organizing watercolor/collages, continuing to stretch canvases /  by Philip Tarlow

2/28/21 watercolor/collage

1:23 PM: just after i had my breakfast i had a long and fruitful conversation with the director of gremillion, the gallery houston that has been representing my work for over 20 years. my plan today was to finsih stretching the canvases i started working on yesterday. but after my conversation, the tail end of which was a face-time, i began organizing an ever growing stack of recent watercolor/collages piled on top of my flat files.

in the process, i came across works, such as the one you see here, that i’d like to see shown together at some point.

a stack of watercolor/collages in a growing pile on my flat files

stretching canvas /  by Philip Tarlow

singing creek hanging over the stairs in my studio

singing creek hanging over the stairs in my studio

3:13 PM: i stretched a 66x16” canvas and prepared to stretch 2 more squarish ones. i was going back & forth about un-stretching a large yellow painting made over 3 years: singing creek. it’s 38 x 78” and i just couldn’t bring myself to un-stretch it & roll it up, likely not to be seen again for years. so, with some difficulty because it’s pretty heavy, i hung it on the wall adjacent to the stairs leading up to my loft area.

it’s meant to be a horizontal, but i could only hang it vertically in this location.

my motion series paintings can be viewed on these two pages:

https://www.philiptarlow.com/recent-1

https://www.philiptarlow.com/motion

a selection can be seen at space gallery in denver and gremillion & co. fine art in houston

singing creek 38x78” 2016-19 oil, oil stick, collage & colored pencil on canvas

12:10 PM: after days of pushing it off (because it means spending one or two days without painting), i’m finally stretching some new canvases. i’ll probably do 2-3 today, then start something new before stretching more. i’ll also have to UN-stretch a few, which is a big pain in the ass because it involves removing all those staples.it’s a cloudy day with possible flurries predicted through tonight & tomorrow.

stretching a 66x16” canvas moments ago

snow approaching / continuing yesterdays watercolor/collage /  by Philip Tarlow

3:41 PM: i did more work on the two watercolors. i think today’s is Ok, but yesterday’s is better. i’ll know better when i bring them to the house. did you catch the two small ano kato figures at the bottom left of 3.22.21 watercolor/collage?

BELOW: left: 3/22/21 watercolor/collage right: 3/23/21 watercolor/collage

why i’m proud of these two watercolor/collages

if you could pay a visit to my studio, you’d see how chaotic it is. but i pretty much know where everything is. there’s a pile of recent watercolor/collages on top of my flat files that i keep going through. i find ones i had under-appreciated and, for a while, put them up against the wall so i can glance at them during the day, and review what it is i love about each one.

there’s definitely an evolution, which i’ve spoke about in these posts. lately it involves the integration of a few directions over the past decade or so. actually i say decade because it’s convenient; i have no idea whether it was 10 or 15 or maybe 20 years ago i took a particular direction.

what i see in these two watercolor/collages is something that simply could not have occured 3, 5, 10, 20 years ago. take those two little figures at the bottom of 3/22/21 watercolor collage. it’s subtle, but how they integrate into the space, into the composition, is kind of magical. the actual creek-scape that inspired these two pieces was photographed just a few days ago, at the start of our walk up to the stupa. i’ve made quite a few plein air paintings of the creek at a spot just opposite this one, so it’s familair territory. but never this particular view, with the big horizontal trunk upon which late afternoon shadows fall.

the way i’ve been able to take what we saw a few days ago and transform it into a dance of form, color and movement is admirable, if i do say so myself!! there are references here to many of the great artists i admire. but what i’ve created is entirely my own vision.

11:38 AM: a series of storms are approaching crestone/baca and should arrive about 7pm. i photographed the eastern sky about 10am.

i’m about to continue work on yesterdays 3/22/21 watercolor/collage, adding a sister piece: 3/23/21 watercolor/collage

1:13 PM BELOW: how they looked moments ago

morning drawing / 3/22/21 creek watercolor stage 1 /  by Philip Tarlow

stage 1: 3/22/21 creek watercolor 15 1/2x 3 3/4”

3:34 PM: today i was prepared to continue my prep work for new canvasses, but i was in a watercolor mood. i started 3/22/21 creek watercolor, moving a lot slower than i have with previous watercolors.

i’m using new watercolors i bought a few weeks back.

more when we return from our walk up the trail.

