continuing 12/16/2021 watercolor/collage /  by Philip Tarlow

12/16/2021 watercolor/collage at the end of my painting day today

2:47 PM: this is my final series of changes before leaving my studio for the day. actually, I have some paperwork i’ve been putting off, so i’ll do that then go back to the house.

with the addition of more yellows and some flesh tones on the bodies of the mythological figures, this piece has warmed up. gazing at it from about 15 feet, which i’m now doing, that warmth creates a much more sensitive impression, while simultaneously maintaining the playful notes i’ve been playing with this series. all that’s left of the acrobatic figure from the tokyo olympics celebration is his checkered sleeve; a critical element in the composition. what I love about how i’ve been working recently was expressed perfectly in his paper and glue piece on msnbc. he said what matters to him is the process. and one of the inmates he videoed and photographed in the maximum security california prison said the exact same thing. “I never know, going into a new project, where it will go. I don’t plan it; it just happens.” my sentiments exactly!

12/16/2021 watercolor/collage at 2pm today

2:02 PM: taking 12/16/2021 watercolor/collage to the next level, one can now discern some figures inspired by the mosaics of pompeii. work continues for another hour or so…

12/16/2021 watercolor/collage at noon today

12:11 PM: after making myself some delicious oatmeal with fresh fruit & nuts, I made more modifications to 12/16/2021 watercolor/collage. so many, in fact, that it’s almost unrecognizable. spatharis’ face is gone, collaged over with a piece of reed pen drawing. and much of the scrambled bunches of marks to his left, also collaged over with a piece of that same drawing. it’s definitely more coherent, but still needs something. I may move on to a new one, same size, & go back to this one when the mood strikes.

what would gorky do, one wonders. in this 1943 piece, he gives crayon a primary role, using his magical lines to give them form.

BELOW: 12/16/2021 watercolor/collage yesterday (left) & today

archie gorky, 1943

modifying 12/14/2021 watercolor/collage / continuing 12/16/2021 watercolor/collage /  by Philip Tarlow

5:46 PM: today i took 12/16/2021 watercolor/collage to the next stage. BELOW are the 3 stages thus far. greek shadow theatre master sotiris spatharis is once again the centerpiece of the composition. i’ll take it further tomorrow. we’re just back from our walk up to the stupa. it was a chilly walk this afternoon, with temperatures below freezing and a moderate wind, making it feel colder.

the creek at the head of the stupa trail

1:05 PM: this morning I made some changes to 12/14/2021 watercolor/collage. BELOW are the before & after pics.

12/14/2021 watercolor/collage following this morning’s modifications

a watercolor/collage from 2014 / continuing 12/14/2021 watercolor/collage & starting 12/16/2021 watercolor/collage /  by Philip Tarlow

12/14/2021 watercolor/collage as it looked moments ago, at the end of my painting day

3:03 PM: today I went back & forth between the new 12/16/2021 watercolor/collage and 12/14/2021 watercolor/collage. possibly the most significant change to 12/14/2021 watercolor/collage was the removal of the cactus blossom in the center of the composition, which felt more and more like a distraction and a remnant from the previous piece. I collaged a piece of one of my recent reed pen drawings of a hammer, which is a kind of play on the fact that spatharis is using a hammer in the photo I shot of him. a bit more yellow has also entered the composition, and the strong blue collaged element on the lower left has been reduced in size by the collage piece of map you see now.

the new one, still in it’s early stages, continues to feature spatharis as a central figure in the composition. he is currently surrounded by flying bits of color, some of which are inspired by ancient mosaics. one of the tokyo olympics acrobats, who has also appeared previously, shows off his checkered sleeve beside spatharis, at work on making shadow theatre figures. i’ll pick up where I left off tomorrow morning.

12/16/2021 watercolor/collage in it’s early stages

7:34 AM: i was looking at some watercolor/collages i made back in 2014 & comparing them to what i’m currently doing. a big difference is in my current use of recognizable images, as well of more vibrant, primary colors. BELOW: 2014 collage on the left, yesterdays (still in process) watercollage on the right

12/14/2021 watercolor/collage continued / drawings from yesterdays school board meeting /  by Philip Tarlow

12/14/2021 watercolor/collage an hour ago

12:44 PM: I took 12/14/2021 watercolor/collage further today, adding some collaged pieces, crayon & pencil drawing & watercolor. I always like to provide before & after pics, which you see BELOW. now it’s more of a symphony than a suite.

the central figure, sotiris spatharis, has become a double image. the musicians on the right were inspired by ancient mosaics from pompeii. the cactus blossoms I used in the previous watercolor/collage are back.

