mounting the polyptych canvases / starting watercolor/collage 6 /  by Philip Tarlow

1:57 PM: as I said 2 hours ago, “maybe i’ll do a bit more…” and I did. here she is.

I certainly did not intend for this guy to have the look of a modern day hero. a few collaged bits from a minoan vase did the trick, however. and just like that, it went from the prosaic to the poetic. could this have something to do with the face that, for the past week or so, before falling asleep i’ve been reading a couple of pages from joyce’s ulysses? and if so, might this be bloom? could be, since joyce set it up so that bloom is whoever you the reader think he is. at the moment, I can’t think of a more ideal way to fall asleep! give it a try, and don’t let the languaging or the syncopation get in your way; just read and engage.

1:04 PM: as r was cutting the wood for the simple frames i’m going to put around my oils, I worked on watercolor/collage 6 in this series of 9 i’m doing. I may stop for the day, since it’s already been a long, complex day & I actually wasn’t expecting to get any painting done! we’ll be walking up the trail at 3, and I do have a bit more time to paint, so maybe i’ll do a bit more to this one.

interestingly, this guy’s face looks almost exactly like me in my early teens! what’s that all about?

10:51 AM: this morning as scheduled, a construction friend came over to my studio to cut down the 4x8 ft. masonite boards as supports for the 18 canvases in the polyptych series . I mounted one to see how it looks and it’s pretty cool. the collaging had created ripples in the portrait linen, so it was hard to get a sense of how they’d look if they were laying flat. so here’s the first one. he went to fetch a roller, which will make the other 18 easier to mount & roll out the air bubbles, which in this first one I had to do by hand.

I think if I glue 3-4 a day, i’ll get through them.

watercolor/collage 5 continued /  by Philip Tarlow

4:12 PM: it was too much, so I removed the blue collaged bit on the right & the map fragment next to his right hand. better, methinks. the latest version is ABOVE.

watercolor/collages 1-5 with today’s #5 on the far left

3:37 PM: I added an orange bit of collage & I think i’ll stop for the day. I have a short day tomorrow, so i’ll see when I come in tomorrow morning how I feel about the work I did today. BELOW is the whole series thus far, with today’s work on the left

watercolor/collages 1-5 with today’s #5 on the far left

2:07 PM: I added some collaged areas to watercolor/collage #5, which I started yesterday. the before & after is BELOW. while I did like the spare simplicity of yesterday’s version, the collaged elements I added today and the richer colors on his upper garment bring it more into alignment with the previous 4 in this series.

modification to 3/5/2022 oil/collage / starting watercolor/collage 5 /  by Philip Tarlow

3:40 PM: I started adding to my watercolor/collage series of tokyo olympics celebration dancers/acrobats today. this will be #5 out of a total of 10 I plan on painting, which will all be part of my exhibition opening next month in denver.

stage 1 of watercolor/collage #5

watercolor/collages #1-4

1:51 PM: a dear friend in NYC who has a truly great eye for painting & was on the selection committee for MOMA, loved the painting but found the dark outline surrounding the skateboard too dominant.

when I came into the studio this morning, one glance proved her right.

BELOW: the before (left) and after.

continued work on 3/5/2022 oil/collage /  by Philip Tarlow

3/5/2022 oil/collage as it looked at the end of my painting day today

2:15 PM: today, a cloudy, intermittently snowy day, I took 3/5/2022 oil/collage to the next level.

a lot happened today, and so far i’ve been able to maintain those important white spaces. a painting’s gotta breathe ya know! the checkerboard patterning running through many of the paintings in this series has again shown up, this time on a warm grey background. that mysterious lady hiding behind a tree, who was naked yesterday is now clothed in yellow with stripes of pink. rivulets of blue water appear beneath the transparent skateboard and a pair of dolphins frolic.

the orange of the skateboarder’s collar have unexpectedly become a coloristic anchor, without which the composition would be a lot poorer.

a 2 day break and then i’ll pick it back up on wednesday.

today’s palette

at work earlier today on 3/5/2022 oil/collage

2 newly stretched & framed paintings for my April show / starting 3/5/2022 oil/collage /  by Philip Tarlow

day one of 3/5/2022 oil/collage, 32x42” on triple primed extra fine portrait linen

3:22 PM: this is day 1 of my new painting: 3/5/2022 oil/collage. there are a few figures from previous paintings in this series, for now set in a creek-scape sketched out in siena. the jumping skateboarder, is partially painted in amongst the trees, and a sense of mystery is pervasive.

i’ll continue tomorrow morning; going to pick up our freshly baked loaf now.

12/10/2021 watercolor/collage

a newly stretched canvas and a newly framed watercolor/collage on my east studio wall

12:36 PM: this morning I stretched one of the canvases for my April exhibition at space gallery in denver. i’m waiting for more stretcher bars to arrive so that I can stretch the rest. it makes a huge difference , getting rid of the wrinkles and allowing you to see the painting without the extra white canvas surrounding it.

as well, I found a frame that’s the correct size for one of my watercolor/collages, which will also be included in the exhibition. here they are on my east studio wall. later i’ll bring them to the house to see how they look there, which is always the true test.

now that i’ve completed that, I may start a new painting on oil & collage on portrait linen. updates when available.