12:19 PM: i made a new morning drawing, looking down towards our entryway. i’m late to the studio because we had a zoom with our friends in germany. i’ll post more once i’ve had my late breakfast & done some work

preparing new canvases / afternoon drawing /  by Philip Tarlow

3/21/21 afternoon drawing: the coffee corner

6:31 PM: today, instead of a morning drawing, i made an afternoon drawing, as mikela prepared the pizza with a delicious topping, including sardines.

our coffee corner is a subject i’ve never drawn. it’s a bit dispersed and certainly not the best of my morning/afternoon drawings. but what the hell; i had my colored pencils, we were just back fro our stupa walk, i had 10 minutes before the pizza was cooked, so why not?

ijust love drawing. anytime, anyplace. as soon as i could hold a pencil, i was drawing. in school i drew classmates, teachers…and came home to my uncle mort, god rest his soul, who was staying with us while he studies commercial art in nyc. he critiqued the drawings i had made that day while encouraging me to continue drawing and painting. thanks mort.

one of my many acropolis museum photos i’ll be drawing from when i launch into the continuation of new ano kato

i looked at the stretcher bars i have, and figured out what i need to order

2:46 PM: today i decided it’s time to get organized for future work. so i assessed what i’ve got in terms of stretcher bars and canvas, made a decision as to what sizes i want to work on, reviewed some of the phots i shot of the acropolis museum in 2009, and am getting ready to place an order for the supplies i’ll be needing.

i also reviewed the rolls of canvas i have and assessed what needs to be ordered

i also had a thought that, rather than calling this new series 2021 creek oils, which is a little cumbersome and no longer really accurate, i may simply call it new ano kato.

right now, my energy is strong around creating more work inspired by the photos i shot of the acropolis museum and environs, as well as the ones i shot at moma. most but not all of them are views looking down from above.

morning drawing / modifications to 2021 creek oil 4 /  by Philip Tarlow

3:23 PM: i made some additions to 2021 creek oil 4, which i think have made it a better painting. we had it in the house, on a very narrow part of our east wall. since it’s a very skinny shape: 78x16,” it worked well on that wall. but the more we looked at it, the more we both felt there was just too much, especially on the upper portion, that didn’t really hang together. it’s always tricky to go back to a painting you haven’t worked on for a whole month, but so far what i’ve done is working. in addition to the changes i made to the top third of the composition, i fleshed out the two figures quite a bit more. not yet sure if i want or need to do any more…let’s see tomorrow.

3/20/21 morning drawing

12:11 PM: this morning i made another morning drawing; the second one i’ve made inspired by cacti in our bedroom.

once i brought yesterday’s naked in the acropolis museum back to the house, it was like waking from a dream, and i realized what a lousy painting it is. so today i’ll paint over most if not all of it, as well as returning to creek oil 4. it’s been in the house for the past few weeks, and it just feels like it needs more work. so i’ll get busy and post when i’ve done some work.

naked in the acropolis museum /  by Philip Tarlow

naked in the acropolis museum 20x16” stage 3

3:18 PM: naked in the acropolis museum stage 3, 3pm. i added a third figure. in the photo i shot, it’s a man, but i like it better as a woman. i’m kinda cooked for the day, so i’m stopping here.

it reads well from a distance, and those light blues set off the flesh tones beautifully.

although the composition is more filled in than in the recent paintings in this s eries, it retains that air of mystery i love, mostly based here on the relationship of the naked figures. is the couple enjoying the view of ancient sculpture, or the woman directly in front of them?

