me, and very likely to those who will see them. there’s a story here. right now, just telling the story of our magical creeks is not enough for me. i need to dream the story of these 18th c. buddies of mine, and how they reveled in one another’s poetry, music and painting.

a word about layers. i don’t set out with the intention of creating layers upon layers of oil paintings, one on top of another. but sometimes, not always (that would be a gimmick) it happens. it happens as i search for solutions. scraping, drawing or painting over what i scraped, and so on. i love when magic happens. there’s no mistaking it. all underlying marks and colors, whether visible or not, contribute to that potential magic.

so, until tomorrow my friends.

12/19/20 creek oil at 2pm

2:17 PM: snow showers continue, with increasing winds. it should get heavier after dark.

here’s the current state of 12/19/20 creek oil.

in an obvious return to my sound of a flute series (see drop down menu item above) this is a version reflecting all that came after that series, which was executed in 2019. i’m still finding my rhythm with this one, which thus far is relying more heavily on marks made with oil crayons than the brush.

i’m going to carry on working for another hour or so, and will post when i’m ready to wrap for the day.

12/19/20 creek oil at 1pm today

12:45 PM: as predicted, snow is falling & should continue into the night. we’re hoping for at least 3”, which will be good for our yearly precip totals.

i’m working into 12/19/20 creek oil right now, so i can’t say too much till later this afternoon.

starting out fresh....well, not exactly... /  by Philip Tarlow

2:34PM: you may recall i’d been mentoring a hs student named k. for over a year, until covid happened. he has continued to paint and just sent me a photo of this, his latest painting. i’m very impressed! what do you think?

2:11 PM: well, i painted over what i had done this morning, for about the 12th time, tuckered myself out (plus we’re about to take our stupa walk) so here’s how it looks now, and will remain this way till tomorrow morning.

ZHAO MENGFU (1254-1322) DESCRIBED HIS CREATIVE PROCESS NOT AS “PAINTING“ but as “WRITING”

12/19/20 creek oil at 10 am

pink creek 32x32” oil and collage on linen 2017

10:41 AM: after painting over 12/19/20 creek oil yesterday afternoon, i did the usual scrape & wipe to disclose the beautiful colors & marks beneath. here’s how it looks this morning, as i prepare to work back into it. at the same time, i’m unstretching an older motion series painting so that i can stretch a new one & be able to go back & forth, which as most of you know is my preferred way of avoiding getting stuck and invested in one particular painting and the solutions that go along with it. so here’s how it looks; almost good enough to eat!

BELOW: pink creek 32x32” is the 2017 motion series painting i’m un-stretching. if you are interested in purchasing at a very reasonable price, email or text me.

continued work on 12/19/20 creek oil /  by Philip Tarlow

4:52 PM: the 1:25pm version wasn’t good enough for me, so i painted over it, scraped over that and we’ll see what tomorrow brings! i spent a fair amount of time cleaning & grinding fresh tumeric so i could freeze it and be able to access it easily for my ginger/tumeric drink. tomorrow i’ll do the same with my fresh ginger, & i’ll be all set for at least a month.

1:25 PM: so i did go back into it. the drips it made when i turned it up to photograph it were bugging me. so after going back into it, i photographed it flat on the floor while standing on my step ladder. it was difficult to use the tripod and the speed had to be very slow due to relatively low lighting, but i think i got a decent photo. but i’m not so sure what i did is as good as it was before the intervention, so i may have to leave it till tomorrow & see what if anything i want to do next. i’m working on it flat on 2 saw horses so that my mark making is more gestural than if it were on the easel. i think the latest re-work was too much from my head, trying to re-create what had happened earlier, before the drips occurred. this is important information for those of you who really want to understand my studio process. this illustrates just how delicate it can be.

12:50 PM: i wasn’t happy with yesterdays version, so i went over it and then went back in with grey brown and white. it was very liquid, so when i went to stand it up & photograph it, everything ran. it’s kinda cool looking, but it no longer looks like this photo, and i may have to start over to preserve the calligraphic immediacy of line.

i’ll post more later this afternoon.

more work on 12/29/20 creek oil and watercolor/collage 166 /  by Philip Tarlow

2:42 PM: final marks for the day before going on our stupa walk at 3. BELOW: current state of 12/19/20 creek oil and watercolor/collage 166. the oil now has more pink, which enlivens the entire image, and a very fortuitous sweep of my palette knife creating that loop on the left, stabilizing and adding a certain character to the composition as a whole. the watercolor/collage needs work, but is slowly finding it’s voice. it’s become a variation on the image of mikela watering our flowering plant, seen from above, and has collaged elements that create more musical notes; a kind of falsetto. i know you think i’m wacko, but tha’s how i see it! until tomorrow, hope you enjoyed your xmas. i got a fantastic gift from mikela: a watch that will arrive oabout january 6 or 7th. i’ll share a photo tomorrow or this evening when we return from our walk.

12/19/20 creek oil at 1pm

1:34 PM: more work on 12/19/20 creek oil, with the new element, taken from my photo from above of mikela watering our flowering plant.

watercolor/collage 166 at 1:30 pm

and continued work on watercolor/collage 166, which also has elements from the same photo.

DETAIL of 12/19/20 creek oil 32x32”

11:36 AM: i arrived in my studio on xmas day with renewed energy and immediately jumped back into 12/19/20 creek oil. i’m going to leave it for now and move on to watercolors, all the while casting evaluating glances.

