February 11, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

*2/9/2022 oil/collage* as it looked following my changes this morning

12:24 PM: you could say I was in a mood. I was tired of the direction I was taking over the past 2 days with this painting, so I painted over it with a light pink and then drew into that wet paint with black oil paint, and added a few highlights with oil pastels. in case you didn’t recognize them, these are the tools in one of my tool drawers. they are the subject of those black & white drawings I made and then cut up for use as collage.

more tomorrow.

continuing 2/9/2022 oil/collage / February 10, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

1:49 PM: I made some small changes before going back to the house to lie down. you’ll notice some color has appeared in the newly collaged area in the mid-right of the composition

*2/9/2022 oil collage* after some small changes moments ago, some scrape marks have appeared in the pink area surrounding the figure, and some color has been added to the newly collaged area in the middle-right portion of the composition.

12:50 PM: a few minutes ago, I collaged a piece of a drawing I made 2 days ago, with the intention of using bits of it in my next (this one) painting. you will see it in the photo above, in the center-right portion of the composition

*2/9/2022 oil/collage* as it looked moments ago

11:38 AM: a little early for a boy like me to be into the thick of it? well, my foot is feeling quite a bit better, which is allowing me to get an early start and move ahead with this new painting: 2/9/2022 oil/collage.

greys and pinks have appeared in the upper portions, and below, there she is…the handstand girl who has graced quite a few recent paintings, with her yellow checkered pants & long dark hair. and what’s her relationship to the abstracted creek-scape she finds herself in? just make it up; I do.

starting 2/9/2022 oil/collage / February 9, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

1:40 PM: my foot is hurting like hell, and my dermatologist recommended not standing on my feet, so i’m going back to the house to lie down with my leg elevated. she prescribed an ointment, which i’ll drive in to Salida to pick up in the morning. I guess I need to be more careful when i’m preparing coffee in the morning!

BELOW is the current early stage of 2/9/2022 oil/collage…we’ll see when I can resume work!

at work this morning on stage 1 of *2/9/2022 oil/collage*

12:01 PM: this morning I attached a number of photos i’ve shot over time on 2 pieces of foam core, leaned them against the wall, lay the canvas on the cement floor and began stage 1 of this new painting.

I mentioned yesterday that I had spilled a pot of boiling coffee on my right foot, and it’s hurting quite a bit, so I may have to stop. maybe i’ll take a lunch break & make myself some oatmeal.

arranging my photos on a board this morning

so now what?? / a possible change to 2/5/2022 oil/collage / February 8, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

4:24 PM: I moved the painting I completed yesterday to my south facing wall, as you can see BELOW, and thus cleared wall space on my east facing painting wall for the new 40x46” canvas, which you can see in the image on the right. i’ll start work on the new one tomorrow morning. right now, after almost 8 hours in the studio, i’m ready to walk back to the house for dinner with my honey!

my east facing painting wall, with the new 40x46 canvas

my south facing studio wall with the painting I completed yesterday now on the lower right

11:40 AM: while making my reed pen & brush ink drawings earlier, I began cutting the drawing up & discovered a piece that might work in 2/5/2022 oil/collage, which I had considered complete.

BELOW are the before (left) and after images. the newly collaged pieces temporarily attached for now.

so I just now scrolled back & forth between the two & decided I prefer it the way it was.

DETAIL of *2/5/2022 oil/collage* , with cut-up collaged reed pen drawings visible on the left & center

10:01 AM: I am declaring 2/5/2022 oil/collage resolved, and moving on to a new oil/collage, this one more of a rectangle.

I think I may Strat my painting day by making some of those reed pen and brush ink drawings I like to cut up & collage into my paintings, and then take it from there.

did I mentioned I spilled boiling coffee on my bare foot yesterday morning? very painful. there are some big blisters. last night I smeared manuka honey on the worst, most painful spots, and it seems to have worked! much better this morning, but I think i’ll have to wait at least one more day before walking up to the stupa.

continued work on 2/5/2022 oil/collage / 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.