May 30, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

11:34 AM: I found these 11 gouache paintings of our san Luis valley, made in 1999-2001, in my files this morning. i’ve been considering turning one or more into limited edition prints, which will be for sale. this is early on in my exploration of how to make that happen. they were all made on site, from our car, which I drove out to a remote valley location with a great view of the sangre de christo mountains. it’s SO exciting to see them together for the first time! I was just on the phone with a good friend, who knows about turning paintings into prints and will come over to have a look sometime in the next week. more soon! BELOW is one of the 11 you see in the photo above

*the sangre de christo mts. seen from san luis valley*, 10 1/2 x 36” gouache on paper, 1999

9:42 AM: salida is a one hour drive north from crestone. there was an annual bluegrass festival yesterday, which we had attended last year, so we decided to go again.

last year was very different, as it was for many attendees the first time post covid that they felt relatively safe going to a big event like this. there was a lot of dancing and, in general, there was an air of freedom and celebration.

this year was very different. lousy music, fewer attendees, all of whom seemed to have dogs. some very elegant and beautiful dogs. so we didn’t dance, as there were only a few people doing that. instead we walked about, I made a few drawings of families sitting at the river’s edge and shot about 60 photos, looking at them from above, which I thought I might use for a new series of paintings.

at the river yesterday in salida, during the bluegrass festival

more work on anschutz from above 6 / history of my ano kato series / May 29, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

11:45: I put all six anschutz from above paintings on my east wall and noticed that the most recent one: anschutz from above 6, seemed incomplete. so I did some more work on it. BELOW: the before & after. current version on the right.

*o kyrios yannis* (mr. yannis) watercolor on paper, ca. 1972

6:15 AM: this early ‘70’s watercolor may be the earliest example of my lifelong passion for views from above. it was painted in the early’70’s in my studio, which was at the time beneath the acropolis on the edge of the plaka neighborhood of athens, overlooking the roman era tower of the winds. o kyrios yannis as we knew him, was an elderly man with a pet cat, which you see curled up in the chair next to him. his self appointed job was to park cars. he would park my vauxhall viva every morning when i arrived at my studio. if i leaned out my window, i could see him from above, sitting in his favorite chair.

so this was part of my interest in everyday life in athens that formed the basis of the series of drawings and paintings i made at the time. another very important part was played by the construction workers, who were building something diagonally across from my studio. they would come and pose for drawings and paintings regularly, as would kyriakos, the street sweeper who would become my main model during that period.

i’ll post more pics related to this period later in the day, but i’m starting with this seminal watercolor, which is in mikela’s office space in our house.

anschutz from above 6, day 2 / May 27, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

*anschutz from above 6* as it looked at 1pm, following this mornings session

1:16 PM: after another round of back & forth with apple, trying to resolve the sound issues with my iPhone max pro, I continued work on anschutz from above 6 , employing a few colors I haven’t used recently, especially in combination with each other; mostly blues and light pinks.

two figures I haven’t used in a while have also shown up: the high school girls with the blue & green tops in the center of the composition. so this is obviously a departure from the previous 5 in the series, in that 2 new figures have appeared who are not associated with anschutz medical center. the architectural references are, on the other hand, all coming from the fascinating anschutz structure.

some of you who are familiar may have guessed that i’ve been looking carefully at early dekooning and diebenkorn recently.

BELOW : yesterdays version is on the left

looking back: εβχαρις (evharis taverna) 2010 / starting anschutz from above 6 / May 26, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

noon: I made my first marks on anschutz from above 6 and will continue in the morning; we have an appointment this afternoon so I won’t be in the studio.

11:35 AM: this morning I started the sixth in my series of 16x20” paintings in oil on portrait linen: anschutz from above 6. i’m starting out with a drawing in colored pencil & crayon.

*evharis taverna* 42 x 36” 2010 private collection, athens

BELOW: the invitation to my 2010 skoufa gallery exhibition

7:36 am: this painting was shown at my 2020 solo exhibition at skoufa gallery in athens, where it was sold to an athenian collector. it’s one of a series of paintings of athens cityscapes and andros landscapes i made at the time, which can be viewed on this page of my site: https://philip-tarlow.squarespace.com/config/

in 2009 we visited my son dimitri in athens and andros. during that visit i shot numerous photos of subjects that interested and moved me at the time, many of which were the inspiration for this series of paintings.

having lived and painted in athens and andros for an unbroken period of 15 years in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s, life in andros and athens was very familiar and dear to me. i remember coming across this taverna and feeling as though every aspect of it: the patrons and how they held their bodies; the lighting; the intimacy were all so familiar. since i had mastered the language, the conversations i overheard were also movingly familiar. the series of paintings you will see on this page of my site all reflect this warm familiarity with the lifestyle i knew and loved so deeply, as well as my love for painting figures in the landscape and in urban settings: https://philip-tarlow.squarespace.com/config/

tweaking anschutz from above 5 / May 25, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

4:29 PM: that red area on the right was bugging me, so I made a few other changes & tweaks as well. still not sure, but I did get two more stretched up, which will allow me to have 2 more playgrounds and the come back to this one if i’m so moved.

BELOW: the before (yesterday) and after.

starting anschutz from above 5 / May 24, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

4:25 PM: i made changes until just about half hour ago. here’s the current state of the painting. i’m in the house now, so this is definitelt the final stage for the day. we’ll see tomorrow morning…….

*anschutz from above 5* as it looked at the end of my painting day today, after being flipped 180°

3:17 PM: I thought I was done for the day, but after mikela returned from school and had a look, I was inspired to do more. and more I did, flipping the painting 180° and doing extensive work until I tuckered myself out. so now i’m really going back to the house and we’ll see tomorrow what i’m moved to do, if anything.

i’m finding it interesting, what flipping the painting did to the composition. the angles on the bottom are still visible, giving one the feeling that the woman reading her book is flying through space/time, caught for just a moment before flying off the canvas.

