the center solstice event yesterday / frontier drive in; a hospitality experiment / more work on 6/17/2021 creek oil /  by Philip Tarlow

at work on 6/17/2021 creek oil a few moments ago

2:50 PM: after adjusting & posting the photos & videos I shot at the solstice festival in center yesterday, I decided to do a bit more work on the many layered 6/17/2021 creek oil, which I painted over yesterday with a thin coat of titanium white. I collaged a piece of colorado map and put my brush on a long pole to avoid having too much control; a trick I learned from reading about matisse and how he worked.

right now, the white dominates, with touches of blue, brown, pink and orange, which are offset by the predominant pale green of the map. although nothing is spelled out, it’s clear we’re looking at elements in nature: water, rocks & trees. thus far, it’s not like anything else i’ve done.

6/17/2021 creek oil as it looked at the end of my painting day

2:07 PM: I’m doing a little work on the whited over 6/17/2021 creek oil, using a brush on a long pole to avoid getting too precious.

11:42 AM: yesterday afternoon we drove to center, colorado, a 45 minute drive. we attended the solstice event and, amongst other performances, experienced the taiko drummers, from sum institute here in crestone. they were extraordinary! I put the video on YouTube, and it will become accessible tomorrow.

the taiko drummers performing in center yesterday

ABOVE: 2 drawings I made at the festival in center yesterday afternoon

I made a few drawing while we were watching a presentation of frontier drive in: an experiment. it’s located a few miles from downtown center in what was once a drive-in theatre, which closed in the mid-80’s. a funder is providing funds for the creation of the frontier experiment. here are a few pics from the presentation, which will give you some idea of what’s being created, as well as some photos I shot of the construction in process.

we were blown away by what promises to be a great, unexpected addition to the cultural life in our valley, and will surely draw people from all over the country once it opens sometime this fall. stay tuned for more about this.

the big WHITEOVER / the concept of pentimento /  by Philip Tarlow

10:25 PM: the whatever has been done, as well as the scraping. the wrinkles you see will disappear once the paint dries in a few days and I un-stretch and re-stretch the canvas after removing the masonite screwed onto the stretcher bars. at that point, there will be no more collaging, and i’ll add some marks in oil paint that will complete this painting. it will then be placed in it’s frame, which you see below sitting in our living room.

what has now become the underpainting, is a ghost image beneath the newly applied white paint. if you look back in the history of art, you’ll find many examples of artists who have partially or completely painted over what they’ve just done; matisse and van gogh being two of the most well known. here’s the dictionary definition:

“A pentimento (plural pentimenti), in painting, is "the presence or emergence of earlier images, forms, or strokes that have been changed and painted over". The word is Italian for 'repentance', from the verb pentirsi, meaning 'to repent'.”

9:02 AM: today is a short day. we’re driving 45 minutes south to center fro the solstice celebration, with music & other entertainment. mikela is anxious for me to get to know this little mid-valley town, as she’s been going there introducing kids & teachers to our educational platform, actionlab360.

i’ll let you know how it goes. in the meantime, this morning i’m doing a big whiteover & scraping of 6/17/2021 creek oil . here’s today’s self portrait, which may become a painting.

self portrait at 8:55 am, 6/19/2021

follow the juice, is the juice, is the juice /  by Philip Tarlow

6/17/2021 creek oil 49.5x49.5 in. as she looked at 2pm today,

2:07 PM: well, so much for following the juice. it got out of hand and is now, as you will observe, is very busy! I kind of enjoy looking at it, but i’m out of steam, so i’ll clean up & go back to the house, and wait till the morning to go back into it with fresh energy.

and by the way, look at this unexpected figure of a whale in the upper quadrant!

6/17/2021 creek oil 49.5x49.5 in. as she looked at 10am today, after extensive work

10:53 AM: this morning I had the juice. the flow. when it comes, drop everything and let it take over. learn to recognize it and surrender.

that’s my thought for today. something most of you already know. I collaged a number of cut up watercolor/collages i’ve done over the past few years. they have beautiful passages but didn’t quite hang together as a whole. so I felt little compunction cutting them up & repurposing them. that way, those beautiful passages can shine, while contributing to the greater composition of this 49 1/2 x 49 1/2” painting.

the yellow I painted in on top adds immeasurably, aqs do a few more cut up ink on paper drawings i’ve made over the past few days specifically to be cut up & collaged onto this painting.

starting 6/17/2021 creek oil / continuing work repairing flood damage to studio /  by Philip Tarlow

3:29 PM: I was able to do one more round on 6/17/2021 creek oil after jumping in the shower. tomorrow will be a short day, if i’m able to work at all, because we’ll be attending the solstice celebration in center, which is a 45 minute drive south.

I think I made some headway with this last round, but it’s still pretty far from singing. this is kind of a cool detail.

DETAIL of 6/17/2021 creek oil. 49.5x49.5 inches

6/17/2021 creek oil 49.5x49.5” as it looked moments ago after adding some collaged pieces

1:11 PM: I did more work on 6/17/2021 creek oil and tuckered myself out, so I think i’ll go over to the house & lie down for a while. I began collaging pieces of a drawing I made earlier and cut up, as well as a piece of an older creek oil canvas.