I turned 12/10/2021 watercolor/collage upside down & found that it works a lot better compositionally; see what you think, BELOW left is how I had hung it, and on the right how i’ve got it hanging now.

1:21 PM: yesterday afternoon we drove to the school board meeting in Saguache, where mikela gave a short presentation with ideas for obtaining grants. as always, I took my sketchbook and was able to make 3 drawings of attendees. one is so-so, so i’m just posting these two.

12/14/2021 watercolor/collage /  by Philip Tarlow

I wasn’t certain about whether 12/13/2021 creek oil/collage was resolved or needed more work. so I started a new watercolor/collage & will wait a day or two to see how it feels.

12/14/2021 watercolor/collage has elements of yesterdays oil. it definitely needs more work, but I crashed about half hour ago, so i’m stopping early for the day. plus, we have to drive to an event where mikela is speaking at 5, so I think i’ll have a small, early dinner & lie down before ewe leave. we’re expecting some snow much later tonight into early Wednesday, but the 45 minute drive shouldn’t be a problem.

I like the spirit of the one I did yesterday & this one I started today. included in the composition is my photo portrait of the great spatharis, about whom I wrote in yesterdays blog post. we’ll see where it goes tomorrow morning.

spatharis at work in plaka , 1974 / 12/13/2021 creek oil/collage /  by Philip Tarlow

12/13/2021 creek oil/collage at the end of my painting day today.

3:17 PM: I began work on the new 12/13/2021 creek oil/collage, which is 27x63” on extra fine French portrait linen tacked to the wall. so far, you won’t find any figures from the tokyo olympics. what you will find, if you examine the composition closely, are figures inspired by ancient roman mosaics & patterns inspired by contemporary iranian art. and all this is, for the moment, brought together by my favorite yellow: brilliant yellow deep.like it’s two predecessors, it tells a story. but it’s not a preconceived story. it’s one that takes form in the process of mark making. thus, it’s not bound by any particular direction; just an overall sense of playfulness, with an underlying mystery.

BELOW you will find 3 stages of development, each about an hour apart.

11:39 AM: in the ‘70’s, while living and painting in greece, I developed a relationship with the famed karoghiozopaiktis sotiris spatharis. his studio was in the peaks neighborhood, not far from my studio at the time. I shot photos of him making his karaghiozis figures, and this is one of them.

spatharis was known throughout greece as a master karaghiozis player, and as one might expect, he was as humble as can be. he delighted in showing me his latest figures and sets, and once came to our appartment in athens to perform for my son dimitris & his friends. dimitri was very excited, and began creating karaghiozis performances in our andros home for his friends. the sets were created by his grandma, my mother-in-law, niki karagatsi.

while the banana bread I made is baking, i’m about to start work on 12/13/2021 creek oil/collage & will update later this afternoon.

ano kato series/ continuing 12/10/2021 watercolor/collage /  by Philip Tarlow

12/10/2021 watercolor/collage as it looked at 2:45pm

2:45PM: I just made some last minute changes, collaging over the second cactus blossom on the left with some blue lettering cut from a note I wrote to the ups driver. if you look at the image above, that’s the latest. I left the previous version in the comparative views BELOW, so you could see what I just did…much better, don’t you think?

2:18 PM: continuing 12/10/2021 watercolor/collage, I moved veery slowly & carefully, as this one has a very delicate balance. fragile, i’m tempted to say.

BELOW are comparative views of yesterdays & todays versions. another cactus blossom has appeared on the lower left, as well as a tree branch from the creek on the right. the reds on the basketball player on the right have been accented, and a few red collaged pieces have added variety to the cactus blossoms; both the existing one and the one I added today. I would characterize these additions in musical terms, as syncopation. dum-de-dummm-de-de-dumdedeeee. I may not need to do a helluva lot more. as a backup solution, to keep me from doing too much, I tacked a new piece of primed linen to the wall, and i’ll likely make the first marks tomorrow morning. always an exciting moment!

