April 30, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

2:48 PM: I did a major cleanup of everything in my studio associated with my current space gallery exhibition. then I tacked this piece of blank portrait linen to the wall. it’s what’s left on the roll, and measures 27.75 x 85”

so what will happen in this space? stay tuned; right now I have absolutely no idea! a great place to be, wouldn’t you say?

7:28 AM: in 2018-19, i created a series of paintings inspired by the work of 18th c. landscape painters and masters of the brush: ike no taiga and his wife, tokuyama gyokuran, legendary figures in the history of japanese art.

the paintings all measure 78x26", in oil on linen. a select number of these pantings will be shown for the first time in my upcoming exhibition at colorado mountain college museum, september through december of this year. during that period, i’ll be giving talks and mentoring art students at the college.

here you see one of the paintings in this series, titled 10th month. click on series in the drop down menu above, and scroll down to sound of a flute to view the series:

completing the little bird suite of 3 / April 29, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

3:14 PM: today I painted the third and final little bird, titled little bird III. all 3, along with little goat, will be mailed to my son Dimitri in Painia, a suburb of athens, where he and his soon to be wife live, with their new daughter. the four paintings will be framed and hung in my grand daughter’s bedroom.

at some point, probably in a year or two, she’ll notice them and know that her grandpa philip the painter loves her very much. I haven’t yet met her, but that will happen in good time.

*little bird III* watercolor, gouache & collage on arches watercolor paper

starting a new little bird painting / a painting of mikela in Hockney's Malibu house, 1994 / a 2004 painting of my dad / April 28, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

*little bird II* at the end , the *very* end, of my painting day

6:15 PM: as i am prone to do, just before walking out the door and going to the house to meet mikela and go walking up the trail, i glanced at little bird II and found it…..yes, predictable and thus a tad boring. i strode over to my collaging table and, after playing around with spacing and using the scissors to cut and crop two pieces of a cut up map, i added them to the painting. the blues of the map lifted the painting to another level, and balanced the pale orange to the right of the little bird.

2:22 PM: I started the second little bird to send to my new grand daughter. i’ll continue working on it for a little while, and then mikela and I plan on taking our trail walk. I don’t know the names of either of these little birds, so little bird I and little bird II will have to do!

the combination of blues, yellows and reds is yet another masterpiece of nature, with the black around her beak sealing the deal!

*little bird II* 6.75x6.50” watercolor & gouache on *arches*

12:24 PM: while searching my flat files for tracing paper, I came across the 1994 painting in watercolor of mikela at David Hockney’s Malibu house, 1994.

we used to visit him regularly in his hollywood hills house, and he had just purchased this one so it was our first time. right on the beach, it was really lovely. we had some lunch together and walked on the beach.

during the same search, in the same drawer, I discovered this little portrait of my dad, painted in 1994, a year before he passed.

a little bird / looking back: gaze series-2015 / April 27, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

4:49 PM: i completed the little bird before leaving the studio for the house about an hour ago. i like how delicate it is, and how well the lightly brushed background works. i also love how the first drawing i started works like a ghost image above the little bird’s head.

it makes me want to re-do the little goat tomorrow. the first one, although i like it, was like a warmup after days of not painting or being in my studio because of the gallery opening.

2:21 PM: I started a second small watercolor/gouache painting for my new grand daughter’s bedroom. here’s stage 1.

*a little bird.* 7x6.5” STAGE 1. watercolor & gouache on *arches* watercolor paper

12:09 PM: while reviewing some 2015 photos, I came across these two; it’s a stage in the development of one of my gaze series paintings, inspired by vermeer

a little goat / April 26, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

i finally got back to work today after the high activity period of preparations for my space gallery exhibition. my first little painting, in watercolor and gouache, was a lttle goat. it will be hung on the wall of my recently born grand daughter’s bedroom in greece, where i’ll ship it. there will be one other small animal painting i’ll make for her, perhaps tomorrow.

