February 7, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

*2/5/2022 oil/collage* as it looked moments ago

2:37 PM: I made quite a few additions (and subtractions), adding a number of collaged elements, mostly consisting of the cut up drawings I made before starting this one, but there are some pieces of maps as well over on the right. they are interesting as design elements, mirroring the blue cubes on the left, but also serve the important function of balancing out the blue cubes on the upper left.

one of the two dancers on the left has had one arm replaced by a collaged piece of drawing that demonstrates why I always try to put compositional integrity & flow above the purely descriptive.

looking at it from 20 feet, I think it works, and may even be one of the more exciting ones in this series. i’m going to stop here for the day & see how I feel about it in the morning.

12:35 PM: today is a school day for mikela, so she left early. i’ve been continuing work on 2/5/2022 oil/collage. the left portion of the composition is coming together, but the right is still in formation. I added my hardstanding friend from the tokyo olympics celebration, who has played a role in previous paintings in the series. i’m going to get back to work & will post updates as they become available.

I didn’t think i’d be able to work at all today, since I spilled an entire pot of boiling hot coffee on my foot. I was in a rush to get mikela her coffee before leaving at 8 & I accidentally hit the pot just as I was preparing to pour. I applied ice, which hurt like hell, then put some vaseline on & covered it with gauze. i’ll see how it’s doing at the end of the day. it was already blistering when I wrapped it in gauze.

continuing 2/5/22 oil/collage / February 6, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

*2/5/22 oil/collage* at the end of my painting day today

the painting on my work table with my palette

1:49 PM: i’m stopping for the day. burnt out!

I did quite a bit, including the first collaged piece of paper with a fragment of one of the drawings I made last week. it’s to the right of the female dancer in the center of the composition. so right now it’s ancient roman mosaic meets 2020 tokyo olympics, with blues, reds & yellows dominating. mixing all these elements together is highly exciting & at the same time amusing for me. it’s like i’m allowing them to take the lead & tell their story while piecing together the architecture and design.

while there are clearly some elements that have appeared in previous paintings in this. series, I don’t feel i’m repeating myself. I hate the predictable in art as in the rest of life, but i’m finding that, during each successive period I traverse, i’m excited by a certain set of images, colors and compositional devices. and, as long as they do, I continue down that path. when it’s over, it becomes very clear to me that there’s no more juice, and I move on.

at work this morning on *2/5/22 oil/collage*

11:52 AM: I dove back in with gusto, to 2/5/22 oil/collage this morning, feeling gratitude for my beautiful, spacious, light studio and for the ability to stand on the cement floor all day with no problem. i’ll update a bit later this afternoon. I’ll be stopping around 2:30 so we can put on our cleats and walk up the snow & ice covered trail to the stupa.

starting 2/5/2022 oil/collage / February 5, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

2:57 PM: today I started a new 28x64” oil on linen simply titled 2/5/2022 oil/collage. as of yet, there’s no collaged elements, but this is very early stage 1. as with previous ones in this series, i’m working on it tacked to the wall, and it will be stretched later on. makes collaging a lot easier with a hard surface behind the canvas. i’ll resume in the morning; right now i’m going out to pick up our fresh baked loaf of weekly bread.

continued work on olympic celebration 3 the process the process the process / February 4, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

6:14 PM: back at the house, having just had dinner, i’m contemplating the process. so take today, for example. i arrived a bit late to my studio; about 11am. after making and eating my breakfast, which i ate while reading one of the books i have about li gonglin (1049-1106 AD). aside from my deep interest in his paintings, i learned that political drama was just as intense and power driven as it is today, and deeply affected his life & work. so that he and his buddies had to pick up and run for the hills, literally, when a new emperor came to power.

so then, after putzing around for an hour or so, having a conversation with mike, director of space gallery, where i’ll be showing in april, i got back into olympic celebration 3. how do i do that? by letting go of my logical mind and allowing my body take over. but if you know you’re letting go then you’re not. that’s probably why i putz around for about an hour. as soon as i pick up a brush and apply the first bit of watercolor, i’m immersed in the process, aware that i have a limited time in the flow. i take little breaks to tack the painting to the wall & gaze at it. i make some ginger/tumeric tea & have a little yoghurt with fruit & nuts, all the while casting glances at the painting tacked to the wall. at some moment, i see where i need to go next and go back to my brushes & colors.

it’s a process. can’t be planned.

at work today on *olympic celebration 3*

2:48 PM: I continued work on olympic celebration 3 today, adding a couple of collaged elements, which haven’t yet integrated into the composition as a whole. I may go back into it for another hour or so. we were going to walk up to the stupa this afternoon, bit the temperature hasn’t risen above 15F, so we’ll wait till tomorrow, when it warms up a bit.

completing olympic celebration 2 / making the drawing for olympic celebration 3 / February 3, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

*olympic celebration 3* as it looked at the end of my painting day today

3:26 PM: I started applying watercolors to the drawing and am stopping for the day, resuming tomorrow morning.

2:06 PM: once I completed olympic celebration 2, I immediately got started on the drawing for olympic celebration 3. I had prepared 2 surfaces the same size, both on arches watercolor paper taped to a piece of foam core. I covered both with a wash of diluted ink. the one I just completed has a darker reddish wash of color, whereas for this one, I diluted the ink even more, creating a lighter background color.

*olympic celebration 2* as it looked moments ago, completed

12:30 PM: I completed the sketched in central figure with her back to us and worked a bit on the figure up top, with her arms raised. In yesterdays version it was unclear whether that was a woman’s body or something else.

