preparing internally for my march show in athens / October 14, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

4:14 PM: i’m contemplating as i prepare internally to start a new series of paintings, to be shown in my mid-march, 2023 exhibition in athens.

perusing painitngs such as this one, kapnikarea, painted in 2010 and now in a private collection in athens, i’m tempted to make “realist” works with greek themes. i’ve made many in my history as an artist, and because i don’t differentiate between “realist” and “abstract” paintings, i don’t consider this a step backwards. i’ve said this many times. there are good paintings, painterly paintings and the opposite.

in the end, dates, nationality, medium, all don’t really matter.

continued studio work on yesterday's watercolor/collage / October 13, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

11:34 AM: the watercolor/collage i made yesterday afternoon at the creek was asking for more. so, naturally, i followed instructions. i ended up doing quite a bit, including more collage and marks using colored pencils.

i think it has improved; the eye moves more smoothly over the surface and has the newly gained opportunity of creating it’s own composition, transcending the specific parameters of yesterday’s composition; location of rocks, flowing water & branches…i could do more but i’m stopping here for now. perhaps for good.

the collaged bits fulfill their mission of interrupting the predictable, allowing for a more syncopated rhythm. thelonious is not far off. if you half close your eyes and look at the piece, his notes, now soft now resoundingly loud, can be felt.

this is only the second time in my entire history that i’ve taken a plein air painting further in my studio. usually, i consider them fully formed beings, a product of the light & the inspiration of the moment.

BELOW: yesterday’s version, left and today’s

plein air watercolor/collage this afternoon / October 12, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

out at the creek this afternooon with my watercolors, folding table & stool

8:18 PM: taking advantage of the continued ideal fall temperatures, i went out to the creek at 3pm with my wtaercolors, table & little 3 legged stool.

these watercolors, by the very nature of the medium, happen rather quickly. i do, by the way, use a little white tempera to create some subtle greys & paint over not so successful passages. what is becoming a series of watercolors now has some added collaged elements, which happened when i got back to the studio.

we’ll see where it all goes, but this ideal weather should continue for a while & allow me to continue.

no studio today; i went to the dentist in salida / October 11, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

3:41 PM: i had another dental appointment in salida today. we postponed the extraction till it could be determined whether or not that rear molar that had a root canal is cracked. if so, it’s history. if not, a re-do of the root canal is a possibility.

while i was away, work began on the installation of our new windows. it’s a very windy day, so the wind is whipping through the house till they can install the first one, which is the steepest learning curve and allows them to understand how the windows were originally installed. so the rest should go quicker, and they think they can do 5 a day. we’ll see.

pleine air watercolor at the creek / October 10, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

4:32 PM: this afternoon felt like the perfect moment to carry out my plan to make the first in a series of october pleine air watercolors. so i collected my materials, got my stool & table & set off over the rough dirt road up towards the stupa, then right for a mile or so to the spot where we usually start our cottonwood creek walk, then down the little path to the creek. i had a few doubts about that spot, which i’ve been to manmy times in the past. but once i arrived and saw the light on the rocks, i knew it was the perfect spot.

there were some annoying little gnats, but not too bad. plus i’m more exposed to passers by than i would be at more secluded locations, but it worked out fine. one woman, who was on her way up top the stupa and who you see in the photo below, asked “are you going to paint the fall colors?” i responded in a monotine, “yes.” and she left me alone.

something i realized as i painted this watercolor was that the path i took yesterday with doobie doobie was forced and overworked. i’m turning it towards the wall & i’ll decide what i want to do with it. i crave blank white portrait linen canvases that i can very sparsely paint. it’s more me.

doobie doobie day 2 / October 9, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

*doobie doobie* as it looked at the end of my painting day today

2:05 PM: doobie doobie has morphed into a creek-scape, along the lines of my previous painting: mosaic 1. while it has similar marks and colors, it hasn’t yet reached the coherence and compositional integrity of mosaic 1. it wants to get there, but it just hasn’t got the chi. at the start of my painting day, my intention was to stop painting in oils for a while and start making some watercolor/collages. so i started this one, but jsut could not stay away from this canvas. we’ll see how it evolves tomorrow. and yes, i may end up going back & forth between the two.

*doobie doobie*, 32x32” as it looked following this morning’s grey-over

11 am: first thing this morning, before even making my breakfast, i greyed over doobie doobie and drew in some jars & paper towels in the neighborhood, which coexist peacefully and without strife.

BELOW: BEFORE & AFTER

starting a new painting today=DOOBIE DOOBIE / October 8, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

*doobie doobie*, 32x32”, oil on portrait linen

2:07 PM:i better b qwik, because in just 21 minutes we’ll be taking our creek walk. so the new painting, which is being painted over one that i started, is titled doobie doobie. whereas the one i’m painting over was inspired by an old photo of an interior, this one is inspired by a newer photo of the creek. we’ll see where i take it tomorrow, but right now i kinda like the stark simplicity uv-it.

the two: mosaic 1 and doobie doobie are sitting side by side on my painting wall, and they seem to be getting along quite well!

12:41 PM: i consider mosaic 1 resolved, so i’m starting something new today.

here’s a little reminder that my exhibition at CMC Aspen Gallery and lobby, 0255 Sage Way, Aspen Business Center, Aspen is hung and will be up through december 22.

right now i’m in the process of choosing a surface for my next painting. i’ll update you when i’ve chosen and tacked it top my east painting wall.

a trip to the dentist / October 7, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

2:02 PM: today was crown day. i drove the hour to salida. the landscape at 7am was brilliant, and the temperature in the valley was just below freezing.

i had a 2 hour session, where she worked on a root canal tooth with a gold crown, which she removed, cleaned the decay deep beneath the tooth & installed a temporary crown while the permanent one is being made in the lab. the only pain was gum pain, since the tooth had no nerves, and she numbed my gums, so virtually no pain.

i was not in a state to go spend time in my studio, so i took a break. 4 more sessions left, including a cracked root canal molar extraction, which i’m not looking forward to.

mosaic 1 next stage / October 6, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

1:43 pm: i got rid of the blue checkerboard patterning; it was in my head from a previous painting, not in my gut from this one.

the greys are much better suited to this composition, and i allowed just enough of the underlying pinks to show through. the bold black drawing of the rocks makes it clear that this has become a creek-scape. and the heads of the ancient mosaic figures remind us why it’s titled mosaic 1. the red calligraphic marks i painted in yesterday morning help make it clear that this is, above all, a painting, not a mosaic or a creekscape. my process in getting it to this point is transparent, so that the viewer becomes more of a participant in that process rather than the observer of a fait accompli.

11:224 AM: this morning a blue checkerboard patterning appeared in the upper quadrant, as well as some oranges & yellows in the center. work continues while i still have the juice.

mosaic 1 continuedmosaic 1 / October 5, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

3:20 PM: mikela had class & dropped my off in the studio on her way this morning. i’ve been working non-stop on mosaic 1 except for a one hour break when our new windows were delivered. we’re storrning them here in the studio till they can be installed, starting friday. we’re replacing most but not all of our 29 year old windows, which will give us far better insulation & reduce sun damage to our upholstery to near zero.

after going over the entire surface with pinkish red yesterday, i worked into it today, introducing a creek landscape element. at the end of the day, i flipped it 180° making the remaining mosaic faces upright.

but tomorrow i may continue working on it as you see it pre-flipping. actually, after gazing at it while posting this, i decided i prefer it in the pre-flip state!

BELOW: our new windows awaiting installation, starting friday