collaging onto 5-1-22 oil/collage /  by Philip Tarlow

3:51 PM: I did more work on this painting. i’m done for the day. a thin brownish wash was passed over the entire surface, then wiped & scraped off. as a result, the transitions are not as abrupt and the minoan vase pops less. it still seems to me like there’s too much going on , with no central focus. let’s let it rest tonight and come back fresh tomorrow morning with new energy.

here’s how it looked moments ago:

5-1-22 oil/collage as it looked moments ago, at the end of my painting day

5-1-22 oil/collage as it looked at noon today

12:12 PM: I felt the need to apply collaged pieces of paper this morning. I used some of my cut up drawings, a piece of map (which proved very tricky to collage without tearing) and a reproduction of a minoan vase, left form the period when I was exploring minoan art. thus far, what i’ve done has broken up the predictability of the landscape inspired marks and created a far more compelling image. it’s not singing yet, but some faint sounds are emerging. the red piece in the lower left is playing an important role.

transforming 5-1-22 oil/collage /  by Philip Tarlow

5-1-22 oil/collage 4-30pm

4:32 PM: I made a few additions to the work I did earlier today, so this is it for the day, my friends.

it’s kind of a relief to be able to move on from the i fly series to something else. as soon as the strrong winds die down, i’ll go out to the creek and make some plein air drawings and paintings; it’s been far too long since i’ve been out there, drinking in the energy of the rocks and water, smelling the freshness, watching the leaves burst into their fullness and hearing the water rush over rocks.

BELOW: a couple of details

3:37 PM:yesterday I had introduced figures into this painting, inspired by pompeian frescos. today I painted over them and introduced landscape elements; tree trunks & rocks. my morning walk to the studio was delayed by a visit to the house of 2 guys from the window company who will be replacing many of our windows, which have reached the end of their 25-28 year lives. we should have them replaced by sometime in august if all goes well.

so anyway, back to the painting. i’m having somewhat of a difficult time getting back to work following the opening of my exhibition in denver. so what i’m doing on this current canvas may well end up in the trash. realism and abstraction are having an epic battle in a war nobody will win.

DETAIL of 5-1-22 oil/collage

5-1-22 oil/collage as it looked towards the end of my painting day today

what's up today? /  by Philip Tarlow

6:33 am: i’ll continue work on 5-1-22 oil/collage once i get to the studio. in the mean time, here’s a look back at one of the little birds i painted for my new grand daughter’s room in greece. she should receive it in the next few weeks.

this morning visibility is poor after yesterday’s hjigh winds and late afternoon dust storm. we’re expecting mor eof the same today right through the end of the week.

4-27-22 the little bird

back in the studio, continuing work on the whited over 5-1-22 oil/collage /  by Philip Tarlow

5-1-22 oil/collage as it looked moments ago

2:12 PM: as I said in my last blog post, before leaving for denver, I painted over 5-1-22 oil/collage with a thin layer of titanium/zinc white so that it would be dry when I returned. it was! so I started working over it with loosely painted figures inspired by an ancient pompeian fresco. i’m feeling pretty exhausted from our intensive 48 hours in denver, so I think i’ll be in a better space to take it further tomorrow morning.

quite a few of the paintings in the show have layers, like this one, with under-layers peeking trough and creating a visual puzzle of sorts.

morning reed pen drawing, to be cut up & collaged onto 5/1/22 oil/collage /  by Philip Tarlow

5-1-22 oil/collage as it looked moments ago, following some collaging.

noon: gotta leave for our physical therapy appointments. did some collaging, and here’s the current state of the painting.

5-5-22 PT collages onto 5-1-22 oil/collage

11 am drawing with reed pen on paper, to be cut up & collaged onto 5-1-22 oil/collage

11am: made this drawing just now, which i’ll cut up and collage onto areas of the current 5/1/22 oil/collage painting.

5/1/22 oil/collage continued / k's going away present /  by Philip Tarlow

5/1/22 oil/collage as it looked at the end of my painting day today

4:31 PM: ABOVE is where the painting is currently at at the end of my painting day today. there’s more complexity, and I do like those grays that entered the composition beneath the dancing figure with the red shoes and patterned black trousers. I put a bit more red into the shorts of the central figure, which is like an anchor and counterpoint for all the blues floating about.

waddaya think of my new blue/green shoes?