BELOW: yesterdays version on the left and todays on the right. the underlying pink and freshly applied orange/siena marks form rock inspired shapes and the blue mimicks creek water, with faint white dots indicating bubbles in the water.

continuing work on 12/19/20 creek oil & watercolor/collage 166 /  by Philip Tarlow

2:29 PM: i got back to work today after our salida adventure yesterday & as predicted was able to view watercolor/collage 166 and 12/19/20 creek oil with fresh eyes. i made changes to both. i think the watercolor is now resolved and will not undergo any further changes. the faint grey marks on mikela’s body were enough to make that space seem less like a blank and more like an integral part of the composition. as well, i extended some of the purple shadows, giving more balance to the composition with the least possible means.

BELOW: the before & after

the oil underwent dramatic changes, although at first glance it might not seem so. the blue calligraphic marks made with a fan brush were lightly painted over with a rose tint and new marks took their place. some of what was there yesterday remains, but what you see now (in the image on the right, below) fills more of the square space of the composition, allowing it to breathe more fully. a dance is now occurring, and a few small but critical red marks provide a subtle accent to the movement taking place. i ahd to wait for the right moment to pounce. the nature of this painting is such that it resists interference, whispering just leave well enough alone, philip. it actually helped that i received some new ink for my fountain pens today. i tried one of them out, which is named southern portal. the flourishes i made on a blank piece of paper emboldened me to make the marks you see in todays version. i had no intention of drawing something or creating a composition; i was just making the marks that come naturally when i move my arms and hand. that small event opened the door.

salida dentist, studio break, co-o-o-ld & windy /  by Philip Tarlow

motion 25 32x32” 2018, which i may unstretch tomorrow

4:33 PM: today we went to salida where i had a dental appointment to replace a temporary root canal filling with a permanent one. unfortunately, she discovered a hairline crack in the crown, which means i have to get a whole new crown! expensive.

today was one of our coldest days. this morning when we woke up it was 0°F and didn’t get above 18° F during the day, with a brisk wind making it feel even colder. a little good news did come out of our 60 mile drive to salida: i was able to replenish my stock of IPA’s. great colorado beers are available in salida, and i’ll be enjoying one with dinner in an hour.

i’ve had time to reflect on yesterdays watercolor/collage. it doesn’t need much, but i think i know where to go with it tomorrow morning. not yet sure where i may go with 12/19/20 creek oil. but it’s always good to take even a one day break & return to my studio with fresh eyes. one of my first acts in the morning may be to unstretch motion 25, which you see here, so that i can use the stretcher bars for a new painting. it’s not that i don’t h ave new stretcher bars to use for that purpose, but i’m trying to cut down on the number of paintings crowding my studio space.

BELOW: left & center: shot on our 12/21/20 stupa walk right: sunset at 4:52pm tonight from our west windows

continuing work on 12/19/20 creek oil & watercolor/collage 166 /  by Philip Tarlow

12/19/20 creek oil 32x32” at the end of my painting day today

1:19 PM: today i continued working on both 12/19/20 creek oil and watercolor/collage 166. while the oil is moving ahead in spurts, with brush-overs, scraping & calligraphic bursts, the watercolor is progressing slowly and with great care to maintain the open spaces which, in a watercolor, can never be recreated once they’re gone.

pink has replaced beige as the overall color in the oil, with calligraphic marks in blue being the dominant event in the composition, which has now moved away from any semblance of creek-ness. the memory remains however, with underlying creek references peeking through when you see the painting in person. the influence of 11th-16th c. chinese masters of the brush is evident here. my entire being resonates to the notion of painting as poetry & music. and our unique marks, refined down over time to gestures celebrating life, sound our particular note with the movement only living beings are capable of.

2:31PM: so here’s the current state of the watercolor, which is moving so slowly it’s going backwards. mikela has entered the picture with her watering can, and the purple shadows provide an architectural framework for the composition. the pink flowers, now that i’m looking at it, seem a bit isolated from the rest of the composition, so maybe i’ll try to rectify that right now before the light starts fading.

BELOW: watercolor/collage 166 at 2pm (left) and 3pm

BELOW: shot on our stupa walk yesterday afternoon

surrendering to abstraction / STARTING WATERCOLOR/COLLAGE 166 /  by Philip Tarlow

2:36 PM: i like working on two things in tandem. if possible, two very different things. so as 12/19/20 creek oil became progressively more abstract, my new watercolor/collage 166 became more and more realist. it’s a good example of how there’s really no difference. flowers and leaves? yes. marks on a surface? yes again!

the juice is in the marks, the colors, the forms. the story is a developing one, of how the surface dictates the movement of the brush. how the voluptuousness the the reds, for example, gives way to the energy of the greens. and how the white of the surface interacts with them. sexually, one could say.

watercolor/collage 166 stage 1

12/19/20 creek oil 32x32”, at noon today

12:34 PM: today started out with me starting a small watercolor based on photos i shot of mikela watering our ever growing flowering pink plant. i couldn’t resist the temptation to do more work on 12/19/20 creek oil, so i lay it flat on my saw horses and did some work. i painted over the marks i made over the past few days with titanium buff; a color i love. then i blotted it so it wouldn’t run when i hung it on my east wall, got up on my step ladder (also titanium buff colored) and began making marks while referring to a photo of the creek i printed out. it’s one of many, but i chose this one for it’s inherently abstract feel. and i surrendered to my love of mark making almost but, and this is important, not completely divorced from a subject. the subject, as matisse has said many times, are the marks on the surface.a few square meters of frozen creek provide the forms and colors that guide my brush, and give the viewer a dream space. the visible process underlying the image is a journey in time.

BELOW: the evolution of 12/19/20 creek oil over the past week