December 8, 2021 by Philip Tarlow

3:30 PM: I did further work on the skateboarder, but it started snowing & it’s pretty dark, so i’m stopping for the day. mikela should be back around 5, and we’ll have dinner.

*11/30/2021 creek oil/collage* as it looked following my modifications this morning

12:57 PM: at the end of the day yesterday, I felt that the blue area and the printed index on the left of cut up map I collaged onto the upper left were too dominant in the composition. so this morning I worked into it, adding another piece of blue map over the index and extending the legs of the figure doing a handstand up into the blue up on top. it’s easier to understand if you look at the comparative views BELOW, where i’ve posted yesterdays version on the left, next to an image of the painting as it looked following this mornings modifications.

continuing 11/30/2021 creek oil/collage on 12/7/21 11 am / December 7, 2021 by Philip Tarlow

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

1:01 PM: I worked pretty much all day on 11/30/2021 creek oil/collage. I think it’s in a better place than its was yesterday. at first I painted in a bunch of red, but that was coming from my head, and it’s mostly gone now. i’m trying my best to allow it to lead me where it wants to go, but of course the word trying makes that meaningless.

that said, (i’ve always waste to use that phrase) it seems to be developing an identity. and there are moments when I glance at it from about 20 feet, which is the distance from my iMac to the east wall, where it’s tacked, when I swoon. it ain’t easy to get me to swoon over a painting. i’d like visitors to the home or gallery or museum where it’s hanging to gaze at it for long periods, wander on, then return, they know not why.

they will discover rocks, tree trunks, acrobats & a skateboarder. and they will walk away, one hopes, with at least some of that sense of awe and wonder I experience every night lately, when I read a few pages of Wallace Stevens’ the man with the blue guitar:

The man bent over his guitar,
A shearsman of sorts. The day was green.

They said, "You have a blue guitar,
You do not play things as they are."

The man replied, "Things as they are 
Are changed upon the blue guitar."

12/6/2021 creek oil/collage continued / December 6, 2021 by Philip Tarlow

*11/30/2021 creek oil/collage* as it looked following the changes I made this afternoon

2:56 PM: the tokyo olympics skateboarder has reappeared! this guy just doesn’t want to go away! in the very first stage of this painting the dominant image was this very same skateboarder. unfortunately, i didn’t shoot a photo, but trust me, he was there, larger than life.

my intention all along has been to somehow integrate the tokyo olympics celebration figures with my creek-scapes. if you look carefully, you’ll see that this painting has elements of 3 of those figures, and this skateboarder is the most complete. to his left is the leg of a woman doing a handstand, and to his right, another acrobatic figure with blue trousers doing a handstand. by the way, what looks to be a celebratory banner at the top in red, is actually a cut out piece of a sign I made for the fedex driver containing my signature, to leave the package with my repaired ball watch just outside the studio if I didn’t answer.

i’m pooped, so i’m stopping for the day and will go back to the house as soon as I clean my brushes. mikela will get back from school around 5 & we’ll have our dinner. more tomorrow morning.

*11/30/2021 creek oil/collage* as it looked following the changes I made this morning

11:43 AM: I knew end of day yesterday that this painting was way way overloaded. so first thing I did was to take it off the wall and lay it on a table. I began going over areas I felt were too busy, then scraped into that, then drew into that with oil sticks, referring to some of my creek photos. now it’s back on the wall. it’s much easier to gaze at, but it’s not there yet.

not certain whether i’m going to do any more to it today; I may just let it breathe for 24 hours, and start something new.

BELOW: yesterday’s version is on the left

11/30/2021 creek oil/collage- continued work / December 5, 2021 by Philip Tarlow

*11/30/2021 creek oil/collage* as it looked moments ago following extensive modifications

2:22 PM: I did quite a bit more & it may have become too busy. i’ll wait till tomorrow morning to determine that.

*11/30/2021 creek oil/collage* after a spurt of work this morning

11:19 AM: I have the luxury of an uninterrupted day in my studio. i’ll stop working at 2:45 so we can take our stupa walk. i’ll also take a break in an hour to have a conversation with my grandson philip, who is at my son dimitri’s house in paiania, about 45 minutes from central athens, at the foot of mt. hymettus.

I dove in as a soon as I finished my breakfast, mostly using collage and oil stick, I have some nice thick ones and I love moving over already painted & collaged surfaces with a thick white one, leaving trails of tarlow marks. I also collaged a cut out piece of a sign I made for the ups driver, which is in bright red and reads like a banner over the composition. I especially love what happened with the white oil pastel trail over the newly collaged light purple map fragment on the left side of the composition.

back to work on continuing work on 11/30/2021 creek oil/collage / December 4, 2021 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 / December 3, 2021 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.

with dimitri, 1971, andros / some 2021 watercolor/collages / December 2, 2021 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 / December 1, 2021 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.

simplifying 11/26/2021 creek oil / November 30, 2021 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" / November 29, 2021 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.