3:18 PM: I spent all morning putting together a going away present for k., who I mentored here in the studio a few years ago. he’s leaving for college, where he’ll study art, and we’re invited to his going away party tomorrow. at firsts I was hjust going to give him a brand new travel sketch and drawing book; the kind i’ve been using for years when we traveled. I made hundreds of drawing in those books, almost all of them with colored pencils.

but slowly my desire to give him a going away present turned into a project. I used a melange of photos i’ve shot of him at work in the studio to decorate a cardboard box, which once housed my new indoor/outdoor wireless weather station and was the perfect size.

i’ll have to get his permission to post pics of the decorated box, which he’ll likely give me tomorrow afternoon at the party.

so once I completed that project, I unstretched one of the paintings I didn’t include in my current show because of the warped stretcher bars. the gallery has a guy who makes totally true ones, so I ordered one to fit this painting and will stretch it when we’re in denver for my talk on friday, then include it in the show.

then if finally dove back in to 5/1/22 oil/collage. i’m still taking it slow, to preserve precious while space. so here’s where it’s at:

k. in my studio, at work on a sky painting a few years ago

5/1/22 oil/collage continued /  by Philip Tarlow

3:24 PM: today I took 5/1/22 oil/collage to the next stage. BELOW is a comparative view

DETAIL: 5/1/22 oil/collage

continued work on 5/1/22 oil/collage stage 2 / new weather monitor /  by Philip Tarlow

5/1/22 oil/collage as it looked this afternoon at the end of my painting day.

6:34 PM: i did runover to the studio and shot 5/1/22 oil/collage with my iphone. i’ll have to wait till thursday afternoon, when the new SD drive will be delivered, to start shooting again with my nikon. come to think of it, maybe i should go back & add one more to the order, just in case.

DETAIL- 5/1/22 oil/collaeg

5:34 PM: looks like i’ll have to wait till tomorrow morning to post pics of the work i did today on 5/1/22 oil/collage.i didn’t have time to post in the studio, and when i brought the SD drive to the house, it wouldn’t register on my laptop. it’s been acting funny for a couple of days, and it finally gave out. just got a new one which will arrive thursday, but i have a couple of old ones that still work in the studio, so i’ll re-shoot in the morning, after i send the 3 birds & a goat off to greece at the p.o.

2:46 PM: i’m continuing work on 5/1/22 oil/collage and will post pics at the end of my painting day.

my new weather station was delivered this afternoon, and here it is in the studio.

flipping yesterday's watercolor/collage 90° /  by Philip Tarlow

5/1/2022 watercolor/collage flipped 90° so that it’s now a horizontal composition.

7:04 PM: as i gazed at yesterday's watercolor/collage, it started bugging me. i saw a face i didn’t like at all. it looked somewhere between angry and agonized. so i tried turning it and finally ended up with it flipped 90° on it’s side. for now that seems right. and when i get to the studio, after going to the post office & mailing the bird & goat paintings to my grand daughter in greece, i’ll resume work on the new, long narrow 4/30/22 oil/collage. i’m getting some ideas about where to go with it next.

it’s a partly cloudy morning, but the sun should break through by the time i’m back from the p.o.

starting work on 5-1-22 oil/collage /  by Philip Tarlow

5/1/22 oil/collage stage 2

3:52 PM: I continued work on 5/1/22 oil/collage,which is now in stage 2. the drawing of the interior of space gallery from above, where i’m currently showing new work, has been flipped 360°. some oil colors have been introduced, and a checkerboard pattern has shown up (again) behind the two sketched in figures. lots of blotting and scraping but so far no collaging.

5/1/22 oil/collage (the best space) stage 1

1:53PM: here’s 5/1/22 oil/collage stage 1 and my morning drawing, stages 1, 2, 3 and 4.

11:22 AM: well, as I said yesterday, I still have no idea what will happen on this new canvas I tacked to my east facing studio wall, but i’m getting some inklings, many of which came to me in the shower this morning. I started my day with a quick drawing of some plastic containers in a box under my studio kitchen sink. lets see where it goes from here; i’ll post once I Strat making marks on this pristine white surface.