2021 watercolors 3 and 4 /  by Philip Tarlow

2021 watercolor 3 11x15”

2:05 PM: we only got a little over an inch of snow last night, whereas other parts of the valley got 8”, with gusty winds creating drifts of 2 feet. right now it’s clear with temperatures in the upper 20’s, so in about an hour we’ll take our stupa trail walk.

2021 watercolor 4 11x15”

i’m still in a watercolor mood, so i made 2021 watercolor 3 and 2021 watercolor 4. they both echo the discoveries i made over the last week, with # 1 & 2.

two new red watercolors i received a few days ago from dickblick are playing a significant role in these new watercolors. and my ongoing perusing of the decorative period paintings of vuillard & bonnard are evident in some of the patterning. it’s taken me this long: over a year, to get to this point. lately my morning meditations are going a lot deeper and lasting longer. i think this too is playing a role in the roll i’m on. no pun intended!

a willowy maxicraxis day /  by Philip Tarlow

3:40 PM: an unusual day. a grey day. an maxicraxis day. and what, pray tell, is maxicraxis? just a word i made up to see if you’re paying attention. i’ve had the intention of creating some printouts of my recent watercolors and sending them to galleries that might be interested in representing my work.

so, seeing as it’s a very grey day, with snow predicted for tonight, i didn’t do any painting. instead i looked critically at my recent watercolors made an initial selection of the ones i felt would be best to use for the printouts.

2021 watercolor 2 /  by Philip Tarlow

2021 watercolor 2 11x15”

2:39 PM: following the delivery of a large 1984 oil of downtown houston, which had been out on loan, and a wonderful viber call with my grand daughter manio in athens, i started work on 2021 watercolor 2. the effects of looking at bonnard paintings while having my morning matcha tea are evident here.

bonnard: children playing with a goat 1895/99 168x130 cm.

i’ve taken some of the discoveries i made in yesterdays 2021 watercolor 1 a bit further. i like how the two blues play off one another, as well as the yellow marks on the lower portion of the composition. i think these nwe discoveries are bound to show up in the next series of oils i do. but for now, i feel like i’m still into making watercolors.

here’s one of the bonnard paintings i was looking at this morning.

first watercolor of 2021 /  by Philip Tarlow

2021 watercolor 1 11x15”

1:24 PM: i have to leave early today for some stuff we need to do in salida (1:15 min. each way). so i didn’t feel i had time to start working in oil, and chose instead to make an 11x15” watercolor, loosly based on photos i’ve shot over the past week on our stupa trail walks; mostly of the frozen creek waters at the head of the trail.

not having made a watercolor for a while, it felt fresh, as does the result.

BELOW: i had mentioned the amazing new years gift mikela got me, and promised pics. well, here they are. it had tritum tubes, which glow brightly in the dark and last about 12-15 years before needing replacement. that feature is dear to my heart because when i was a kid, one of my dad’s clients was the watch manufacturer croton. he got me one, which glowed for a few hours after being exposed to the light, and i used to wear it to bed and look at it under the covers. the main reason we’re driving to salida in a little while is to have the stainless steel bracelet re-sized to fit my wrist. i don’t dare try doing it myself for fear of scratching the watch or otherwise screwing it up.

changes to 2021 creek oil 1 /  by Philip Tarlow

6:29 PM: well, this may be it. we stopped off at my studio on our way back from our stupa walk a few hours ago. we both agreed that this appears to be a completed painting, and is far better than the previous version. so maybe it is singing and i just didn’t get it! would it hold up hanging in a beautiful space adjacent to other beautiful paintings? more importantly, is this a painting that the new owner could look at every morning and see something new, something fresh? looking back at the arc of my creations over the past 2 decades, when i was increasingly consumed with the beauty and mystery of our creeks, these recent creek oils reflect that deepening connection to their forms, colors, sounds.

before (left) and after todays changes to 2021 creek oil 1

2021 creek oil 1 26x78” as it looked moments ago

DETAIL

2:42 PM: here’s the current state of 2021 creek oil 1 as of a few moments ago, at the end of my painting day, as i prepare to go back over to the house & drive up to the tashi gomang stupa trail for another delightful and energizing afternoon walk. i’ll resume tomorrow morning. it will be an abbreviated painting day due to an afternoon appointment. right now i prefer it to how ot looked when i walked into the studio this morning, but it’s not singing yet. when it starts singing, you don’t have to think about it; you know it!

1:53 PM: i did a bit more over the past hour, and here’s what it looks like now. still working, and will likely continue modifications tomorrow morning.

2021 creek oil 1 26x78” as it looked moments ago

12:55 PM: my first glance at recent work usually lets me know what needs work. today it was 2021 creek oil 1. the left portion looked ok, but the center and right areas of the composition seemed too busy, and my eye got confused about where to look. so i started working on it. it’s in process, but it’s interesting to watch the progression. BELOW right is how it looks at the moment; about to launch back in.

further work today on 2021 creek oils 1 & 3 /  by Philip Tarlow

2021 creek oil 1 26x78” as it looked at 1pm

i continued to simplify 2021 creek oil 1, focusing mainly onthe right half of the painting. in the same way those 2 trees were bothering me and seemed less and less essential, i felt similarly about the grey rock on the lower right. so i painted over that whole right side, leaving only what felt essential and adding a few blue rock forms. paintings need to breathe, just like the rest of us. it’s close but i’m not sure it’s there yet. BELOW: how the painting looked before (left) and after todays intervention. click on each image to make it full screen.

