a new selection of watercolor/collages for the boulder show / more work on 2021 creek oil 5 /  by Philip Tarlow

1:07 PM: after revising my choice of paintings for the boulder museum show, i finally felt i was in the right space to continue work on ˆ2021 creek oil 5. i was going back and forth about leaving it the way it was, or doing more to fill the large areas of gray. BELOW are the before & after images. i have no doubt that this painting gained a lot by everything i just did. i’m going to leave it for now and see how i feel about it over the coming days.

12:35 pm: i had a really good sleep last night & arrived in my studio full of energy. the first thing i did was to switch out the watercolor/collages i had chosen for the exhibition at the boulder museum of contemporary art.

instead of what i posted yesterday, i chose the two you see below: watercolor/collage 12 and 2020 watercolor/collage 149. i trust my gut, and that’s what it prompted me to do today. i must say, i like the fact that both of these have a balance between realism and abstraction; both contain figures which, as john russell said in this 1982 ny times review of my solo show at fischbach gallery: tarlow’s paintings “make us wonder what his people get up to when they aren’t in the picture.” (fischbach was then located on 59th st. in nyc and no longer exists)

2019 plein air drawings /  by Philip Tarlow

the two watercolor/collages i framed this morning, which will be shown starting march 27, at: boulder museum of contemporary art

4/22/19 plein air drawing 7

5:23 PM: i wasn’t up for painting today. maybe because i went to town this morning to shop for some food we needed and go to the p.o. plus i made a bunch of logistical call, setting up doc appointments and so on.

so i just surrendered to not doing any painting, and instead focused on getting the two watercolor/collages framed and ready for the bouilder show, opening 3/27. i’ll post pics of the framed pieces in a bit; i have to photograph them.

yesterday i discovered a very small drawing pad containing quick plein air creek drawings i made back in 2018. the marks in these little drawings are precursors to the marks you’ll see in my current watercolor/collages and oils.

continuing work on 2021 creek oil 7 /  by Philip Tarlow

2021 creek oil 7 after my 3:15 additions

5:58 PM: i had to go into town briefly at about 2:45. i figured that would be the end of my painting day. think again, philip. when i returned, 1/2 hour later, i saw what needed to happen with this painting, and got back to work. i only had about 45 minutes before leaving for the house and our stupa trail walk, so i had to work fast. often that;s a good thing. no thinking, just doing. mix the colors you need speedily, find the right brushes, and go for it! the additions i made were critical, and the painting may now be resolved.

the critical changes are: the face, hair & hands of the girl on the right; the hair of the girl on the left; the grey areas around the figure on the left; the reflections in the glass floor beneath the girl on the right; and finally, more definition in the flesh tones of arms of the figure on the left.

combines this gives one the impression that i did more work on the lower right portion of the composition. i didn’t. but the areas i did focus on allow that lower right passage, which previously gave the impression of something blurry and unfinished, to jump into focus, and make complete sense.

we’ll see in the morning if i still feel the painting is resolved. if so, it will go to the house once it’s dry, and undergo the acid teat.

our stupa walk, buy the way, was magnificent, as always. i shot a pic of the creek, which chenges daily as the ice melts. i’ll post it shortly and you’ll find it at the bottom of this page.

1:50 PM: i was about to post todays blog when i did something foolish and lost the entire post.

i’m going to try and recreate it, but i’m so pissed, i don’t know if i can.

2021 creek oil 7 48 x 24” at 2:30 PM

this morning i continued work on 2021 creek oil 7. fist thing i did was to flip it upside down. then i scraped what i’d done yesterday, leaving some of that to show through in spots. then i printed out one of the photos i re-discovered yesterday on an old hard drive. they were shot in 2008 at the then brand new acropolis museum in athens. i spoke in yesterdays post about the architecture of this museum, with it’s glass floors revealing the ancient ruins below.

two girls; friends i imagine, stand on that glass floor, one with her hands on hips. their bodies are reflected by the glass floor. i am not painting the interior of a museum here. i am pursuing the “véritable éspace plastique,” as matisse said. a true plastic space; a space authentically my own.