BELOW are the 3 stages of this painting, over a period of 3 days. some of the figures were deliberately left “unfinished,”

looking at the 12 olympic celebration suite of paintings / continuing work on olympic celebration 2 gouache / February 2, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

4:08 PM: I did some more work on olympic celebration 2; ABOVE is stage 2

BELOW: stages 1 & 2

12:52 PM: it’s snowing, as predicted, and thus far we’ve gotten about 4 inches.

the 12 paintings in my olympic celebration suite are temporarily tacked to my east wall, and I just photographed them. I haven’t yet figured out how i’m going to attach each of them to a wood surface and how they will eventually be shown in my april exhibition at space gallery in denver.

so now i’ll resume work on the olympic celebration 2 watercolor/gouache & i’ll post pic as they become available.

olympic celebration 2 gouache / DRAWING FOR OLYMPIC CELEBRATION 2 / 1996 drawing of mikela / dressed for approaching snowstorm / February 1, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

3:34 PM: I started the gouache version of olympic celebration 2, which you see ABOVE.

12:40 PM: with just 3 hours left before the snowstorm begins & mikela returns from the school she’s been at all day, I’m making progress on the drawing for the new gouache i’ll be making : olympic celebration 2. the first one, which you see BELOW, was completed on november 14th of last year.

1:04 PM: the wind is strengthening and the sky is growing darker in advance of the snowstorm, which is predicted to begin in about 3 hours.

9:58 AM: whenever you see me posting from the studio this early, the means mikela had to leave the house at 8 to be in one of the schools. she should be back around 4pm, just about when the snow is predicted to begin. it should continue through the night and most of tomorrow, which would give us enough to get back up to normal for this time of year.

I put on my cold weather/snow clothing this morning to show my grandson philip, who like his dad and I, is passionate about weather and has been tracking our approaching storm.

while cleaning off my desk this morning, I ran across this 1996 ink drawing I made of mikela.( i’m trying each day to create some order in my studio, a little bit at a time.)

one of my tasks ahead will be to organize my drawings and paintings. good luck with that! this is a job for a student anxious to learn from an artist in his studio; a fair exchange i’d say.

now let’s get to work!

canvas 12 modified / January 31, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

*1/8/2022 polyptych, canvas 12* moments ago

3:37 PM: a bit more work on canvas 12 in this suite of 12 canvases. I think the yellow, red & blue additions on the top portion of the composition have helped enormously, as does the deeper red beneath the two spheres, in the center of the composition. you can see the collaged elements that are bits of the cut up ink drawings I made yesterday morning. this is the only one of the 12 that does not have obvious human figures, although if you look carefully, you will discern a few legs towards the bottom as well as a shoulder and hand towards the right, next to the chair. if you had this hanging in your home, I venture to say you would never tire of looking at it, always finding something new..

on day 2, there was an obvious human presence, as you will see here on the right.

this is one of those paintings that reads far better in person than it does on the computer screen. maybe i’ll re-shoot it in a different light & see if that helps.

4:01 PM: so I did re-shoot it, with an improved result which is closer to what I see looking at it in the studio from about 20 feet.

*1/8/2022 polyptych, canvas 12* as it looked yesterday

1PM: a collaged bit that mikela called the “floating eggplant” has been collaged over on 1/8/2022 polyptych, canvas 12. it’s definitely an improvement, but I think it needs something more. BELOW: the before & after

two 1987 paintings inspired by visits to hockney's studio / making a drawing to use later today as collage / January 30, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

2:25 PM: we’re going to take our walk a little earlier today, so we can watch the australian open mens finals, which my grandson philip tells me lasts 4 1/2 hours!

I did have time to make some modifications to both 1-8-2022 polyptych, canvas 12 as well as canvas 7, which you see BELOW.

in canvas 7, on the left, the figure of the skateboarder now has a red & green outline on his upper body, which allows him to pop more.

in canvas 12, on the right, all figures have gone from the composition. different tokyo olympics figures will likely reappear tomorrow, when I resume work on this one. I spent too much time making gingerbread and face-timing with hockney to do too much more today. it’s sunny & warmer, so we should have an excellent walk before sitting down to a pasta dinner and watching the match.

see you all tomorrow.

1:14 PM: a few minutes ago, I made this ink drawing, which will be cut into pieces & collaged onto new paintings.

12:17 PM: just made some gingerbread before starting my painting day today. I added some walnuts & raisins to the mix to make it more interesting. of course I had to have a few bites to make sure it was tasty, which it is! a little crunchy, which I love. that’s why I keep it in the oven a bit longer than recommended.

8:33 AM: in 1987, just one year after mikela and i met, we visited with my friend david hockney in his home & studio in the hollywood hills. i shot phots of him with some friends on his deck overlooking the pool, and of the interior of his home. then, once i was back in my studio, i made a series of paintings in gouache on paper. here are two of them, which now hang in mikela’s work room.

I spoke with David moments ago, and he & his assistant are excited about helping to put together a major Tsarouchis museum show. I asked niki, director of the Tsarouchis foundation, to send him the large volume published by the foundation, which they’ll use when speaking with museum directors. very exciting news, and long overdue!

1/8/2022 polyptych, canvas 12, day 2 / January 29, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

3:03 PM: I did more to 1-8-2022 polyptych, canvas 12 as well as making modifications to #11 and #7. that’s a lotta work!

BELOW left: canvas 11 and right: canvas 7, which still needs work.