studies 4, 3 & 2 for the olympic celebration series
3:33 PM: so of course I did add a few collaged pieces. so it works now with the previous two, which you see ABOVE. it’s interesting how they’re developing. what they have in common is movement and pattern.
2:22 PM: I began a new watercolor in my olympics celebration series.
i’m not yet sure whether any collaged elements will be added; I need to sit with it for a while.
12:59 PM: as I began expanding study #1 for olympic celebration series this morning, which currently looks like this BELOW, I glanced at studies 2 & 3 & felt drawn to do make changes to them.
study #1 for olympic celebration as it looked moments ago, after® beginning work on the right portion
so I started with study#2, creating patterning on his shirt & pants , filling in the flesh tones on his arms and finally adding a few collaged elements, treating it more like a composition and less like an illustration. then I proceeded to do something similar with study# 1, adding some checkered patterning to his pant leg, then adding some collaged elements to his right. so now this one too is more of a composition, lees of an illustration, and gives some indication of what may happen when I get to the larger oils.
i’m beginning to see this as a project that may extend over more time than I had at first thought; perhaps through the winter & into the spring.
3:23 PM: ps: just before leaving the studio half an hour ago, as i’m in the habit of doing, i made a change. i added a collaged piece of an old oil paper palette to the upper right area of study #2 for my olympic celebration series, which you see BELOW on the left. as with my changes to study #3, when i cast a sudden glance at it, i was able to see it with fresh eyes, as a total composition rather than as an acrobat standing on his hands. this action resulted in an unplanned, unexpected negative space just to the right of his yellow shirt, which balances the space to the left.
3 watercolor studies for the larger oils inspired by the celebration following the tokyo olympics
12:49 PM: I started a new olympic celebration watercolor study of a skater today.
i’m undecided as to whether or not i’ll take it further or leave it as is. I love the abstracted red & blue forms but i’m leaning towards doing a bit more.
11/11/21 study 1 for tokyo olympics celebration as it looked moments ago
2:27 PM: we’re about to take our afternoon walk up the trail, where i’ll likely make another reed pen sketch at our stopping point, about a half hour up the trail, beside the creek.
today I took yesterday’s watercolor study of the tokyo olympics celebration dancers a bit further, focusing mainly on the right side of the composition. it’s likely i’ll leave the left side as is. I think the empty spaces work.
i’ll likely start a new one tomorrow. work on my storage space will resume tomorrow, and we’ll see how that affects my painting time.
I mostly focused on this side of the composition
stage 1 of 11/11/2021 watercolor/gouache
3:25 PM: I began turning the drawing I made this morning into a watercolor/gouache. stopped for the day just now. the paper I chose to use is different than the watercolor block I used yesterday, which was an Italian made 300 lb. cold press watercolor block with a surface that’s very sensitive to the brush. the paper i’m using today was taped to a piece of board years ago, and thus I have no idea what it is. it’s ok, but I think in the future i’ll get more of the paper I used yesterday.
that said, I feel like i’m making progress in this, a very early stage in the development of my next series of oil/collages on stretched, quadruple primed french linen. exploring these dancing figures in watercolor allows me to familiarize myself with their bodies, their movement and the fabulous colors & patterns the Japanese designer used in dressing them. just today, I noticed that the wall behind them echoes the checkered patterns he/she has used on their clothing. very cool!
1:22 PM: I made this pencil study this morning & am ready to start using watercolor. the drawing was made on an old prepared watercolor paper surface I just found here in a box in the studio, which I had tinted with a tan color in preparation for a plein air painting, probably about 10 years ago. painting on a tinted ground is a carry-over from my years in greece, where it was common practice at the time amongst the athens school artists; an informal group who had in common their love for painting the everyday. I was a member of this group, with whom I exhibited and hung out. our predilection for earth tones and painting on a tan surface was directly influenced by our love for and emulation of the byzantine tradition.
you can read about my years in greece by clicking on the dropdown menu: greece, then clicking on overview. or, you can copy & paste this link:https://www.philiptarlow.com/art-created-in-greece
drawing for a watercolor study of tokyo olympics celebration
10:16 AM: view of the front of our house, with 4 of my paintings visible
10:47 AM: i’m trying an experiment this morning: getting right to work before eating anything. I just had a cup of hot chocolate, and will have my brunch in an hour or so, to capitalize on my fresh morning energy.
