yesterday's trail walk-photos / next stage of 9/10/2021 painting /  by Philip Tarlow

9/10/2021 painting/collage as it looked moments ago.

2:59 PM: lots has happened since I last posted. 2 1/2 hours of adventure, punctuated by joy, fear and painterly moronics. thatz all ahl saye fer nowe.

12:36 PM: you’re getting a blow-by-blow today! here’s stage 2, just 34 minutes later.

at work on 9/10/2021 painting/collage before I flipped it 180

9/10/2021 painting/collage at 12:12:36 PM. a collaged piece of newsprint has been place don the forearm of the female player on the left.

12:12 PM: here’s i’m drawing stage 1 of the new painting. updates will be posted as they become available.

11:23 AM: following my modifications on 9/4/2021 painting yesterday, i’m about to launch into 9/10/2021 painting and will post updates as they occur. here’s a better shot of the work I did yesterday, with a DETAIL, on the right, of one of the newly collaged areas.

9/10/2021 painting, stage 1, 26 x 62” on quadruple primed portrait linen

8:35 AM: yesterday i focuse don shots from above, a la ano kato, as material for my next painting. here are a few. i’ll continue this post once i get to the studio. these are the very first marks on the blank white surface.

new trail drawings / modifications to 9/4/2021 painting / starting 9/10/2021 painting /  by Philip Tarlow

7:09 PM: i’m a bit late posting today. more work on the roof interrupted my flow this morning, but now we’re good for the forseeable future. next project: installing a storage container on the south side of the studio, with a doorway cut in the wall for easy access.

before starting the new painting, i unexpectedly made some modifications to 9/4/2021 painting, adding some reds to liven it up, and a few collaged pieces to counteract predictablilty, which as you know, i dislike profoundly.

i think it improved.

11:11 AM: here are a couple of drawings I made this morning during our trail walk. i’ve got someone coming to work on my studio roof shortly, so i’m not sure how much work i’ll get done, but my intention is to start a new painting on the canvas I just stretched.

modifications to 6/10/2021 creek oil /  by Philip Tarlow

3:59 PM: the last time I worked on 6/10/2021 creek oil was July 28th. since then it’s been leaning against the wall of my studio, and I kept contemplating taking it back to the house to see how it holds up with the others.

this morning, as I was stretching a new 26 x 62”canvas, I had the urge to make some modifications, all of which were collaged paper.

BELOW are the BEFORE (left) and after.

DETAIL of one of the newly collaged areas. note the red above and to the right of his hand, and how it compliments the red in the upper portion of the painting, which you can see below.

modifications to "9/4/2021 painting" /  by Philip Tarlow

2:11 PM: when I entered my studio this morning, it struck me that , while I loved the white spaces on the right portion of this painting, it seemed too empty, resulting in my attention going to that area and was keeping me from taking in the entire sweep of this horizontal composition.

thus, the modifications I made were uniquely on the right portion, including the female dancing figure, the area beneath her feet and the leaves to her left. violet shadows now appear beneath her sneakered feet, and the sneakers are more defined. wavy patterns and leaves have appeared on her garment ; all this giving more substance & definition to the figure was a whole, while maintaining her fugitive quality.

BELOW before (bottom) and after (top)

9/4/2021painting continues /  by Philip Tarlow

1:26 PM: i’m up since 3 am. a lousy night’s sleep. and we walked up the trail this morning, when I broke my own recored for how fast I could get up to a rock that’s a landmark for mikela & i. used to do it in 29 minutes; today I did it in 25. when I could go no further, I sat on a rock & made a drawing, giving mikela just enough time to get a bit further up the trail than yesterday.

so I’m not in great shape to do much work on this painting, and i’ll correct a few things I don’t like tomorrow morning, when i’m fresh.

RIGHT: the figure of a dancing woman on the right side of the composition has been partially painted in; her hair and part of her garment are now a faded, distressed black.

and the figure of the dancing woman on the left has gained more definition, especially her face, torso, legs & sneakered feet. I completely removed the red oil pastel outline of her feet & legs, which I found heavy handed.

BELOW: the painting following today’s modifications and, below that, yesterday’s version

the dancing woman on the right of the composition

9/4/2021painting moments ago.

the painting as it looked at the end of the day yesterday

overall, I would say that this new painting is somewhat of a departure from it’s recent bothers and sisters, in that it gives more of a feeling of an ancient cretan wall painting. the figures are caught in a moment of movement, bathed in a sea of patterning. it takes on something of a ceremonial air, and invites the viewer’s imagination to fill in the blanks.

some 2020 travel drawings / 9/4/2021painting continues /  by Philip Tarlow

3:39 PM: and a few last minute additions: the orange dots floating in a sea of yellow. felt that yellow needed to be broken up a little.

9/4/2021painting on 9/5 3:38pm

2:38 PM: I stopped painting a little early today due to some calls I needed to take, which interrupted my flow. i’ve learned that when that happens, it’s best to stop. you simply can’t get back into it.

the biggest shift has been the introduction of a light blue surrounding the foliage and the dancing male figure in dark blue. thus far, it’s calmer than it’s brothers & sisters, and exhibits more certainty. there’s a lot to be said for having the luxury of painting almost every day in a big, beautiful studio with few interruptions. you can’t turn inspiration on & off. when the juices are flowing, you need to stay with it as long as you can.

