January 3, 2023 by Philip Tarlow

*w-cup 1* at 1:45 pm, following today’s work thuis far

*w-cup 1* following removal of today’s changes

4:45 PM: once i got back to the house, mikela was very dissapointed at what i had done to w-cup 1. so i put my coat back on, went back to the studio & restored it to it’s former self. i think she was spot on, and i’m glad i caught it while the new paint was still wet & was easy to rub off using solvent & a rag.

1:51 PM: following a somewhat meandering first half of the day, i felt like going back into w-cup 1, which actually no longer has anything to do wioth the world cup, as the central figure is a skateboarder form the post-tokyo olympics celebration.

in any case, that’s kind of irrelevant, as this composition is, presently becoming a study in figurative abstraction.

blocks of color came about naturally, and the entire surface is peppered with white marks made with one of my fan brushes.

i think i may move on to w-cup 3 and see how it goes.

11:03 AM: this morning, FIRST I WATCHED this extraordinary MUST WATCH video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANaVkRxDPCI

then i scraped w-cup 3 so that it now looks like this, which i way prefer.

let’s see where i go next…

view of SLV on our Stupa Walk yesterday / next phase of w-cup 3 / January 2, 2023 by Philip Tarlow

3:31 PM: my intention as i entered the studio this morning was to stay relaxed & allow w-cup 3 to go where it needed to go. and that i did. it could now very well be titled sunset header. i love skies and i love the creek, both of which now play an important role in the composition. lately, i’ve been photographing our sunsets practically every afternoon, like the one you see BELOW. so i’m intimately engaged with the greys, the pinks, the mauves…

so the world cup soccer player gains new meaning as he flies over the creek at sunset. the referee to the right has thus far survived the transition, and looks on in awe.

*w-cup 3* as it looked at the end of my painting day today

4pm: looking west across the valley during our Stupa walk yesterday

8:54 AM: as the storm clouds rolled in preceding last night’s snow storm, we took our afternoon Stupa walk, which ended early because it began snowing. our view of the valley at that hour was spectacular, and i tried to capture it using the panorama function on my iphone. the temperature was 45° so the precip fell as a mix of rain & snow, with very high winds driving the rain against our bed room window, which made a loud pounding sound. we ended up with .44” of new precipitation, which was likely over a foot on the peaks above 11,000 ft. a very good statrt to 2023!

starting w-cup 3, 36x19" / January 1, 2023 by Philip Tarlow

2:55 PM: it’s an overcast day, with rain turning to snow starting later this afternoon.

i started work on w-cup 3, 36x19”. the piece of primed linen i’m working on is the other half of w-cup 2, and has the same grey & blue brush marks on the lower portion of the canvas, which i’m painting into. the figures are the same, except for the referee in red on the right. the there are dancing figures towards the bottom & the soccer player heading the ball in blue on the upper left.

it’s way too early to tell where this one is going; tomorrow will probably be a key day in watching the direction this one wants to take.

tweaks to w-cup 1 & skateboarder dancing / December 31, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

2:15 PM: i had thought i’d start something new today, but it’s actually fitting that i do that tomorrow, the first day of the new year. there were a few small but significant tweaks i wanted to make today, to w-cup 1 and skateboarder dancing, which was last worked on december 18th.

the area of w-cup 1 that needed tweaking was the skateboarder’s hands, face & red shoes, as well as the rectangular window-like form above his head, to which i added a touch more of light blue. a thin stripe of the same light blue was also added to the dark blue rectangle on the lower right. but i believe the most obvious improvement was to the hands.

if you compare the 12/18 version in the photo on the left BELOW with the one on the right, following my tweaks, you can see for yourselves.

the photo BELOW on the left was taken on december 18th. on the right you see the painting following today’s tweaks. just to the right of the skateboarder there was a curved orange shape within a curved red shape. both had black drawings. after gazing at this painting every day since december 18th, or almost two weeks, i concluded that what i took out today was seriously detracting from the integrity of the overall composition.

i knew something was off, and it took that long for me to zero in on the problem area.

a new direction for w-cup 1/ tweaks to w-cup 2 / December 30, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

1:34 PM: when i entered my studio this morning w-cup 1 still seemed way too busy. so, using grey & pink, i simplified, for the moment retaining only the dancing figure but with a checkerboard patterning added to his trousers. so now i’m returning to w-cup 2, which i still like a lot, so i won’t do much. then i may start a new one if i have the energy.