2021 creek oil 2 26 x 66” as it looked at the end of my work day.

once i stopped work on 2021 creek oil 1, i moved on to 2. i had painted over the initial very colorful first stage and now that it’s dry, i went back in, brushing a bit more titanium buff color over what had already been brushed over, and began working into it again, adding some leaf shapes on the left and rocks on the right.the song this one is singing is a rather delicate one, and i’m conscious of moving my brush and my arm and my whole body to that rhythm. BELOW starting from the left are the 3 stages of 2021 creek oil 2 thus far. i’ll continue work on this one tomorrow. right now i’m going to clean up & go meet mikela at the house so we can leave for our afternoon walk up to the stupa.

a bettert photo of 2021 creek oil 3 32x32”

out, damned trees! /  by Philip Tarlow

2021 creek oil 1 at 2pm, following the replacement of the trees on the right. see the comaprative images BELOW

2 PM:when i entered my studio this morning, i knew i had to get rid of thos two trees on the right. i had thought they were serving as a support of all that’s going on in this active surface. but they were just stealing the show. so i painted over them and instead added what comes off as a continuation of the activity taking place to the left. now the dramatic focus is the area of white water and blue/white/green patterning. the addition of that small patch of white on the far right echoes the larger area of white to the left, as do the wiggly blue marks around and above it.

2021 creek oil 3 /  by Philip Tarlow

2:31 PM: i wasn’t crazy about this one, which started out as 2020 sound of a flute. it was dark and uninspired, so while waiting for 2021 creek oil 2, which i worked on a few days ago, to dry, i painted over this one to see where it wanted to go. the result is still kind of dark, but definitely more interesting. it’s in alignment with my desire to reduce the creek inspired forms and colors down to semi-abstract symbols that give just enough information to set the stage, and leave enough understated to provoke dreaming.

PS: we stopped at the studio on our way to the trail and we both felt a lot more strongly about this painting than i did at the end of my painting day this afternoon. it’s much stronger than i thought, and we’ll confirm that once i t dries and i hang it in the house.

we’re taking our stupa trail walk soon, so i’m stopping for the day and continue work on this one and 2021 creek oil 2 tomorrow morning.

2021 creek oil 3 32x32” at 2pm

sunset this afternoon from our living room window

a few tweaks to 2021 creek oil 1 and continued work on 2021 creek oil 2 /  by Philip Tarlow

2021 creek oil 1, 26x78” at 1:30 PM

1:43 PM: as i indicated in my 10:54 am post, i worked on both 2021 creek oils today. lets start with 2021 creek oil 1. my work was focused on the 2 tree trunks on the far right. they were too fuzzy. now they have more definition and a clearer space between them allowing the viewer to get that they are 2 separate trees, and a branch jutting out on the upper left. this allows the rest of the painting, which i feel very good about, to breathe. the airy, creek inspired patterning and subtle pinks can flutter and sing, with the two tree trunks acting as supports.the other tweak was to the v-shaped area of dark blue in the upper center. i added some white marks, somewhat reducing the intensity of that blue, which had been bugging me.

DETAIL of Frans Hals painting of Dorothea Berck

that fugitive quality termed painterly reigns, always. it can be achieved with other mediums, but i think oil is king in this respect. acrylics dry too quickly to blend colors or be able to go back in a few hours or even days later and scrape about. the flemish created oils in the 15th century, in part to go beyond the strict technical limitations of egg tempera, which had been the main painting medium all the way back to ancient times. they reveled in their newfound freedom, which was taken to a whole new level by 17th cetury dutch artists, who created some of the finest masterpieces of painting in oil, including of course, rembrandt and the amazing franz hals, who could swiftly paint a gloved hand with a few flicks of his brush.

2021 creek oil 2 26x66” as it looked after painting over it with a wash of brilliant yellow mixed with titanium buff.

ABOVE is 2021 creek oil 2 after scraping and painting over it, then scraping some more. the shapes on the left and right were created by moving my wide scraping tool in a sweeping, gestural way, intentionally creating biomorphic shapes that could not be planned in advance. tomorrow i’ll work into it and begin creating the layering characteristic of my recent paintings in oil, allowing portions of the under-painting to appear here and there.

10:54 AM: the moment of entering the studio is always my best time to evaluatewhat i did the previous day. although i didn’t work on 2021 creek oil 1 yesterday, i saw an area on the right that needed work, so i’ll start out with that and then move on to the new 2021 creek oil 2. BELOW you see them both on my east wall.

by the way, in case you were wondering about the watch mikela got me for new years, it’s been in the usps system since it was shipped, december 28! will it ever get here? i’ll post a pic if & when it does.

starting 2021 creek oil 2, 26x66" /  by Philip Tarlow

2021 creek oil 2, 26x66” as it looked moments ago

2:31 PM: we’re going on our stupa trail walk in a little while, so i’m stopping here for the day. as you will see if you compare with the image BELOW, shot 2 hours ago, mroe blue has entered the composition, some greens on the bottom, and more definition on the branch to the right.

i’m enjoying how my watercolor discoveries of the past few months are translating to oil. i have to watch it with this one and not allow it to become too loaded with patterns and marks coming more from my head than my gut. that, as you know if you follow my blog posts, is a constant danger. the big difference now that i’m working in oil again, is that i can scrape and paint over what i’ve done, creating suggestive, mystery laden layers, as i did with 2021 creek oil 1.

2021 creek oil 2, 26x66” as it looked moments ago

watercolor 168, which i referred to today while painting 2021 creek oil 2

12:49 PM: about an hour ago i smoothed out a few wrinkles in the linen canvas i stretched yesterday by removing staples & re-stretching the areas where there wer wrinkles. satisfied i had a taut, smooth surface to paint on, i started work on 2021 creek oil 2.

this is the first time i’m using a watercolor as well as my creek photos as a reference. as a direct result, the colors i’m employing reflect the brighter, more pure colors of recent watercolors. for some reason, i’m also experiencing a higher level of certainty in my marks and strokes.