organizing watercolor/collages / my opening on friday, april 22, space gallery / April 25, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

6:12 PM: so glad i finally went through that pile of watercolor/gouache/collages. i found quite a few exciting ones that i had totally forgotten about. the hard part is that now i have to individually photograph and catalogue them. they’ve all been photographed when they were fresh, but i haven’t kept good records, so they’re not all in one folder as they should be. this is an example of one of them, which is cut off in this photograph i shot quickly before leaving the studio for the house. it’s inspired, as are many of them, by my plein air creek paintings.

one of the many works i re-discovered today

a stack of paintings i’m going through today that have been sitting on my file cabinet for many months

1:19 PM: now that my exhibition has opened today I decided to go through a big stack of watercolor/gouache/collage paintings from 2020-22. I separated them into 3 piles. one consists of pieces that are candidates for one or more gallery shows i’m planning. my next step will be to photograph and file them all at the same time i’m reaching out to galleries I haven’t yet worked with.

10:49 AM: this past friday at my opening, at 5:30 i gave a short talk, followed by my eye surgeon, dr. seibold of the u. of colrado deptartment of ophthalmology. the exhibition opened at 6pm and was very well attended, including many friends, old and new, fellow artists, of course dr. seibold, and timothy j. standring, deputy director of collections and programs at the denver art museum, who himself is a beautiful watercolor artist. some sales took place, and there will be more during the 5 weeks the exhibition is up. on may 6th, there’s a second event known as “first friday, when i’ll be giving another talk and guiding visitors through my work.

with dr. seibold at the *space gallery* opening on april 22

my opening at space gallery 2 days ago / a painting that should have made it in! / April 24, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

6:19 PM: on friday at 5:30 i gave a short talk, followed by my eye surgeon, dr. seibold of the u. of colrado deptartment of ophthalmology. the exhibition opened at 6pm and was very well attended, including many friends, old and new, fellow artists and timothy j. standring, deputy director of collections and programs at the denver art museum, who himself is a beautiful watercolor artist. some sales took place, and there will be more during the 5 weeks the exhibition is up. on may 6th, there’s a second event known as “first friday, when i’ll be giving another talk and guiding visitors through my work.

packing the paintings & loading them into our suv / April 20, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

4:36 PM: yesterday was devoted to organizing my watercolor/collages and my polyptych series & packing them in groupings. i had to make sure the watercolor/collages, which are under glass were well protected with bubble wrap. this afternoon mikela & i loaded all 26 of them carefully into the back of our suv, leaving just enough room fot the small overnight bags we’ll be taking with us. you can view most of them on the fist page of this site.

our first stop tomorrow will be space gallery, where we’ll get help unloading & bringing them in. they’lll be hung tomorrow night for the opening on friday at 6 pm we’ll drive back up on may 6th for the first friday event, when i’ll give a talk.

the first thing i’ll do once i’m back in my studio will be to clean up the mess: rolls of tape, pieces of bubble wrap, tools scattered everywhere…..and then i’ll dive back in, starting a new series for my museum show in aspen opening september 28. and what will that series be? stay tuned.

packing up the watercolor/collages for the show on friday / April 19, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

packing up the watercolor/collages to transport to the gallery on thursday fro the opening on friday

2:49 PM: today i’m spending the day packing the watercolor/collages to take to denver on thursday fo the opening on friday. it’s a bigger job than I anticipated, and i’ll have to go get some bubble wrap tomorrow to make sure none of the glass breaks. but i’m excited now that it’s getting closer!

4/16/22 watercolor/collage continued / April 18, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

*4/16/22 watercolor/collage* as it looked at the end of my painting day

4:02 PM: I made more changes and am cooked for the day. here she is:

*4/16/22 watercolor/collage* as it looked moments ago

12:50 PM: i’m taking 4/16/22 watercolor/collage 10 3/4x 23” to the next stage of development today. I added a few collaged areas on the far right and upper central parts of the composition. i’m still working, so i’ll stop here & post later this afternoon.