7:13 AM: ANO KATO means topsy-turvy in greek. the series began with the painting you see on the right, titled parade. visit this page for more & to view the entire series. https://www.philiptarlow.com/anokato

starting the day with a drawing / continuing 12/10/2021 watercolor/collage /  by Philip Tarlow

12/10/2021 watercolor/collage as it looked at the end of my painting day today

1:46 PM: I continued work on 12/10/2021 watercolor/collage today, adding a few collaged bits, more watercolor painting & some dots of oil pastel on a few of the blacker areas. there’s an area on the right that’s a creek image, which, when I get to it tomorrow, will shift the entire feel of this piece., thus far, it’s the cactus blossom & the tokyo olympics figures that dominate. but, once again, it ain’t a painting of cactus blossoms & dancers. it’s simply a painting! i’d like to keep it simple, and most important perhaps, i’d like to keep it breathing., with spaces & places for the eye to rest before moving on to the next burst of marks & colors.

morning view out one of my north facing studio windows

11:00 AM: before continuing work on the new 12/10/21 watercolor/collage, I felt like starting my day with a reed pen & ink drawing. so I went into my freezing cold storage space ( it went below 0° F last night & currently the outside temperature is 14°F, so it’s not too much above that in the unheated storage space) & grabbed a roll of drawing paper. think of it as a warm-up exercise. I added a bit of color on my gold wedding ring with it’s cabochon emerald stone, made for our wedding by a dear friend. (thanks bea).

so now, on to the new watercolor/collage!

completing yesterday's watercolor / starting a new one / 1975 painting of piraeus /  by Philip Tarlow

3:34 PM: in 1975 I was living and painting in greece, where I was married to marina karagatsi, daughter of the novelist m. karagatsis. my mother-in-law, niki karagatsi, was a very fine painter, and she and I would frequently go out together to paint plein air. sometimes i’d drive her to piraeus, which at the time was a rich source of subjects for paintings of everyday life, which we, and other members of the informal group called the athens school, were fond of painting. this one was painted near the port of piraeus. it’s characteristic of the work I was doing and exhibiting at that time. my gallery was called ORA, created by an extraordinary man of armenian descent: assadour bacharian. way ahead of his time, he created what he called an “artistic and cultural center,” where there were poetry readings, musical events, etc. he also had a large collection of art books available to read on site or take out. he was not just my gallery director; he was a dear friend, and would occasionally make really tasty Armenian dishes for us when we invited him over.

2:49 PM: so after adding the collaged pieces, BELOW, I completed cacti in bloom watercolor/collage and immediately launched into a new one. these are very good prep for the next series of oil/collages i’ll be starting soon. they are allowing me to play around with new ideas on a small scale. this new one is larger than the one I just completed: 11 1/4 x 30”. you can just make out the pencil drawing of the same cactus bloom I painted in the previous one, next to which is one of the acrobats from the tokyo olympics celebration and, inside down, two of the female basketball players.right next to them is a detail of a branch & a rock from the creek. they will all be dancing together, once I take this new one to the next stage tomorrow.

a cold front is moving in, and right now, at 3 pm, the temperature has dropped to 22F, with the wind gusting to 30mph, making it feel more like 16°F, and when we wake up tomorrow morning, it’s forecast to be 1°F.

the sky as it looked at 8am this morning

12/10/2021 watercolor/collage. stage 1

11:57 am: cacti in bloom watercolor on arches watercolor paper, 6x16” has now become a watercolor/collage. while I liked the empty spaces on either side of the blossoms, they were asking for something. so I gave it to them, collaging a few pieces of paper, including one of my cut-up reed pen studio drawings. I also added a few more strokes of watercolor. I think it worked. glancing at it from a distance of about 20 feet, it reads well.

BELOW: the before & after

tweaks to 11/30/2021 creek oil/collage /  by Philip Tarlow

11/30/2021 creek oil/collage following some tweaks to his pink shirt.

1:11 PM: I made a few more tweaks to the figure of the skateboarder’s pink shirt & then started a watercolor inspired by photos I shot this past june of our cacti in bloom.

cacti in bloom watercolor on arches watercolor paper, 6x16”

11/30/2021 creek oil/collage following my morning tweaks to the area beneath the skateboarders face

10:14 AM: that area just below the head of the skateboarder was bugging us both. so I made some tweaks, which toned down the collaged map and introduced a bit of the blue that’s in the neighborhood, and made some improvements to his face, hand & cap.

BELOW are details of that area. yesterdays version os on the left.