I forgot to mention a big difference from the recent paintings in this series: whereas they are painted mostly lying flat on a table, this one is being painted on my easel, allowing me to continually step back and evaluate my moves.

9/4/2021 painting on 9/5 2-15pm

11:51 AM: i’m continuing work on the new painting I started yesterday: 9/4/2021 painting. yellow has entered the picture. the female dancing figure on the left is no longer bare breasted and is covered in blue dots as well as a collaged piece of an old newspaper. green foliage inspired by photos I shot on our trail walk dominate the composition for the moment. as work continues, i’ll post updates.

9/4/2021 painting PT paints on 9/5 11am

7:34 AM: this is a small selection from my travel drawing books. this one is 2020, and i’m working on cataloging others from previous years, which i’ll post as i complete each book.

9/4/2021 painting / morning trail drawing /  by Philip Tarlow

9/4/2021 painting 26x62” oil pastel on portrait linen (so far)

3:33 PM: so I started a new painting, which i’m simply calling 9/4/2021 painting. i’m tired of titles. it’s in a very early state, which I always love. the becoming is what I love. there are the outlines of a couple of the tokyo olympics celebration dancers i’ve put in recent paintings (click on SERIES in the dropdown menu and then 2021 mixed media). that title will probably change to, simply, recent work. the first 6 as you scroll down are the most recent. the hints of orange & red in the green leaves and the checkerboard pattern on her shorts get me excited. the space is beginning to take shape, and doesn’t quite know yet what it wants to be. does that make this an adolescent painting?

10:56 AM: we walked up the trail this morning. i made a small drawing in ink on paper of some rocks i was looking at when i sat down to rest, about 40 minutes up the trail. here’s the drawing with the fountain pen i used and the rocks i was looking at.

more when i get to my studio.

paintings in the entryway / a recent painting/collage that needs researching / /  by Philip Tarlow

8/20-29/21 gouache on paper, 9x11”

12:53 pm: i’m stretching up canvas for a new 26x62” painting. in the process, I discovered this gouache, which I think I posted back when I first made it, on august 20. on the 29th I made some modifications and neglected to post them. so here’s the gouache as it looks now.

these are dancing figures from the final celebrations on the last day of the tokyo olympics. their dancing was extremely joyful and energetic, and their costumes colorful and celebratory.

11:29 AM: this is a drawing I just discovered in one of my drawing books, made on 3/7/20 of one of the participants in a political caucus in crestone.

the fabric her jacket, on the back of the chair was of great interest to me, sparking my love of patterns.

these drawings, made on the fly, are probably the most accurate selection of who I am and have always been as an artist.

it all started when I was in grade school, where I made non-stop drawings of classmates and teachers, which I then brought home to show my parents and, more importantly, my uncle mort, who was then a student at an art school and lived in our basement in valley stream, long island.

his feedback and encouragement was instrumental in my later growth and development as an artist.

the untitled, undated 49 1/4 x 49 1/2'“ painting collage i refer to in the post below

the untitled, undated 49 1/4 x 49 1/2'“ painting collage i refer to in the post below

8:22 AM: i brought 7/25/2021 ano kato to the house after making yesterday’s modifications. here it is hanging with other recent works in our entryway. i’m pleased with how it looks in the space, and how well it holds up with the other recent works. as a matter of fact, i think it’s stellar! click on the image to make it full screen.

upstairs, there a recent painting collage which measures 49 1/4 x 49 1/2'“ and fits perfectly into the substantial wood frame it sits in. i never signed or dated it, and am not sure when it was made. so later this morning, i’m going to scroll through past blog posts to find the exact date, which i’ll then put on the lower portion of this painting, along with my signature. it also cannot be found in the drop down menu on this site, so i’m going to have to correct that. those menus need updating, which is a big job that i’ll do over the next month or so.

mikela went to center this morning to work with the kids. after their initial exposure to our educational platform, actionlab360, they were excited enough about it to all sign up for today’s session with her. a very good sign!

tweak of 7/25/2021 ano kato and tokyo olympics 1 /  by Philip Tarlow

1:56 PM: after my adjustments to 7/25/2021 ano kato, I began making changes to tokyo olympics 1. I added some collaged elements, breaking up the muted pink background & making it a more active space, with shapes mirroring the curves of the basketball players & the skateboarder.. I took out the blue diagonal on the upper left, which was coming too much from my head. so now, the crouching figure of the skateboarder with the yellow top is the focal point of the composition, the female basketball players enhance and reflect his crouching body and the collaged bits of drawing remind us that this is a painting we are looking at, a dance of form and color.

BELOW: the painting before (left) and after today’s modifications

DETAIL of tokyo olympics 1 following today’s modifications

12:16 PM: mikela pointed out the one spot that kept drawing her eye in 7/25/2021 ano kato, which I just tweaked. BELOW: the before and after. the tweaks were to the neck & head of the figure eon the left. as well, I removed the two black marks behind her back, which were actually left there mistakenly from an earlier iteration of the painting.

amazing what small tweaks can do!