*anschutz from above 5* at the end of my painting day today.

1:30 PM: I did a lot more on anschutz from above 5 and am done early for the day; mikela is on her way back from school & will be here at 2. i’ll see tomorrow morning whether this one I really complete or I need to do more. never know. but that pink on the right does grab my eye…can’t yet tell if that’s good or not!

11:53 AM:continuing work on the new anschutz from above 5 while eating pistachios

11:10 AM: this morning I got an early start, since mikela had to leave for school at 8. today by the way is our 36th anniversary of meeting in 1986.

this is a very early stage

reviewing the 4 anschutz from above paintings / May 23, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

the four *anschutz from above* series paintings i’ve completed thus far.

3:24 pm: i’m preparing 4 more 16x20” canvases, so that there will be a total of 8 paintings in this series. while stretching the remaining 4 canvases, I reviewed the four i’ve completed thus far, hanging them on my east wall.

of course there’s a connection to my Ano Kato series: https://www.philiptarlow.com/anokato

if you look carefully at that series, the first thing you may notice is that this new series leans more in the direction of nonobjective painting, using ambiguity and abstract expressionist brushwork to walk the line between figurative and abstract; now tilting here, now there. the figures in my Ano Kato paintings many of which were inspired by museum views looking down from above, are clearly recognizable. the seated figures of anschutz patients seen from above are a part of the architecture. if their forms are becoming too distinct, they are scraped and smeared with my palette knife until they integrate with the whole.

my love for architecture, which runs through the history of my work, first showed up in many of the paintings i made during my 15 year greek period; mainly neoclassical architecture. it continued during my new york period, in the early and mid-80’s.

BELOW: 2 of my many paintings of neoclassical greek architecture, originally introduced in the 19th century. the one on the left is in athens, and on the right, chora, capitol of the cycladic island of andros.

2015 painting in progress of a view from above of the MET interior

starting anschutz #4 / May 22, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

*nschutz from above 4* as it looked moments ago, after taking out those browns on the upper right

2:55 PM: before leaving for our walk (looks like it might rain, but we’ll see), I made those last minute modifications i’m so prone to do, taking out those two darkish brown horizontals on the upper right & giving everybody else in the dance a little breathing room.

*anschutz from above 4* as it looked at the end of my painting day today.

2:28 PM: I continued work on anschutz from above 4, bringing it to a point where it takes a breath, but hasn’t yet exhaled. amazing what can occur in a 16x20” space! I think when i’m done with this size, i’ll move on a larger dimensions, but there will be at least another 3-4 that are 16x20.”

I think the architect who designed the anschutz complex would enjoy seeing these paintings. i’m going to see if I can find out who he or they are.

mikela just texted & proposed that we walk up to the stupa. it’s 55° fahrenheit and overcast; perfect walking weather. plus, it’s been a while with the strong winds & yesterday’s snow keeping us from getting our exercise and breathing in fresh mountain air!

1:22 PM: this morning I started another in the anschutz Series: anschutz #4, inspired & emboldened by this quote from diebenkorn: “do search. but in order to find other than what is searched for.” and, as John Elder field observed, “his passion for obstacles was a defense against the end of possibilities.”

ditching 5-19-22 oil/collage & returning to "anschutz from above 2" / May 21, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

3:43 PM: just before leaving the studio for the house, I made one more modification to anschutz from above 2. that dark grey triangle was bothering me, so I took half of it out, which, if you compare it with the previous state, in the image BELOW, I think is a big improvement. I also darkened somewhat the shadow on the round white tabletop.

3:05 PM: I made further modifications to anschutz from above 2, the most obvious of which is the dark grey triangular shape on the left.

*anschutz from above 2* at the end of my painting day today.

2:17 PM: i felt as though 5-19-22 oil/collage was going nowhere so i stuck it in my storage room & i’ll decide later what’s to become of it. if you follow this blog, you may have realized, as i did this morning, that there is a recovery period following the opening of a new exhibition. the one i had on april 28th at space gallery in denver is no exception.

so i’m slowly finding my way to a space where i can begin afresh, a new series destined to be shown at CMC aspen in september. today i returned to anschutz from above 2, which i had abandoned and painted over last week. here’s what it looked like when i took my mid day break a little while ago. i’m going to sit with it for a while & see how i feel about it. at the moment, it does have some compelling passages & brush strokes….

*anschutz from above 2* as it looked when i took my mid-day break today

continued work on 5/19/2022 oil/collage / May 20, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

4:06 PM: I just wrapped it up for the day. I made some major changes to the composition, which is still very much in process. there’s more going on, especially with the addition of the creek inspired rocks & water in the lower portion. the last minute addition of persian rose in the center & upper right makes a huge difference, giving more of a focal point for everything going on, as does the small collaged bit of a hockney poster on the middle-right. a few DETAILS, BELOW, give a better sense of what’s going on as the viewer approaches the painting. at the moment, that horizontal crop of the very bottom segment could easily be a painting in itself, which to me is a sign that full integration of forms, colors, space has not yet been achieved. but tomorrow is another day!

*5/19/2022 oil/collage* as it looked around 1pm

1:23 PM: the wind continues to gust up to 40mph, the skies have clouded over but it doesn’t look like we’ll be getting the first wave of the predicted rain/snowstorm until about sunset. I never trust these predictions and future radars until they actually happen, so we’ll see. but, as always, we really need some precip!

i’ve continued work on 5/19/2022 oil/collage. it’s progressing well and i’m taking it slow, so this post represents a break in my process. while sitting at my desktop, I can cast furtive glances at the painting and see where I might want to go next.