2/28/22 oil/collage: fine tuning /  by Philip Tarlow

2/28/22 oil/collage.following this morning’s fine tuning

10:51 AM: this morning i used my fresh morning energy to fine tune 2/28/22 oil/collage. i placed more highlights in the outfit of the dancer on the left, as well as on the body of the paddler & his outfit. gazing at it now from about 20-25 feet, it’s made a significant difference, so that the whole composition now pops. and finally, i collaged a blue piece of map onto the bottom-center of the composition, beneath the dancer’s lifted leg, which eliminated a lot of unnessary clutter and connected with the other collaged map to his left. i’m seeing now that the central yellow paddle is key to the entire composition, as is what’s left of the sky i briefly introduced yesterday morning. looks resolved to me!

BELOW: left: yesterday’s version and right: following this morning’s tweaks

2/28/22 oil/collage: upside down /  by Philip Tarlow

3:04 PM: over the past hour, I worked primarily on the figure of the paddler with the red hair. if you compare with the image in my previous post, BELOW, you will notice more highlights, with the sun falling on his arms & legs, and the lights and shadows in his hair more pronounced, with the dark blue of the water now surrounding his left arm, which has moved closer in to his body. his shorts have more definition, with dark lines indicating pockets.the pink of his t-shirt pops more. as well, the dark blue water now shows up below, and completely surrounds his skiff. what remains of the earlier version adds mystery to the composition; the bit of map on the lower left, the bits of tree branches and the sky I painted in earlier today. it might not be obvious at first, but the dancer on the left is kicking up one foot.

ABOVE: details of the modifications I made at the end of my painting day, to the figure of the paddler

2/28/2022 oil/collage with a second figure, moments ago

1:53 PM: a second figure has entered the composition, inspired by a photo I shot a few years ago on a bridge in alamosa, where a couple of guys were paddling their skiffs on the river.

2/28/22 oil/collage on 3/2 noon

12:19 PM: ABOVE is a photo showing the current state of 2/28/22 oil/collage

2/28/22 oil/collage as it looked moments ago

11:26 AM: I flipped it 360° and made a sky on top. lets see where she goes now…

morning energy /  by Philip Tarlow

2/28/22 oil/collage as it looked moments ago, at the end of my painting day.

2:07 PM: i’ve been painting on this one pretty consistently since 10am. I had it on my painting table upside down for a while, when my energy was freshest. during that period of about an hour, I was in my flow state, following my instincts. I introduced a few critical collaged pieces, including a small torn up piece of a hockney poster he once sent me. it’s kind of an inside joke, where i’m acknowledging him while at the same time using just tiny a sliver of his mark making.

the creek-scape has integrated with several dancing tokyo olympics figures seamlessly so that neither of them jump out. looking at the polyptych suite of 19 paintings on the wall adjacent to the new painting i’m working on, a language is clearly emerging; of forms, colors & compositions. I learn from each successive painting, and in this one I’ve been able to take what I learned a step further. it’s neither too crowded nor too sparse. it peaks your curiosity, especially if you move up close and begin noticing the two figures. as always, i’ll know in the morning whether it’s asking for more.

I received yet another pair of walking/hiking shoes today, in a series i’ve ordered & returned using amazon’s try before you buy policy. I was able to wear this pair, which are more boots than shoes, made by columbia, all day on my unforgiving cement floor with no pain. so it’s a first, and may mean they are keepers!

it’s a gorgeous day, with a near record high temperature of 54F. we’ll be walking up the trail in 45 minutes, so i’m stopping here for the day.

11:42: i’m taking advantage of my morning fresh energy to take this one further. here she is so far.

2/28/22 oil/collage as it looked moments ago

starting 29x40 un-named / liang kai /  by Philip Tarlow

DETAIL of the new 19x40” painting i started today.

1:34 PM: I started a new 19x40” painting on super fine portrait linen. on the right, shot with my iPhone 13; on the left, shot with my Nikon 7200

10:49 AM: “Liáng Kǎi; c. 1140 - c. 1210) was a Chinese painter of the Southern Song Dynasty. He was also known as Madman Liang because of his very informal pictures.”

from Wikipedia:”…Liang Kai is most famous for originating or developing the "Xie Yi" (sometimes translated as "sketch style") of painting, where the objective is to evoke the subject or atmosphere with minimal use of detail; it requires a profound mastery of painting technique and perfect concentration, but also allows for the beauty of accidental effects”

i’m a big fan. I’ve been studying this book on and off for at least a decade. this is a study I made a few years ago in ink on paper. it’s tacked to one of my studio closets in a spot where I can see it every day as I work.

study of liang kai painting