back to work on continuing work on 11/30/2021 creek oil/collage /  by Philip Tarlow

11/30/2021 creek oil/collage as it looked moments ago

11:44 AM: i’ve added some more marks to 11/30/2021 creek oil/collage, mostly in the areas you see on the right.

i’m taking a break now for a zoom with relatives, remembering my aunt doris.

I should be able to continue around 1pm until we take our stupa walk at 3

11/30/2021 creek oil/collage as it looked moments ago, as I continue painting

11:11 AM: we went to salida yesterday to run some errands so I wasn’t in the studio very much. today i’m back to work on 11/30/2021 creek oil/collage. i’ve already made a few additions to the acrobatic tokyo celebrations figure and to the cactus flowers below him. continuing work now, with an hour break for a zoom with relatives, remembering my dear aunt Doris, who passed last week.

continuing work on 11/30/2021 creek oil/collage /  by Philip Tarlow

10:40 AM: i’m continuing work on 11/30/2021 creek oil/collage, which was interrupted for a few days as a result of work being done on the studio. so just now I added a few tokyo olympics figures viewed from above: a woman basketball player and an acrobatic figure i’ve already used in one of the watercolor/collages I made recently. so BELOW is the current state of this painting, as of a few minutes ago.

11/30/2021 creek oil/collage

with dimitri, 1971, andros / some 2021 watercolor/collages /  by Philip Tarlow

5:38 PM: i didn’t paint today. a friend was here in my studio painting 2 cabinets that will be hung on the studio bathroom walls. this is one more step in the organizing & clean up of my studio. while that was happening, i was organizing the storage space, stacking various series of paintings, labeling them “motion,” “ano kato,” “gaze,” etc. i’ve also been reviewing some of the watercolor/collages i made this past year. i feel that more of what i discovered in those paintings could be drawn upon in the new series of oils/collages i’m embarking on. here are 4 of them:

7:16 AM: i was going through some old photos yesterday in the studio & came across this one of dimitri & i in andros, ca. 1971.

more when i get to he studio.

continuing 11/30/2021 creek oil/collage & completing 11/26/2021 creek oil/collage /  by Philip Tarlow

3:21 PM: I started my day by making a few tweaks to the figure. I gave a little definition to her body & legs, which gives her more of an air of a figure walking into the forest, seen from behind.

the primed linen on which this is painted is unstretched canvas. the dimensions are those of a stretcher bar which now has an older painting, which i’ll remove and roll up so that I can stretch this one, and the place it in a beautiful, substantial wood frame, destined to hang in our living room. this one is not for sale, as mikela has claimed it.

BELOW is the current state.

DETAIL of the figure, 11/26/2021 creek oil/collage

BELOW: details from 11/26/2021 creek oil/collage

I then went on to take 11/30/2021 creek oil/collage, which I started yesterday, to the next level. in yesterday’s version, there was the drawing of one of the tokyo olympics celebration dancers, which has now almost disappeared. the drawing, in blue, of his left arm can be seen in the center of the composition, and the rest of his body is hidden by blooming cacti. the figure of mikela can be seen on the right, wearing her characteristic hat, sitting on a rock, looking at the landscape. one of the collaged elements, on the right, is a piece of a reed pen drawing I made earlier in the afternoon. another, the orange bit on the left, is a piece of a pamphlet from greece, 1973, which I discovered while looking through some of my old greek photos this morning.

i’ll continue work on this one tomorrow.

11/30/2021 creek oil/collage as it looked at the end of my painting day today.

simplifying 11/26/2021 creek oil /  by Philip Tarlow

11/26/2021 creek oil/collage at the end of my painting day today, following significant modifications

1:51 PM: it got way too busy yesterday. so my goal today was to simplify by removing lots of scumbled areas of color I added at the end of the day yesterday. it’s a painstaking process of, basically, using a solvent on a rag to rub out unwanted areas. since they were added yesterday, they were still fresh enough to rub out.

if you take a look at the upper section of the painting, for example, and make it full page on your computer, you’ll see just how much I took out. but the same holds true for the lower portions of the composition. I may do a tiny bit more with the figure tomorrow morning when i’m fresh.

BELOW: yesterday’s version is on the left

11/26/2021 creek oil/collage is now "11/26/21 into the wild" /  by Philip Tarlow

11/26/2021 creek oil/collage as it looked following my latest modifications

2:58 PM: so I did some more work on 11/26/2021 creek oil/collage . I switched the title back to the original because into the wild felt too dark, seeing as the protagonist dies at the end.

