major alterations to "tokyo olympics 10" today / starting tokyo olympics 11 /  by Philip Tarlow

3:02 PM: following my new changes to tokyo olympics 10, i got started on tokyo olympics 11. it’s in a very early stage, but i love all the white space, and we’ll see how much of that remains when i continue working on it tomorrow morning!

2:58 PM: i made a few more changes to tokyo olympics 10, and started work on tokyo olympics 11.

12:06 PM: we have a wonderful wind on this cloudy day today, gusting to 30mph. it’s snowing on the peaks, but thus far we haven’t seen any down here. i say down here, but of course we’re at 8,000 ft. the peaks above us rise to 14,300 ft.

the changes i just made, which are extensive, came from my reaction to my first glance when i entered my studio this morning.

the composition seemed disconnected, and the patterning below, while it was interesting by itself, had little to do with the overalll composition.

my use of blacks in this re-work stems, to a large degree, from some reading i was doing over breakfast this morning. i was going through some of john elderfield’s excellent text in my 1992-93 museum of modern art matisse retrospective catalogue. in it, he speaks of matisse’s use of black in a way that made me rethink my own use of that color.

the result is, i believe, a far more coherent and vibrant painting.

so now let’s see what i do on the next one, which has the exact same dimensions and is tacked to the wall adjacent to this one.

BELOW: THE PAINTING AS IT LOOKED YESTERDAY IS ON THE LEFT

starting "tokyo olympics 10" /  by Philip Tarlow

3:16 PM: yesterday we drove up to cmc aspen to pick up the paintings from my show there & bring them back. it was a total of 10 hours of driving, round trip, and we were exhausted when we got back. last night i slept for 9 1/2 hours and woke up late but refreshed. so i got a late start this morning on tokyo olympics 10, 37 1/4x 18 3/4”

i’ll decide tomorrow whether it’s resolved, but i think it’s looking pretty good!

starting "tokyo olympics 9" /  by Philip Tarlow

1:04 PM: i got an early start this morning, after a planned trip got unexpectedly cancelled. i started a new one: tokyo olympics 9, 37 1/4x 18 3/4” oil on portrait linen.

it follows in the footsteps of the previous ones in this rapidly developing series, with lots of negative white spaces & suggested figures in motion. yellow is the dominant color, set off by reds & blues. this one would look great hanging next to the one i did yesterday, perhaps hung on a warm grey wall.

i like the composition of this one perhaps more than any so far. i dare say i’m learning by leaps & bounds how to make a painting that sings, without shrieking, and flows, without being too predictable.

tomorrow will be a day off, and i’ll be back in the studio on saturday morning. today is a sunny, cloudless day with a temperature of 34F, likely climbing a few more degrees in the next hour or two. in a little over an hour, we’ll take our walk up to the stupa, which is the walk we’ll be taking until spring arrives, when we’ll resume our walks up cottonwood creek, which are far more interesting visually. at that time, i’ll lkely resume my creekside watercolors which, undoubtedly influenced by this current series and by our experiences in greec in march, will have a different look for sure.

tokyo olympics 9 37 1/4x 18 3/4” oil on portrait linen

BELOW: tokyo olympics 8 & 9 as they might look hanging together.

day 2 of "tokyo olympics 8" / changes to w-cup 2; bare breasted no more /  by Philip Tarlow

1:41 PM: i spent most of this cloudy, very windy day creating the next stage of tokyo olympics 8, which i just began yesterday. it may actually be resolved. as you will observe, elements of the previous three or four paintings in this tokyo olympics series have been carried over to this current version. the figures continue their celebration; the drummer continues playing; the persian red continues it’s dominant coloristic role. i like to think that, as someone once said of matisse,my current work is transcending the picturesque for the sublime.

i have made enough realist works over the course of my career to feel comfortable allowing any realist elements to function primarily as design elements in a unique arrangement of colors, patterns and forms that elecit wonder and, ideally, give the viewer a spiritual experience on top of the aesthetic one.

at some point mid-morning, i glanced to my left at w-cup 2, tacked to my east studio wall. my eyes landed on the bare breasts of the central female dancing figure with her red hat, and i couldn’t unglue them (my eyes) form her bare breasts. they seemed to take away from the music of the whole. so i painted over them, creating a checkered patterning like the one on her shorts, but in a pale grey.

and now, the music seems restored and, as i gaze at it from 25 feet away, i can enjoy the entire composition without getting stuck on her bare breasts.

