February 17, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

*canvas 15* as it looked at the end of my painting day today

3:33 PM: after making the modifications to canvas 14, which I posted earlier today, I started work on canvas 15. so far, it’s pretty simple and as yet has no collaged elements. there’s a dancing tokyo olympics figure with a patterned costume, in a landscape. i’d like to keep it simple….so what else is new?

i’m using the amazon try before you buy feature to find the right sneakers to wear while standing all day on my cement studio floor. the latest ones arrived today, and are sketchers brand. not too bad looking, but it’s all about the footbed and the overall fit & feel over many hours. been wearing these since about 1pm, and so far so good.

12:47 PM: turns out, as usual, after all those predictions from future radar, we only ended up with an inch of new snow. more up on the peaks, but not nearly enough to lift us out of severe drought.

when I came back in to the studio this morning, I saw a few areas in canvas 14 that needed work, so I made the modifications, which you can see in the comparative views BELOW.

as you will observe, the dancer’s legs, which were hanging mid-air, now have sneakers, and his face now has features. the shadow of his leg has appeared in light violet, and a decorative element from the original photo of the olympics celebration event breaks up the checkerboard blue in the background. a hint of blue sleeve peeks out from the back of his blue & white garment, echoing the other blues in the composition.

starting canvas 14 / February 16, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

*canvas 14* as it looked at the end of my painting day

2:38 PM: about to stop for the day so we can take our stupa walk in half an hour. I did quite a bit of work on this new one, but it’s not there yet, so i’ll pick up again in the morning.

11:42 AM: I feel good about canvas 13, so I have declared it completed & started on #14. so far, it’s a colored pencil drawing on the usual 15x17.5” portrait linen tacked to my east wall. i’m about to resume, following this brief break, and will post updates as they become available.

it’s a windy day, but not cold, and we’re scheduled to walk at 3:15 this afternoon. sporadic snow may begin around sunset and continue into the night.

at work this morning on *canvas 14* in my *olympics polyptych* series

STARTING 1-8-2022 polyptych, canvas 13 / February 15, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

*1-8-2022 polyptych, canvas 13* as it looked moments ago

and at 2:44, here’s how she looks

1:56 PM: after a slow start, digesting the fact that i’m actually going from 12 to 27 canvases in this series, I started work on #13. here’s where it’s at currently.

cutting15 more polyptych canvases / I found this 2017 oil on canvas / February 14, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

10 of the 12 polyptych series on my east wall

4pm: I rearranged 10 of the polyptych series paintings on my east studio wall. the other two are over at the house.

and I decided i’m not done with this series yet, so I cut 15 more portrait linen canvases, each 15.25x17.50 inches. larger format paintings don’t really interest me right now, and it’s important to know here your interest lies at a specific moment in time.

so it’s likely i’ll launch into the first one tomorrow, but I have a 10am call with apple to figure out how to create more space on my iMac so that I can install the latest software. that might screw up my energy fo painting, but maybe the opposite will happen. lets see.

cutting 15 more 15.25x17.50 inch pieces of portrait linen

*the barber shop,* oil in linen, 22x22” 2017

10:49 AM: this morning I found this 2017 oil on canvas leaning against the wall of my studio. it’s a painting of a barber shop somewhere in india, which I photographed during that trip. I was struck by the patterns and colors, all reflected in the many mirrors. it reminds me of the interiors I used to paint during my 15 years in greece, on excursions we took with my then mother-in-law, the late great painter niki karagatsi, to little shops in piraeus.

2/9/2022 oil/collage continued / February 13, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

*2/9/2022 oil collage* at the end of my painting day today

2:49 PM: I was a little out of it today, so I did more work to 2/9/2022 oil/collage and then, at the end of met painting day, I took out half of what I did. you’d better be in good form when you start your painting day, or you should find something else to do.

2/9/2022 oil/collage continued / February 12, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

1:59 PM: my process is like breathing. so today is like the out breath. I went over what I did yesterday with titanium/zinc white oil paint, applied with a large flat brush. then I pressed sheets of bubble wrap (with the small bubbles) onto the surface, creating a subtle pattern and at the same time revealing shadows of yesterdays bold marks.

what i’ve done thus far is inspired by a photo I found of workmen uncovering and cleaning an ancient floor mosaic, which is a few thousand years old. there are a lot of patterns, and a lot of faces, male and female.

on the out breath, tomorrow morning, I may continue along this path. the paint will have dried by then, so rather than painting wet into wets I am today, i’ll be brushing the wet oil paint onto a dry or almost dry surface, so that it no longer picks up the underlying color. wet into wet generally results in a more painterly outcome. dekooning knew this, which is why he lay newspaper on top of what he had painted that day, so that the next morning, after removing the newspaper, he could have that wet surface he loved painting into. eventually he discovered that, if he left the newspaper in place, it would behave as a collage and add variety to what he was doing.

transformation of 2/9/2022 oil/collage / 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.