stage 1 of the drawing on stretched, primed linen for the dinner party, 38x40”
3:01 PM: we’re invited to a july 4th dinner party this evening, so i’m stopping a bit earlier than usual. i stretched a 38x40” canvas this morning, and started the drawing in colored pencil for a new painting titled the dinner party. it’s inspired by a series of photos i shot in 2016 at a friend’s house here in crestone. i’ll pick up where i left off tomorrow morning.
dwell, oil on linen, 17x80” today, follwing some tweaks
2:34 PM: it’s all in the tweaks; those small but often significant modifications that take place towards the end of the creation of a new painting can allow it to sing it’s song. in this case, i made some adjustments, most noticeably to the daisies on the left side of the countertop, as well as to the bowls of fruit, the arms of the figure on the left and more.
the tweaks are informed by my experience of seeing the painting fresh, as i enter my studio in the morning. if my eye gets stuck on a particular area, that’s a sign something’s amiss. here’s where the concept of painterly enters the picture. i’m not looking for a true to life recreation of the theme, if there is one. rather, i’m scanning the whole collection of marks, forms, colors to evaluate whether or not there is that delicate balance that satisfies the soul.
i think this painting has found that balance today.
DETAIL: dwell, oil on linen, 17x80” today,
DETAIL 2: dwell, oil on linen, 17x80” today,
dwell, 17x80” at the VERY end of my painting day today!
i made a last minute decision, before returning to the house, and broke up the countertop with rectangles, indicating a tiled surface. i think it improved, but i may need to do more tomorrow morning.
dwell, 17x80” at the end of my painting day today
3:48 PM: follwoing our trail walk this morning, i resumed work on dwell, 17x80”. i added the walking figure in the upper right,as well as a table & chairs, all viewed from above. i don’t have a lot more to do tomorrow, but there will definitely be some tweaks. i think the daisies on the left need to pop more, and it needs an accent of color, possibly on the figure at the lower left.
i’ve made paintings roughly this dimension, but i don’t think i’ve made a horizontal one. it’s tricky to have that expanse of white countertop, and i may have to break it up somehow; maybe by putting in imagined tiles.
2:08 PM: in 1904, picasso wrote the following:
DETAIL of dwell with the new figure & table-chairs.
that about says it all.
2:27 PM: i changed the title of watercolor/collage 1 to cobleskill. whenever possible, i prefer titles that refer specifically to the painting. so in this case, when i looked closely at this watercolor/gouache/collage, i discovered i had collaged a segment of a map of new york. upstate, norht of poughkeepsie, is the town of cobleskill. i’ve never been there, but i liked the name.
this piece has gone through more stages than most. late this morning, i think it was resolved. it conjures memories of two of my favorite artists: archile gorky and deKooning, both in terms of color and form. and it accomplishes one of my goals in making a painting; namely that one never tires of gazing at it. you’ll always discover something or some set of relationships you hadn’t noticed before. also, it could scale up 10x and not lose any of it’s qualities.
i cut the tape off the sides and placed it in a frame, which allows it to sing it’s song.
i continued painting dwell, going back and forth between the two very different paintings. i love doing that whenever possible. it’s more fun as well as giving me something else to focus my attention if i get stuck.
i’m doing as little as possible because i love the spareness of this painting. i can acually envision leaving it as is. i think it’s visually more compelling with the large “unfinished” area to the right left as is.
the figure with his cutting board, seen from above the the daisies and bowls sitting on the countertop, is painted with just a few critical, painterly strokes. the reflection of lights on the floor tiles to his left read almost as if there were a fire beside him. your imagination will fill in the “blanks.”
cobleskill 13x13”
dwell 17x80” oil on linen on a grey ground
DETAIL of dwell
2:40 PM: we started our trail walk late this morning, so it was a bit too warm. as always, it was magical though.
when i finally got to the studio, the pest control guy showed up to do more spraying for the ants, which haven’t shown up in the past 5-6 days. when i finally was able to get to work, i was too tired to do anything meaningful. i added some flowers on the left in my new dwell painting, and more collaged elements to watercolor/collage 1, BELOW
DETAIL of dwell 17x80”
dwell stage 1, 17x80” on primed linen with a grey ground
2:58 PM: i introduced some collaged elements to yesterday’s watercolor interior 1 while working on a new painting: dwell, which is on the last piece of that canvas with the grey ground that i used for the previous 2 paintings of the drummer and the acrobat doing a handstand. this one is based upon a cover of the magazine dwell.
mikela has been looking at this dwell magazine cover for weeks now. she’s aware of this very long narrow piece of primed linen i have, with the same grey ground as in my last 2 oils.
suddenly, yesterday, she realized how perfect the long narrow table pictured on the cover could be as an inspiration for a painting. so i started work this morning, treating it as a commission. i love commissions; it feels to me like somebody is pointing me in a direction and sayingh “now GO tarlow!”
watercolor interior 1 as it looked at the end of my painting day today.