when i find myeslf in this kind of environment, i feel at home and, at the same time, transported to a realm beyond conventional time/space.

my hope is that the viewer will have a similar experience; feeling at once as though they were in their own familiar living room and are simultaneously transported to a place unknown.

i’m definitely on a new tack. taking all that i’ve done, all that i’ve learned to a new place. i made the paintings in my ano kato series, which i love from a different space.

starting 2021 creek oils 6 & 7 / SELECTING 2 WATERCOLOR/COLLAGES FOR THE BOULDER CONTEMPORARY MUSEUM SHOW /  by Philip Tarlow

2:12 PM: now that i successfully made a painting on top of an older one i wasn’t satisfied with, i’m moving more in that direction. i check first to make sure mikela agrees i’m not destroying one that should be a keeper before moving ahead.

so i went over 2 paintings with a light wash of titanium white & brilliant yellow and then started my drawing using a fat black oil stick.

BELOW are #6&7, stages 1 & 2. 2021 creek oil 6, on the left, hasn’t yet had any color introduced into the composition. whereas in 2021 creek oil 7 reds and blues have been introduced. i love going back & forth between 2 paintings like this. i’ve departed from the photos of students seated on the school lobby floor, and moved on to photos i shot a ten years ago in the then (2009) new athens acropolis museum, which was designed by bernard tschumi architects. amongst other interesting features, there’s a semi-transparent glass floor, which is what these visitors to the museum are standing on. it reveals the ancient temple ruins below the museum, and creates some very cool reflections and shadows. we went out on the terrace, which directly faces the acropolis, for lunch. if i go back to the original photos i shot, i know there’s lots more material to draw from.

i couldn’t make these paintings until a decade had passed and i had that all important, for me at least, distance.

i had about a 20 minute interruption about half an hour ago; every 3-4 months i get what’s known as an ocular migraine. it’d like a short lived misfiring in that area of brain connected to vision, that makes it hard to see; everything is scrambled. so it’s best to just sit & close your eyes for 15-20 minutes, and it’s gone. last one was december.

5:28 PM: this morning i chose 2 watercolor/collages for the BMCA open wall exhibition, opening march 27th. this photo shows the candidates i created to choose from. i decided on the 2, one atop the other, on the right, next to 2021 creek oil 5. they will be mounted on matt board and installed in square white frames, like the one you see just to the left of them. i chose htem in part because they are related in terms of color & composition, and because one contains a figure, which is becoming increasingly important in my recent work. in the two new oils i started today, for example,the human figure dominates the composition.

sunset pics from yesterday / continued work on 2021 ceek oil 5 /  by Philip Tarlow

7:26 am: i should get to my studio by 9; in the meantime, yesterday’s sunsets from our living room window.

continuing work on 2021 creek oil 5 /  by Philip Tarlow

2021 creek oil 5 at the end of my work day

at work this afternoon on 2021 creek oil 5

3:03 PM: i went a bit further with 2021 creek oil 5, focusing mainly on the cabinets behind the seated student & the blue books beside her. i also worked a bit on the creek landscape beside her, softening some of the too busy marks, adding some cascading water then taking it out, which left the sweep of white you see on the upper right. i find the subtle variations of blues and greens a turn on, as well as the bottle of water, with it’s red label. rather than working on her computer, the student almost appears to be nodding off.

the presence of this figure is strong. it would be a shame to do too much more to the space surrounding her. it feels to me as if she needs this space, in part to contemplate being in two places at once: the school lobby and creek side. there is something in all this that brings to mind giacometti’s painted figures.

2021 creek oil 5 32x36” at 1pm today

2021 creek oil 5 on the easel moments ago

12:24 PM: we had a zoom this morning, so i’m a bit late getting to the studio.

i scraped over what i did yesterday, then began working into it with oil paints. the grey ground i applied yesterday is not quite dry, so as i work, the fresh paint is picking up some of the underlying grey; just enough to make it interesting. continuing work now, and will post pics as the painting evolves. once again, these paintings are alive and have a mind of their own, so there’s no telling what direction this will go.

on the wall to the right is 2021 creek oil 1

BELOW: 2 images i shot on our stupa walk yesterday

back in my studio / starting 2021 creek oil 5 /  by Philip Tarlow

2:22 PM: this morning i did some organizing work in the studio, then i started 2021 creek oil 5, which is being painted over the 2017 32 x 36” crestone sky painting you see BELOW, which i consider unsuccessful and therefore a candidate for an over-painting.