2 days ago mikela returned from her work with the HS kids, introducing them to our actionlab360 platform, & brought back these 4 drawings. each in their own way, I find them very interesting, even exciting!
this morning, as she drove to one of the schools, we were brainstorming about how to allow this creativity and individuality to spill over into their other areas of study: science; math; English language arts; social studies….
and most important, how to provide a space for this genius not to get lost as they grow older.
i’m about to launch into a new watercolor, which will include the acrobatic figure I painted yesterday, plus some other olympic celebration participants with him at that moment.
1:45 PM: this morning I made the first in a series of watercolor studies for my next series of oils inspired by the celebration following the recent tokyo olympics.
I documented the progress of this watercolor, starting with the drawing, which I posted BELOW.
the celebration was extraordinary, with dancers & acrobats moving beautifully to the music, in richly colorful costumes.
the series of paintings I envision will reveal itself over the coming weeks and perhaps months. some of the figures will be athletes in action, including some shots from above. in my ano kato series of paintings: https://www.philiptarlow.com/anokato
you will experience my passion for views from above. so wherever possible the athletes and performers will be portrayed from this angle.
it may sound as if these will be more illustrations than paintings, but if you glance at my recent paintings series: https://www.philiptarlow.com/2021-recentpaintings
you’ll see how i’ve used the figures in semi-abstract compositions, employing collaged elements: newspapers; magazine articles; maps and pen & ink drawings cut into pieces.
it’s still a mystery what these new ones will be like. after completing this preliminary series of watercolors, and when I can get a local woodworker to make me stretcher bars that are not warped, like the ones i’ve been ordering online, i’ll commence this new series.
the view at sunset looking south towards sisnaajini/mt. blanca
12:05 PM: this 2016-17 portrait of mikela is part of my gaze series, which you can view here: https://www.philiptarlow.com/gaze
it hangs in our bedroom, and on some afternoons is lit by the setting sun, as you see here. she wears her characteristic straw hat, with a t-shirt we got on one of our trips to austrailia, which has an aboriginal design, visible on the bottom.
11/6/2021 creek oil painting/collage at the end of my painting day today
3:04 PM: here’s 11/6/2021 creek oil painting/collage at the end of my painting day. there’s al ot more going on now, most noticeably perhaps the second log in the foreground, which pushes everything else back in space, giving the eye a point of reference. additional branches have appeared in the upper left portion of the composition as well as in the center. there’s still enough white canvas to allow the painting to breathe and to give the viewer space to imagine. as a whole, when you glance at it from afar, as i’m now doing, it transports you to the creek, and the immediacy of it’s aliveness and movement.
DETAIL
11/6/2021 creek oil painting/collage as it looked moments ago, as I continue painting
12:39 pm: daylight savings is working for us! we go to sleep at 8 or 8:30, get up around 4 and end up having a much more productive day!
i’ve been working on 11/6/2021 creek oil painting/collage since early this morning, while mikela is working with schools in monte vista, which is a little over an hour away. collage has entered the composition, albeit on a minor scale. lots has happened since yesterday, and above is the current state. on the right: a detail showing one of the collaged pieces, in this case, of a map.
DETAIL
7:05 AM: yesterday was our first daylight savings walk up the trail. an hour later, it was better than ever; temps were perfect and the light more magical. this is what we call kissing rock, where we stop & kiss on our way down.
2:24 PM: moving slowly & taking frequent breaks to evaluate, I worked further on 11/6/2021 creek oil painting. it’s starting to remind me of one I painted in 2019, now in a private collection, which is 42x66”'
this is it, on the right. we’ll see tomorrow how this one evolves, but already i’m detecting more certainty in my marks., and a greater coherence in the composition, although my palette is similar.
11/6/2021 creek oil 32x48”. as it looked moments ago
1:27 PM: I continued work on 11/6/2021 creek oil today, feeling the freedom of a longer day due to the time change. it’s only 1:30, but it sure feels like 2:30! and I have another hour and a half before going back to the house to drive up to the creek for our walk.
7:38 AM: the light was superb on our walk up the trail yesterday. i shot a few photos that might affect the new 11/6/2021 creek oil, which i’ll resume painting once we’re done with our bi-weekly zoom with our dear friends in germany, who should be back in their crestone house within a few months.
2:46 PM: we’re going up the trail in 45 minutes, but I wanted to post this update first.
I took all the painting form my previous series, about 8 of them, from my painting wall, where they had been stacked, and stored them temporarily in my new storage room. when work continues, on Wednesday, i’ll remove them, then put them back at the end of next week, when the storage space should be completed.
so that allowed me to tack a new 32x48” canvas to my east painting wall and begin work on a new series.
it’s a creek-scape, based on photos I shot on our creek walk yesterday. I like using newly shot photos of the creek, even though I have tons of them, because they always reflect my vision as it is today. here’s what it looks like on day 1.
