December 30, 2021 by Philip Tarlow

2:53 PM: just started a new oil/collage, which is 34x38 in. so far, stage 1 is just a colored pencil drawing. stopping for the day & will pick up tomorrow morning.

7:49 AM: in the’80’s, i was a member of fischbach gallery on 59th st. during that period i was living and painting in my appartment on central park west and traveling around the city on my bike, shooting photos of nyc architectural reflections, which was my passion at the time. this is a detail of one of the oil paintings that emerged during that period. in was purchased by a nyc collector. it’s not as sharp as i’d like, but i’ll search for the original photo of this painting & when i find it, i’ll post.

more later when i get to the studio. as for the weather here in crestone/baca, we’re expecting snow new years eve and new years day, with temps falling below zero at night.

so what have you been up to, philip? / December 29, 2021 by Philip Tarlow

6:49 PM: the past 2 days i’ve been completing setup of my new epson printer and assembling the new projector stand that was just delivered. i had ordered and assembled one previously, which i’m sending back tomorrow. it was too lightweight/flimsy. this one is much heftier, more stable, has a second tray for a laptop &, perhaps most significantly, it has wheels. it was a bitch to assemble & i ended up having to watch a youtube video for the last step, which was pretty nutty. we postponed a couple of dinners we had planned because of the latest covid uptik. but we’re still planning on driving up to denver for the tour of the denver art museum’s exhibition: Whistler to Cassatt: American Painters in France. i was invited by the director to this tour, which will take place in the morning, before the museum opens, and be attended by about 20 local artists. after giving it a lot of consideration, we decided it will be pretty safe. all will be wearing masks and keeping a good distance from each other. plus i’ll get to meet some denver artists personally picked by the museum director, whiich i find exciting.

all that to let you know why you haven’t seen any new paintings for a few days. something is brewing however. so you may see something new tomorrow.

in the meantime, here’s a detail from one of my recent series of oil/collage paintings on linen.

the completed 12/20/2021 oil/collage / December 26, 2021 by Philip Tarlow

*12/20/2021 oil/collage* after this morning’s modifications, enlivening the greens.

12:01 PM: this morning, on this extraordinarily windy day, I made the final strokes on 12/20/2021 oil/collage. actually, there was no brush involved, just oil pastel. based on feedback from mikela, who came by yesterday afternoon, i made the green shoots scattered about the right portion of the composition pop. but not too much.

just received a text from my son Dimitri, whose latest theatre production was just named one of the 20 must see productions of the year. here’s the link: https://www.lifo.gr/culture/theatro/20-theatrikes-parastaseis-gia-ta-fetina-hristoygenna

xmas work on 12/20/2021 oil/collage / December 25, 2021 by Philip Tarlow

*12/20/2021 oil/collage* as it looked at 1:30 today

1:31 PM: I made more modifications over the past hour. BELOW is a comparative view, the the most recent version on the right. the changes are more subtle than the ones I made this morning. fro example, the black, patterned circular passage on the lower middle has been collaged over with a simpler geometric image. the white area beneath the dancer on the left now contains marks in siena similar to the ones in the upper right quadrant. a bit of the same cut off blue lettering on the lower right now appears, albeit in a very minor way, in the lower left corner of the composition. all this, as I cast glances at it from a distance of about 20 feet, gives it a more unified, less cluttered look.

we’re planning on taking our stupa walk in about an hour, so I may spend that time setting up my new epson printer. the old one works fine, but I wanted more precise, lively colors, which this new model should give me.

*12/20/2021 oil/collage* as it looked at 12:30pm today

12:34 PM: holidays & weekends don’t mean much to us; just a great opportunity to get some work done uninterrupted. today is no different. i’ve been making modifications to 12/20/2021 oil/collage since I arrived in the studio this morning. the sun is out today, making it easier to see the colors. so far, I haven’t touched a brush. so it’s just been collage and some pencil & crayon marks. it’s definitely less congested but it ain’t there yet.

BELOW: yesterdays version is on the left.

continued work on 12/20/2021 oil/collage / December 24, 2021 by Philip Tarlow

2:22 PM: the area above the two dancer’s heads was bugging me, so I went into it, broke up that grey & added a few swirling siena pencil marks. little things like this can make a huge difference in the overall impression the painting makes on the viewer.

