looking back at ano kato / continuing work on 9/10/2021 painting/collage /  by Philip Tarlow

9/10/2021 painting/collage at 3:35 PM

3:25 PM: continuing modifications to 9/10/2021 painting/collage, i simplified the composition, making it easier for the eye to move around the composition. the blue is now dominant, and a narrow red stripe at the top helps create a more coherent whole. I do think that the blue has become a bit too dominant, as was the previous overall black. so it needs more work, but if you compare the two, your eye can scan the surface without getting stuck on some of those whites in the previous version.

2PM: I added quite a few collaged elements to this painting, which I felt was becoming too predictable. now it’s like a 3 ring circus. i’m going to continue working for another hour or two, and will post any changes I make.

this is one area where I think the collage works well.

DETAIL of one of the newly collaged areas

7:07 AM: in 2015 i made a series of paintings titled ano kato, which in greek means literally topsy turvy. they’re all based on photos i had shot over time, many in museums, some in schools. so here’s one of the 16x16” paintings in that series. it inspires me to simplify what i’m currently up to.

BELOW: the link to my ano kato series.

https://www.philiptarlow.com/anokato

getting to work now & will post periodically during the day.

taking 9/10/2021 painting/collage to the next level /  by Philip Tarlow

9/10/2021 painting/collage as it looked today a few moments ago

9/10/2021 painting/collage at the end of the day yesterday

2:50 PM: i’m taking it very slow with this painting. I posted photos of both versions so that you could compare. I worked on all the figures; mores on the one on the right, raducanu, who has just won the women’s tennis championship and fallen to the ground in shock and amazement.

the dancing girl on the left now has checkerboard shorts & the body & bathing suit of the paddler have beennworked on extensively. but i prefer his shoulders in the previous version, so i’ll likely adjust that tomorrow.

DETAIL

our pueblo trip yesterday continuing 9/10/2021 painting/collage /  by Philip Tarlow

9/10/2021 painting/collage at 3:45 pm

3:52 PM: 2 dancing figures from the tokyo olympics final celebration have entered the composition on the left. and some pink marks now join the new black area on the upper right, breaking it up.

we finally got a break in the heat, unusual for this time of year. clouds have moved in, the wind has picked up, the temperature has dropped into the mid 70’s and there is rain falling in various locations around the valley.

9/10/2021 painting/collage as it looked at 2:43pm

2:43 PM: more modification, most noticeably the black area in the upper right, as work/play continues….

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

1:48 PM: once back in my studio, I cut my left hand pretty deeply in 2 places, while attempting to slice a bagel. I just ordered a bagel slicer, so that’s not going to happen again.

continuing work/play on 9/10/2021 painting/collage, it now has a pinkish tone and some of the harsher passages have softened. a third figure may be imminent; so stay tuned!

the family celebrating their son’s birthday last night

the eastern sky at suset as we drove home from pueblo

8:08 AM: yesterday we mede the 2:45 min. drive to pueblo so that mikela could attend meetings related to our educational platform. i accompanied her, both because it’s a long drive round trip and to keep her company. but breaks like this in my studio routine are always productive in unexpected ways. so i had plenty of time to dream about next steps in my paintings and ways of creting new sales.

the temperature in pueblo, by the way, reached 98 F by mid afternoon, which made me so grateful for our relatively cool summers in crestone, at 8,000 ft.

of course i made some drawings along the way, 4 of which i’m posting here, and i’ll continue this post once i get to the studio. the one on the upper right was made last night at a pizza restaurant in alamosa, whre we stopped for dinner before heading home; a 50 mile drive from alamosa. the kid whose profile you see in the middle of the drawing, was born deformed, so he can’t use his hands, which are all curled up. his parents & grandparents were taking him to diner for his birthday.

but all the outdoor tables that were big enough for them all were full. so we stood up and figured we’d move to a smaller table which was just becoming available and let them have our table. they were so grateful, they paid for our dinner, which in fact was a pretty lousy pizza. the joint was full and the kitchen was overwhelmed, so ours finally emerged undercooked with some of the veggies still cold from the fridge. but we were starving so we gobbled it down. it’s not a great location, right on the main drag, with traffic noise very high. but i loved watching the family lovingly interact as i made my drawing. i didn’t show it to them because i think i made the woman on the left less attractive than she was in real life.

the bottom two drawings were made at a breakafast place in pueblo, where i met a cool guy who makes murals. i gave him my card to check out my site, and he’ll send me his info so that we can continue our conversation.

all the while i was ruminating and dreaming about my future paintings, so i’m, anxious to get showered and to the studio, where i’ll have breakfast & get to work. i got some of my favorite smoked salmon at the natutral grocers in pueblo, which i’ll put on a local bagel and have for breakfast, along with my matcha tea.

next stage of 9/10/2021 painting/collage /  by Philip Tarlow

2:40 PM: well, another figure did enter the composition, but it wasn’t the red head I referred to in my earlier post. instead it’s the image of Emma raducanu, the 20 year old tennis player who defeated leila fernandez in the ny open seimi finals yesterday and will go on to play in the finals. here she has fallen to the ground in amazement, just after her winning volley. I shot a bunch of photos from the tv screen, when mikela paused the playback at moments she knew might be of interest to me.

I find what has happened to the composition as a result of this new development to be very exciting. with some palette knife scraping, swirls of paint render the image dynamic, taut, even explosive. I may be winding down for today, so i’ll clean the many brushes i’ve used & prepare to return to the house, where l’ll get my way overdue haircut from mikela, who does a better job than any professional barber, in less time and at no charge!

then i’ll prepare for our trip to pueblo. mikela will be introducing actionlab360 to the school kids there while I do some errands, have a nice brunch and, undoubtedly, make some drawings at whatever restaurant I choose.

DETAIL of the tennis player I added just now

9/10/2021 painting/collage , 26x62” as it looked moments ago, following a round of work/play earlier today

12:51 PM: I got a late start; we walked up the trail, where I made the little drawing you see below.

then I launched back in to 9/10/2021 painting/collage. the skiff with it’s paddler viewed from above, which have appeared in previous paintings in this series, has re-emerged. he is the calm in a sea of activity, which gives him a new perspective. the bit of blue I introduced around his head is enough of a clue to read as water. there’s a second paddler in the photo I shot from a bridge in alamosa. the red headed guy.

let’s see if in the next few hours he makes an appearance as well! I kind of like how the red shape to his left looks a bit like a wacked out dragon. compositionally, I like how he breaks up the black on top, which was a little too much, and dominated the composition.

you may recall me sharing my excitement at the gift mikela got me back in January. it’s a gorgeous ball train master chronometer. since then it hasn’t left my wrist. but there’s one thing that was bugging me: the hour indicator of the chronometer won’t re-set to zero. rather, it goes to the 1, which you can see in this photo. the hour indicator for the chronometer is the lower dial, at 6 o’clock.

so i’m biting the bullet and sending it in for repair to a highly respected watch repair place in Illinois. I hate being without it, but the perfectionist in me needs to have it work perfectly. so i’ll probably be without it for 2-3 weeks, maybe a month.

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.