11:39 AM: this is stage 3 of the new 49.5x49.5” creek oil no collaging yet..

10:11 AM:now that the painter is done and has cleaned up, although he’ll do more next month, I was able to start work on 6/17/2021 creek oil. here’s the fist two stages as photographed from the loft.

STAGE 2 STAGE 1

solstice celebration signs / looking back: march-april 2017 /  by Philip Tarlow

6:19 PM: looking back four years, this is where i was at in march-april, 2017. i was in the midst of my gaze series, (https://www.philiptarlow.com/gaze) paintings inspired by vermeer and by the 1st c. fayum portraits.

what precipitated this series? i’ve loved vermeer since i was old enough to visit the metropolitan museum, and with the fayum portraits since tsarouchis introduced me to them in the late ‘60’s. they are two very painterly ways of looking at the human face.

2:55 PM: I was asked to make a couple of signs for the solstice celebration taking place in center ( a 45 minute drive) on friday. so I figured it’s best to get that done before launching into the new 49.5x49.5” painting I just stretched the canvas for. this is the one that is designed to fit the beautiful wood frame sitting empty in the house.

I made the two signs on plain, light weight white roll paper & then taped them to cardboard. i’ll have to use fixative tomorrow, since I used oil pastels, which will rub off on anything they touch.

i’m not used to making signs, so I had to make a few throw-aways before settling on these two.

everything I do is harder till this groin strain gets better, so i’m going back to the house to put some ice on.

it’s been a really hot week here and all over the west, but that should ease up starting Friday. each day it’s more likely we’ll get afternoon thunderstorms, which cools things down. actually, about 5 minutes ago a clap of thunder was heard and there’s a bit of rain falling right now.

starting the big re-org & cleanup /  by Philip Tarlow

4:29 PM: today i continued cleaning up and re-organizing my studio. this afternoon mikela came & helped out, while a technician started the overdue repairs following the flood last year in the studio loft and the ensuing damage to the cieling & walls. there’s a long way to go, but you can see the difference in these comparative photos.

cutting canvas yesterday for a new 49 1/2 x 49 1/2” painting

8:41 AM: yesterday afternoon I got everything off the two work tables so I could unroll my 84” x 5 yards linen canvas and cut a 52x52"” piece to stretch on a stretcher bar designed to fit in a big, beautiful, heavy natural wood frame that was formerly home to a 2001 creek oil.

everything is now sitting on a big strip of plywood, on my 2 saw horses. so today i’m going to organize all that stuff; mostly collaging materials & brushes, in a more efficient way.

we’ve been without water since yesterday morning, when our friend & technician David was installing a new pressure gauge on our well pump & it blew out, not one but three times, soaking him each time.

no showers, no dish washing, no toilet flushing, and we’re having to drink “purified” water we bought in a 2 1/2 gallon container in town. he should arrive any minute, and hopefully we’ll have our well water pump working sometime today.

8:50 AM: that was quick…he just arrived moments ago and the well pump water is working already and, lo, we have water!!!!

morning creek drawings with mosquito netting /  by Philip Tarlow

11:28 AM: this morning at 6:45am we set off for the creek. i’m not going up the trail with mikela until my groin strain healing process is further along. so I stayed down at the stupa trailhead, where there’s an ideal place to stand and make colored pencil drawings. we’re both wearing our mosquito netting jackets during this, the heart of mosquito season, and I took a photo of one of them that landed on my drawing. it’s kind of a drag, but you get used to it. and, even though we’re experiencing a heat wave this week, at that early hour the temperature is a perfect 55-60F.

mikela accurately commented that these drawings are serving the purpose of refining my lines, which is showing up in recent paintings, where there’s a certainty in my marks that’s new.

one of the drawings I made at the creek this morning

an experiment /  by Philip Tarlow

2:09 PM: end of work-day state of 6/10/2021 creek oil. another tree trunk-ish form has entered the picture. and here’s a detail of one of my watercolors that I cut up, of a female figure seen from above with some flowers.

DETAIL showing the cut up watercolor I inserted

6/10/2021 creek oil 26x78”. at noon today

12:00 noon: I had a breakthrough of sorts. I needed to break up the straight lines of the collaged canvas I attached earlier this morning. so I rifled through the stack of watercolors and gouache paintings inspired by the creek and followed my inclination to cut them into pieces and collage them onto the painting.

i’m still working on it, but I needed a little break, so i’ll jump in my shower and continue after i’m out.

I think my energy may have been affected (in a good way) by the spectacular match we recorded & watched last night, between two titans: djokovik and nadal; possibly the best tennis match we’ve ever seen. the message? never give up, keep pressing in and, in the case of Djokovic, don’t take it too seriously. smile as you work your majik.

10:24 AM: I had one of four previously attached 16x20” creek oils on the easel in front of 6/10/2021 creek oil a few days ago. as I glanced over, it seemed to be part of the composition. but my reasoning mind quickly ruled that out.

this morning it became a reality, as I collaged it onto the painting. we’ll see where I go from here! wat’ve I got to lose?

6/10/2021 creek oil as it looked after collaging on the 16x20” creek painting