*12/20/2021 oil/collage* as it looked moments ago

1:47 PM: an overcast day, but no rain to ease or extreme draught.

the naked figure was a fun experiment, but its not really me, plus, in that dancer pose she’s in it looked like she was about to pee. so that’s history. instead, I remembered my own words about the nature of painting and just went about treating it as if it were a collection of painterly marks on a 2 dimensional surface which work together to create a coherent, moving whole.

a few musicians from a pompeian mosaic are faintly visible over on the right & some patterns from an iranian source are livening up the central areas. it’d starting to sing, but it ain’t there yet. a bit of a falsetto.

that’s it for today; i’m going to clean my brushes & go back to the house.

continuing 12/20/2021 oil/collage / December 23, 2021 by Philip Tarlow

12:33 PM: it’s a partly sunny day. clouds will increase this afternoon and there’s a possibility of snow starting in the early morning hours tomorrow, into friday.

the two dancers was an interesting idea, but I was finding it somewhat boring. so I undressed the one on the right, which definitely livens things up. funny how risqué it feels to paint breasts and vaginal hair! hey tarlow, it’s 2021! get with it!

i’m taking a little tea break. i’m making throat coat tea to sooth my GERD, which is a condition resulting from acid reflux, where your larynx becomes sore and inflamed & it’s hard to swallow.

i’ll resume painting in 10-15 minutes.

12/20/2021 oil/collage continued / December 22, 2021 by Philip Tarlow

2:14 PM: I continued work on 12/20/2021 oil/collage today, adding a second dancing figure and simplifying the right side of the composition.

what you may not notice in the larger photo of the full painting are the sienna marks to the right of the dancers, which are inspired by landscape drawings.

the green leafy plants i’ve begun to add are from some of my creek watercolors.

there’s a significant compositional difference from yesterday’s version, which you can see BELOW.

12/20/2021 oil/collage continued / 1976 exhibition catalogue with text by Tsarouchis / December 21, 2021 by Philip Tarlow

*12/20/2021 oil/collage* as it looked at 2pm

1:53 PM: I continued work on 12/20/2021 oil/collage today, adding creek elements, so that the the dancing female figure is surrounded by foliage, with some logs & branches to her left.

a little while ago, I ran across this exhibition catalogue from 1976. my friend & mentor, Yannis Tsarouchis wrote the text, something he rarely did for an artist. so it was a great honor.

the painting on the cover is one of a series of paintings I did during that period of construction workers from a building project near my studio in athens.

i’ll work on a translation & post it when it’s ready.

4:25 PM: i went back over to the studio & scraped into that orange/yellow, which you see BELOW on the right. possibly not the best move.but i’ll work it out tomorrow.

starting 12/20/2021 oil/collage / December 20, 2021 by Philip Tarlow

1:38 PM: I started work on the new 12/20/2021 oil/collage this morning and having been painting & drawing until just a few moments ago.

one of my creek drawings is superimposed on a ballerina viewed from above. this one is just in it’s early stages yet it already exudes mystery and spatial enigmas. increasingly, I view my own daily experiences as a series of events inspire/time superimposed. upon one another, whirling and swirling.

10:11 AM: since mikela had to get an early start get to the high school she’s working with today, that allowed me to do all my prep & get to the studio earlier than usual. following breakfast, cut a new piece of primed portrait linen, the same size as 11/30/2021 creek oil/collage.thinking ahead to my june denver exhibition, i’m going to try and maintain similar sizes.

BELOW: 11/30/2021 creek oil/collage next to the blank primed linen I just tacked to the wall.

9/22/2021 painting revisited / re-stretching 11/26/2021 creek oil/collage / December 19, 2021 by Philip Tarlow

2:43 PM: today I unstretched karen sleeping and used those stretcher bars to stretch 11/26/2021 creek oil/collage. Below are the two paintings side by side.

11/26/2021 creek oil/collage will enter the big, beautiful frame intended for karen sleeping, which will be shipped to her.

11:47 AM: this is 9/22/2021 painting/collage 42 x 54 in. oil, oil stick and collage on portrait linen. it’s one of a series I did back in september, which at the moment seems like a few years ago.