1:53 PM: i did a bit more work on naked in the acropolis, filling in the formerly clothed body of the man standing next to the woman on the left, and putting the shadows under their feet, which have a unique quality because of the glass floor.

honestly, i don’t think i’ve had this much pleasure making a painting in a long time. if you strip away (no pun intended) all the negative and wierd associations we have with the human body devoid of coverings, you are left with awe and wonder. we are the only animals on the planet who feel the need to cover our nakedness. granted, i’m coming to this realization a little late in the game; but hey….

i’m going to continue working although, as with the previous paintings in this series, i’m leaning in the direction of leaving some area with just the drawing. for one thing, it emphasizes the point i’ve been trying to make: that this is not a painting of a naked couple in the museum. it’s simply a painting. marks on a surface.

3/19/21 Naked in the Acropolis Museum stage 2

naked in the acropolis museum 20x16” stage 1

12:51 PM: not sure of what i was going to do today, i spied a 20x16” canvas that had been recently painted over with a warm ochre tone, leaving a few spots of the underpainting to show through, as i am fond of doing.

i began making a drawing of a couple; the same couple that appears in 2021 creek oil 6, perusing the art in the acrolopis museum, athens. half way through, i was overcome with the desire to paint the couple without their clothes, in keeping with all the naked ancient marble figures they were surrounded by. i’m about 25% into it and, as i now gaze at it, i’m a bit shocked. naked figures in a museum? our attitudes towards nudity have changed since ancient greece. we expect nude figures at a nudist beach, not in a museum. at the same time, i find this image attractive. unencumbered by shirts, bras, belts, pants, these people are more likely to enjoy the richness of the ancient greek culture they’re observing.

i’ll continue working; let’s see where this takes me. more images as the afternoon progresses.

1:24 PM: i did a little research on the topic, and here’s something interesting i found:

Marina Abramović & Ulay
A Living Door of the Museum

“If there were no artists, there would be no museums, so we are living doors.”

Standing naked in the main entrance of a museum, facing each other while the audience passes sideways through the small space. Legendary performance artists Marina Abramović and Ulay 

the story of 2021 creek oil 2 /  by Philip Tarlow

1:47 PM: i had a bunch of stuff to mail this morning & didn’t arrive at the studio till just after noon.. i made a small collage, with elements (the snali) from a letter i received today from a dear friend.

it includes areas of watercolor as well as the collaged elements from her “snail mail” letter, sections of illustrations of minoan pottery as well as a secion of a map. after the fact, i can see that this collage brings to mind japanese paintings of dragons.

as i looked through my 2021 creek oil 2 file, i was surprised at the evolution of this piece. since i keep complete records of my recent work, i decided to post it today. it’s progress can be traced strtaing on the top row let & going down. when you click on the image, it will give you the date and time (when available)

continued work on 2021 creek oil 2 /  by Philip Tarlow

2:15 PM: i made quite a few modifications to 2021 creek oil 2 today, and i think there will be more coming. BELOW is a comparative view; how it looked before starting work today, and on the right: how it looked moments ago.

the changes i made to the two figures are obvious, if you click on the images and make them full page. on the lower portion of the painting, more subtle changes have taken place. beneath the transparent glass floor are ancient greek ruins. but it’s not like looking through clear glass; what you see below is a bit clouded. so i began introducing some of those elements in the area of floor beneath the figures, going all the way to the bottom of the canvas. i don’t want to make them too obvious, so i’m moving very slowly.

10:52 AM: our salida trip yesterday went well, but i did miss being in the studio. today i’m seeing the 4 new 2021 creek oils with fresh eyes, so that’s one of hte pluses of being away for a day or two.

right now as i gaze at it from about 20 feet, i can see it needs something to pop, so i’ll start working & update once i’ve done some work on it.

my morning drawing today was crap, but i’m posting the 2 stages it went through, just to show you what a crappy drawing looks like.

BELOW: 2 stages of a crappy drawing

3/16/21 morning drawing /  by Philip Tarlow

i won’t be in the studio today due to a couple of appointments. before leaving for those appointments i stole a few minutes to re-adjust the photo i shot yesterday of the four recent paintings, all of which are in progress, hanging on my east studio wall.

9:56 AM: today i made my morning drawing upstairs, looking down at some pots & pipes we have on a ledge overlooking our entryway.