2:35 PM: so i just made some minor but important tweaks to w-cup 2, which i think has resolved it.

on wednesday i had gone over the whole painting with a thin wash of grey oil paint, as i was intending to use it as an underpainting. but when i revisited it yesterday, i felt sad to obliterate this beautiful composition, with it’s precious white spaces.

so, while it was still wet, i went over the grey paint with a solvent soaked rag, removing almost all of it. in the process though, i took out the delicate sienna pencil drawing of the soccer player’s bodies. so today i re-drew them, and i think we’re done!

more changes to w-cup 1 / December 29, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

2:36 PM: as i am wont to do, i made significant, one could say radical changes to w-cup 1 today. but it’s more accurate to simply treat them as an evolution in development. always listen carefully & follow your gut.

the morning began with the tree trunks on the left, as i was feeling that some structure was needed in the composition. once again, the images i have of the 2020 post-tokyo olymoics celebration came intothe picture. this figure, in his green shirt, red shoes & helmut in one of my favorites. the event designer used a checkered background, which was not in this particular photo, but which i remember from others i have somewhere.

something i love right now about this one is how the dancing figure integrates with the pick & pale blue passage on the very top of the composition, aas weoll as the pink & ochre rocks i drew in earlier this morning. of course, his red shoes are the kicker. the event designer paid special attention to the costumes, some of which echo the checkered patterning on the distant rear wall and all of which contain sensitively selected patterning & colors.

as it stands now, i’m feeling pretty good about it.

*w-cup 1* as it looked at the end of my painting day today

revisiting w-cup 1 / December 28, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

3pm: w-cup 1 was too congested, so i painted over it, then scraped into it and began working into that. it’s at an interesting stage as i end my painting day, with elements of landscape & remnants of w-cup 1.

it’s clouding over now, with increasing wind gusts & looking like we’ll have to postpone our trail walk till tomorrw afternoon. more later…

day 2 of W-CUP 2 / December 27, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

2:00 PM: today was a big day; a day i’ve been waiting for. my construction friend and is now on his way to becoming a very exciting artist, had promised to build the shelving space i need in my new storage space, builtonto the south side of my studio last year.

well, the time has arrived, and he & his son, who is visiting for the holidays from the art school he’s attending on the east coast, came & did the job in just 3 under hours! mikela is in there right now organizing the paintings; something she’s very good at.

so i didn’t think i’d get any painting done today. but i did! their presence actually helped me get out of my head & do more work on day W-CUP 2. it now includes two dancing figures from the 2020 tokyo olympics final celebration, which have appeared before in recent paintings. they interact in unexpected ways with the horizontal soccer player above, who is heading a ball.

as of now the top 3/4 of the composition remains white. we’ll see tomorrow if that lasts.

day 1 of W-CUP 2 / December 26, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

2:57 PM: today i started workon W-CUP 2, which for now is inspired by the world cup finals last week. or was it two weeks ago?

i’m working on a piece of unstretched linen, and the image measures 38x18.” i had started working on this piece of primed portrait linen last month, and then for some reason i stopped, rolle dup the canvas & stuck it in a corner. found it this morning & cut it down to the new dimensions, then flipped it upside down. so now, at this early stage, it appears that this soccer player heading the ball is flying through space, having leapt off what appears to be a rocky cliff overlooking a body of water.

day 5 of w-cup 1 / December 25, 2022 by Philip Tarlow

3:16 PM: i made many additions and subtractions on day 4 of w-cup 1. it’s now more complex, yet simpler. something’s happening that could point towards resolution tomorrow, maybe. there’s now an overall cartoon-like feel, which i kinda like. i especially like the introduction, early in the day, of a creek branch at the bottom left, as well as a few suggestions of rocks & water. the yellows & pinks that have appeared at the top are mostly new additions, as are the tree trunks and blue sky.

the football players have pretty much integrated into the larger composition, although the one in the center with the blue stripes is still the main form. the vertical brown lines resembling drips, were inspired by the natural vertical markings in the silk that taiga painted on.

the yellows, blues & pinks at the top are what brings to mind the flavor of comics. and the soccer ball, while still visible, no longer jumps out as it did up until yesterday.

BELOW: yesterdays version is on the left