2:14 PM: i took out the vertical green stripes on either side and lightened the onein the middle. they were coming from my head rather than my gut. as a result, they were interfering with the delicasy and playfulness of the composition.
i covered them with strips of white paper i glued on, but in the version i’m posting, i cropped the one on the right altogether.
i started this watercolor not knowing where i was going with it. i integrated two older photocollages of interiors; so old i can’t remember where they were.
for the moment at least, it feel like a relief to move from il on canvas to watercolor on paper. i’m feeling in the mood to do more.
watercolor interior 1 as it looked moments ago
1:21 PM: i did more work on watercolor interior 1 following my 12:20 post. the most noticible addition are the vertical blue/green stripes, which provide an architectural framework counterbalancing the fluid marks deliniating patterning on rugs, drapes, pieces of furniture…
12:20 PM: i arrived very early at the studio, since mikela had to leave for school today at 7am.
i was in a watercolor mood. i found a 14x17” block of archival watercolor paper, took some photocollages of interiors i found in my files and got to work. i’m still painting, so i’ll just post what i’ve done so far and keep going. at the same time, i’m listening to the unexpected hearing, which is riveting.
watercolor interior 1 14x17” this painting is in process right now
12:19 PM: i completely removed all those mauves surrounding the juggler, removed the b&w patterning on th eupper right and added a faint but important pink line on the right edge of the composition as well as on top and the upper left.
now this painting is resolved and i’ll be moving on to a new one.
6/23/22 handstand following todays modifications
6:15 PM: i didn’t wait till tomorrow morning to take out that mauve surrounding the juggler. i rubbed it out before leaving the studio for the house and then on to our trail walk. tomorrow morning i’ll lighten that area, probably with a light, warm grey.
6/23/22 handstand after rubbing out the mauve
6/23/22 handstand as it looked at the end of my painting day
2:50 PM: i continued working on the newly introduced figure of the juggler and created a mauve background behind him. i’m not yet sure about that color; it may have to go grey, but i’m going to leave if for now, go back to the house and take a trail walk with mikela. it was raining earlier, but i think we’ll be ok….more rain not expected till this evening. it’s the lightning we want to avoid.
12:08 PM: rain today, but so far not enough to make a difference.
i began introducing the figure of a juggler to the composition this morning. he’ll become clearer ina while, and i’ll re-post the image then.
introducing the juggler to the composition this morning
DETAIL: 6/23/22 handstand
2:55 PM: i took out just about everything i did earlier today, leaving only the tree branch on the lower right, then worked into the figure of the girl doing a handstand.
everything i did today, including the large area i painstakingly wiped out, has contributed to the richness of the composition. now, from a distance of about 20 ft., the image resonates, as if to music.
i’ve said this many times, as have other painters, but there’s no telling what might happen during the process. so, for example, that area of white patterning on the upper right of the composition was going to become a standing figure, much like the one in my previous painting, tokyo drummer. when i added all those pinks and then scrubbed them out, a bit of pink remained, so that the black and white diamond shaped patterns connect more with the rest of the composition. you can see that in the earlier stage, BELOW on the left.
12:43 PM: we’re expeccting thunderstorms, some possibly with heavy rain, starting about 5:30 pm and continuing into tomorrow. the rain accompanying these storms could very well lift us out of extreme drought into normal territory.
this morning i went back and forth between 6/23/22 handstand and preparing a pot of ginger-tumeric tea. i photographed the steps, and will post them a bit later, once i’m done painting for the day.
BELOW: yesterdays version on the LEFT
making ginger/turmeric tea this morning
i shot some photos of the process, thinking you might be interested in trying it out. here’s a summary of the benefts:
“Ginger and turmeric both have anti-inflammatory properties. Studies have shown that daily consumption of ginger can reduce inflammation in osteoarthritis patients. Turmeric, on the other hand, has been found to be as effective as common anti-inflammatory medicines like aspirin or ibuprofen.”
BELOW: left to right: peeling the fresh turmeric root; cutting the peeled ginger into slices; putting the cut up tumeric into the pot of water on a low boil; adding a small amount of olive oil; adding fresh lemon slices; adding a tiny amount of red pepper, as well as a little black pepper.
i’m wearing gloves because the turmeric stains and is difficult to get off your hands. once you have all the ingredients in the pot of water, let it simmer for about 15 minutes. then turn off the heat and let it sit for another 15 minues. i use maple syrup as a sweetener. the purpose of the olive oil & black pepper is to allow the body to more easily and fully absorb the tumeric.