DETAIL of stage 1: 2021 creek oil 5

i made the ground for the over painting with a thin mix of grays with a touch of red.

so far, in this first stage, i’m drawing from the same photo i’ve used in the last 2 paintings: a student seated on the school lobby floor. the drawing was made using a grey oil pastel stick, working right into the still wet oil paint. so perhaps the best two words to describe the surface right now are: wet and juicy.

this one, if it turns out well, is a commission i’m giving myself, as opposed to the previous painting commissioned by mikela. and it’s destined for the west wall of our living room, where 2021 creek oil 4 currently hangs. this one would hang on the same wall, but to the right of the windows. i’ll post a pic of the space later, so you know what i’m talking about.

7:53 AM: yesterday morning i drove to salida & got my permanent crown, relacing the temp. then i went to the att store and traded my iphone X for the 12 max pro. much bigger screen, much sharper image and, most important for me, way better cameras (3). here’s one of my first test shots this morning: 2021 creek oil 4 hanging in our living room with early morning light.

1980's ceramic plate /  by Philip Tarlow

8:25 am: today i’m driving to salida to have my permanent crown installed at the dentist. so i won’t be in my studio, and i’ll post about my studio process tomorrow.

this is a ceramic plate i painted in the late ‘80’s, inspired by ancient egyptian art. it’s one of many i painted during that period, when we lived in palm beach & i collaborate dwith alocal ceramics artist.

2021 creek oil 1 sings today! /  by Philip Tarlow

2021 creek oil 1 78x26” at 2pm

1:44 PM: a new pair of legs has entered the picture plane. they belong to a student who is holding a mysterious magic white wand.

lots has happened since yesterday. i like how i broke through the predictability of the pink border with the student’s legs, on the left. i also like what happened with the cabinets behind the girl on top. that ochre really does it for me. the red box above the student on the bottom was needed to break up the space between her and the rest of the composition.

long narrow compositions can be tricky, but i have always loved this shape. just as i have always loved figures viewed from above.

the reds bounce from her bracelet to his socks to the water bottle on the shelf.

she’s definitely singing! i’ll know on saturday morning whether she’s pitch perfect. tomorrow is the installation of my permanent crown, replacing the temporary i’ve had for a couple of months. so i won’t be in the studio tomorrow.

i did go back to the studio with mikela just now, and we both almost fainted with pleasure looking at her!

at work this morning

continuing work on 2021 creek oil 1 /  by Philip Tarlow

2021 creek oil 1 at 2:30 pm

at work this afternoon on the second figure

2:41 PM: i did quite a bit more work on this painting today, with a few breaks for lunch and to speak with my grandson and my son in athens, greece, in separate calls. a second figure has been introduced; also one of the students sitting on the floor of the school lobby working on her laptop.

this second figure, placed all the way at the bottom of this long, narrow composition, adds a whole new dimension. in reality, they were sitting adjacent to one another. here, they are at opposite ends of the composition, with a scrumble of painted-over creek-scape separating them.

the red dots i added in the pink border may be a bit to obvious, so i may take them out or somehow modify them tomorrow.

the ochre cabinets above the figure at the top will be modified as well, so that the depth and the shadows become clearer.

the collaged elements i added this morning are on the lap of the upper figure and under the lower leg of the figure at the bottom. both are pieces of a map.

11:42 AM: i felt like introducing a few collaged elements into the composition. it’s a challenging thing to do when the oil painting surface is not fresh. but i’m attempting to do it anyway. BELOW is a comparative vew of the painting yesterday and at the end of my painting day today. i’ll continue working and post what i’ve done at the next stage, when i might take a lunch break & have some leftover pizza, which by the way is usually better the next day.