BELOW: before and after painting over the breasts

tokyo olympics 8, 37 1/4x 18 3/4” oil on portrait linen

changes to "w-cup 2" / starting “tokyo olympics 8” /  by Philip Tarlow

4:14 PM: after making the changes to w-c 2 earlier today, i cut some new pieces of primed portrait linen and started work on tokyo olympics 8. as the title suggests, i continue to be inspired by the celebrations following the 2020 tokyo olympics. this is day 1, and a lot more will likely happen tomorrow, when i can get an earlier start.

11:57 AM: ever since i last worked on w-cup 2, which was about 10 days ago, on december 30, both ,mikela and i have been looking at the white space above the main figures, increasingly feeling that something needed to happen up there.

so today i addressed that issue, adding the figure of a jumping skateboarder wearing a yellow top. as usual, i’ll have to sit with it for a while to make sure it works. it’s always tricky to go back in to any painting, but especially one with such a delicate balance fro forms & colors.

BELOW: w-cup 2 on december 30 and as it looked following todays modification

tokyo olympics 8, 37 1/4x 18 3/4” as it looked at the end of my painting day

w-cup 3 becomes "Tokyo Olympics 7" /  by Philip Tarlow

untitled 14x13” collage on paper

i added into the red block below

1:03 PM: mikela came over this morning before i got to work. she hadn’t been to the studio in a while (it’s only 500 ft. from the house!) so her feedback was very useful, as she was seeing the newer pieces for the first time.

one thing we both agreed upon, was that w-cup 3 was a flop & needed to be painted over, which i’ve been doing fro the past 3 hours. i like what’s happened thus far, and i may leave it as is. it has elements of yesterday’s tokyo olympics 6, but with a much bolder composition. and i thought tokyo olympics 6 was bold!

something is happening in my consciousness that i’m not going to try and understand or analyze. let it be.

that said, there’s definitely a synthesis happening, of the work i’ve done over the decades.

i actually started the day by making significant additions to a collage on paper i’ve been working on, on and off for over a month. i think it opened the door to what i then did on tokyo olympics 7.

tokyo olympics 7 36x19” oil on portrait linen, previously w-cup 3

BELOW: w-cup 3 before transforming into tokyo olympics 7

starting tokyo olympics 5 /  by Philip Tarlow

3:34 PM: today i started a fresh painting, which is a variation on the one i completed yesterday, tokyo olympics 4. not surprisingly, this one is titled tokyo olympics 5.

new elements include: above right: ll. cooljay singing it’s tricky; 3 arms & hands & a few more figures seen from above standing in line waiting for their flight to board.

the two together could make an interesting diptych.

TOKYO OLYMPICS 5

BELOW: tokyo olympics 4 & 5

continuing work on tokyo olympics 4 /  by Philip Tarlow

2:56 PM: i had a few interruptions today, but very welcome ones! the crew was here to evaluate what needs to be done to clear brush on our lots in order to reduce the danger from a potential wildfire. over the next few months, they’ll be working to achieve that goal, which is a service provided by the county.

but i did get some work done, and may actually have brought this painting to resolution. i’ve been able to maintain lots of white space while not fragmenting the composition. in that respect, it’s like a piece of music, with staccato & adagio playing out across the surface.

the carbon pencil drawn figures, who are people waiting for their flights as seen from above, introduce a cool balance, with their smaller scale and distictive angle of view.

the central figure above, seen from behind wearing his many colored and patterned tokyo olympics jacket, appears to be directing a symphony, and his red headed buddy encourages the viewer to become part of the drama, and allows you to fill in the blanks of where his head ends & body begins.

today’s palette

tokyo olympics 4 as it looked at the end of my painting day

starting tokyo olympics 4 /  by Philip Tarlow

2:57 PM: after doing some studio reorganizing this morning, i started a new painting on a piece of primed 33x19 portrait linen. i have a second canvas with the exact same dimensions tacked next to it on my east studio wall, and i’m thinking of making the two interconnected.

here’s how it looks so far

as far as imagery goes, you’ll notice 3 things going on here: 2 celebrating figures viewed from behind; a drummer viewed from above and a drawing of two pedestrians walking, also seen from above.

tokyo olympics 4 as it looked at the end of my painting day