I added the wood texture I spoke of in my earlier post, plus a few more collaged bits in the center of the composition, which I think work really well in enlivening the painting and add to it’s sense of mystery and a tender take on our creek-scape. it’s a shame the faux wood border will disappear once the canvas is stretched….unless it’s mounted as is on board, for which i’d have to give it to an expert to do.

11:37 AM: why is 11/26/2021 creek oil/collage now "11/26/21 into the wild?” this is the first time I have introduced a figure into the series of works that could be loosely described as abstracted creek-scapes.

the figure is mikela, seen from behind, walking up cottonwood trail. we don’t yet know if this is an isolated event. but there’s a good chance that the olympic celebration dancing, skate-boarding figures may be next in this integration of landscape and human presence.

the pinkish-beige color now surrounding this painting was added this morning. it had a white boarder, which was the 2 1/2” space I left for when I stretch the canvas. that was annoying me, so I made it into an approximation of what the wood frame will eventually look like. it’s still bothering me, so I may have to spend time making it look more like wood.

as for the painting itself, you will notice, if you compare the before (left) and after BELOW, that changes have occurred. they are mostly coming form a conversation I had with mikela before she left for one of the schools she’s working with. the conversation was concerning her presenting a challenge to the students, to make compositions using dots. I mentioned seurat’s use of dots, and suggested using him as an example.

then I started making dots myself in some areas of the composition, adding, I believe, a new richness. not yet sure if i’m going to continue or move on to something new. i’ll continue to post about this this afternoon.

DETAIL

11/26/2021 creek oil/collage continued /  by Philip Tarlow

11/26/2021 creek oil/collage as it looked moments ago, at the end of my painting day today

2:08 PM: I started feeling too attached to the landscape elements, especially those tree trunks. so I worked into it some more. it’s getting towards the time for our stupa walk, so i’m going to stop for the day. it’s become a stupa walk rather than a creek walk due to the snow & ice on the shady parts of the creek trail. we have cleats, but we’d rather not use them till later in the winter, so we’re going up to the stupa instead, enjoying the panoramic valley views.

i’m also gearing up for the tokyo olympics celebration series, for which I made the 9 studies you see BELOW

DETAIL showing mikela walking up the creek

11:50 AM: mikela has entered the composition, inspired by a photo I shot of her walking up the trail a few days ago. unexpected. let’s see where it goes from here…

11/26/2021 creek oil/collage, 40 1/2 x 45 1/2" continued / banana bread and ginger-tumeric tea /  by Philip Tarlow

11/26/2021 creek oil/collage, 40 1/2 x 45 1/2" as it looked at the end of my painting day today

1:44 PM: i’m stopping for the day. a bit early, but I started early, which I liked, and ran out of juice just now. we’re going for our walk in about an hour, and I wanted to post before heading back over to the house.

I like where it’s at, and am not sure whether I want to do any more to it. this is always a good time to start a new one, so that I have something to work on while casting glances at this one to see what, if anything, it wants.

at work this morning on 11/26/2021 creek oil/collage, 40 1/2 x 45 1/2"

12:47 PM: I continued work on the new 11/26/2021 creek oil/collage, 40 1/2 x 45 1/2" this morning. I only add something when I get the green light from….where the hell does that green light come from. a cultured gut? cultured by decades of looking, mark making and many other seemingly unrelated activities.

11:18 AM: this morning as i resumed work on 11/26/2021 creek oil/collage, 40 1/2 x 45 1/2", i made some banana bread and a pot of ginger/tumeric tea. this is by far the best banana bread i’ve ever made. i sued the miss jonesorganic banana bread mix & used 3 over ripe bananas we had & added walnuts & raisins. i baked for a little more than the recommended 55 minutes, so it’s got a great crisp crust on top. then i used this recipe https://foolproofliving.com/turmeric-ginger-tea/ to make my ginger/tumeric tea, which has numerous proven health benefits. here’s some pics:

11/26/2021 creek oil/collage, 40 1/2 x 45 1/2" / clearing the space /  by Philip Tarlow

2:51 PM: this morning I transferred quite a few of the paintings that had been stacked against my studio walls to the new storage room. the studio is already feeling more spacious, and this is just the beginning!

once I got the paintings moved, I started a new 40 1/2 x 45 1/2” creek painting which is destined to sit in a big beautiful wood frame which now contains an older work, “karen asleep.”

here’s the first stage of this new painting

study #9 for tokyo olympics series, continued /  by Philip Tarlow

2:30 PM: I continued work on study#9 for olympic celebration series, and I may have done too much. as I said yesterday, I love those early stages, with lots of white space & room to dream.

i’ll know in the morning what’s what.

BELOW: yesterdays version on the left