April 4, 2023 by Philip Tarlow

3:58 PM: once i hit the wall with benaki vista, i switched to the new good doc, 16x29” it takes it’s title from the tv serial the good doctor, and is inspired by an iphone photo i shot of the tv screen when there was a view from above of two figures interacting in an outdoor setting, with a brick floor.

for the moment, the female figure is nude, but that could change tomorrow. the composition on this one is interesting, which is why i shot the photo.

stage 1, *good doc, 16x29”* oil on linen

12:33 PM: i think i need to let this one go for now and start someting new. i wasn’t totally in my sweet spot when i added those greys to the upper portion. since the oil was still wet, i was able to wipe it out with a rag soaked in solvent.

*benaki vista,* 78x23”/198.12x58.4cm. after removing the greys

noon: i continued work on benaki vista, adding a collaged piece of map and a woman’s hand drawing to the upper portion of the composition. in addition, i painted in some of the white spaces above with a light grey oil color.

BELOW: before & after

10:11 AM: i shortened the title of this painting and made it benaki vista. the work i’ve done so far today is coming directly out of that WTF attitude that can only be felt, never made up. for me it kicks in after a few days of feeling the preciousness of a new painting i’m working on. like: o-h-h-h-h, don’t mess with THAT; it’s PERFECT!

well, nothin’s perfect. and if it is, that’s a setup for imperfections to manifest.

so anyway, i reached that point this morning, when i came into the studio and cast my all important first glance. the collaging i did yesterday certainly helped take it to the next level. but i was still feeling a lack of connection between upper & lower portions of the composition. i’d been hankering to introduce some black since yesterday. so i did! as well as some blues. so that makes black & blue!

by the way, if you’re wondering how i’m doing after my fall &head/arm injuries, the short answer is: better. but i’m pretty certain i sustained a mild concussion, so i’m taking it easier than usual. interestingly, my morning meditation, which normally lasts about 20 minutes, lasted a full hour this morning. that following a morning massage by mikela, who had every good intention but when she pressed down on the left side of my head, i had a lot of pain. so i think, as often happens with these kinds of injuries, the full effects of me crashing my head into the wall & breaking a hole in it are delayed by a few days.

*benaki vista* 78x23”/198.12x58.4cm., oil & colllage on linen

post head crash / adding some collage to “benaki museum vista” / April 3, 2023 by Philip Tarlow

my arm got bruised when i fell yesterday, & hurts a lot today

2:07 PM: i returned to the house after starting to feel a bit dizzy, related to a mild concussion following my fall yesterday. but not before some collaging onto benaki museum vista! towards the top of the composition you will see a collaged cutout piece of a drawing i made this morning. and towards the bottom is a cut up piece of a map of seattle.

tomorrow morning, if i’m feeling up for it, i’ll likely continue collaging.

1:04 PM: by taking frequent breaks, during which i sat and proofed mikela’s grant application, i was able to do some collaging onto benaki museum vista. but now it’s catching up with me & i’m starting to feel achy, so i think after this post, i’ll go back to the house & lie down. not bad for my first day after the fall!

collaging a cut up drawing onto *benaki museum vista*

i’m wearing a mask to filter our fumes from the white glue

5:57 AM: when i awoke this morning, i realized that i did indeed gat a concussion when i fell & hit my head on the wall in my studio and bruised my right arm. so i’m going to take it easy for a few days until i feel fully recovered.

ocular migraine head slams hole in wall / April 2, 2023 by Philip Tarlow

5:06 PM: yesterday i got an ocular migraine mid day. i get them about every 2 weeks. if you’re not familiar,

. A migraine aura involving your vision will affect both eyes, and you may see:

Flashes of light
Zigzagging patterns
Blind spots
Shimmering spots or stars

usually, i just sit down and close my eyes and wait 15-20 minutes until it dissipates. yesterday, i was upset as a result of some distressing back and forth i was having online, so i neglected to sit down. after 5 minutes or so, holding a cup of matcha tea, i turned my body to do something, got extremely dizzy and fell pretty hard onto my cement studio floor, smashing my head into the wall and breaking a hole in it, as you see here.

i was pretty shaken up, and felt like i had a concussion, albeit a mild one. i also smashed my forearm into the wall, which is swollen & black & blue. I feel very grateful it wasn’t a brick wall, or something solid like that!

so, no painting today; we’ll see how i feel tomorrow. and from now on, whenever i get an ocular migrain, i’m ging to do what i usually do; sit right down & stay seated until it passes.

a small change that made a big difference / April 1, 2023 by Philip Tarlow

1:35 PM: i had mentioned in yesterday’s post, at the end of my painting day i inoticed something in the composition that needed to be addressed. the blue triangualr passage towards the center needed breaking up, as it was tending to draw the eye & not allow the rest of the painting to flow uninterrupted.

when i first entered the studio this morning, i had the exact same impressoin, but i felt it might be better to wait a day and instead to start something new. as i was preparing to move it aside on my painting wall & tack up another, piece of same-sized primed linen to the wall, i felt the energy kick in, squeezed some white oil paint onto my palette, and made the semicircular brush mark you see in the comparative photo on the right, BELOW, which seems to have worked.

*benaki museum vista,* 78x23”/198.12x58.4cm. oil on linen as it looked following today’s changes

continued work on benaki museum vista" / March 31, 2023 by Philip Tarlow

2:58 PM: i resumed working on benaki museum vista today. so why did it change from acropolis museum vista, which was the title when i started this painting yesterday? because mikela, when she saw the photos i was working from, corrected me!

it’s changed quite a bit. the top and bottom quadrants of the composition have filled in a bit, so that the blue sky in the center no longer seems to disect the long narrow composition into two distinct segments. right now as i cast glances form about 30 feet, it appears playful, energetic and kind of serves as a frame for the figures you now see, adding to yesterday’s lone female figure looking out the museum window onto the heart of athens; the acropolis. shots i took while waking through the city two weeks ago, of antique stores with frames and mirrors stacked against one another, mingle with the fragmented cityscape , leading the eye up, down, around and into the suggested space beyond the canvas.

tomorrow i may interrupt that still too dominant blue triangle of sky and create more connection between the upper and lower portions.

*benaki museum vista* 3pm 3/31/23 detail of lower portion

*benaki museum vista* 78x23” 3pm 3/31/23

BELOW: YESTERDAY’S PALETTE

starting work on "benaki museum vista," 198.12 x 58.4 cm (78 x 23") / March 30, 2023 by Philip Tarlow

2:19 PM: jet lag: they say it takes a day for every hour of time difference. so right now, it’s 11:19 pm in athens. and the energetic wall i hit about half an hour ago makes sense!

but up until that point, i was able to start work on this new painting, inspired by our visit about 2 weeks ago to the acropolis museum in athens, greece, where had gone for my solo exhibition, to visit with my son & grandkids, and hang with my cousin mindy & her husband marc on their very first visit to greece.

when we visited the benaki museum, we encountered this view of athens from one of the large windows. there was a tourist gazing at the vista, and i shot a couple of photos, figuring i might refer to them in a future painting when we returned home. we got home march 18th, and i’m just getting back to work today, or at least this morning, till that time-difference freight train hit me full on!

the size of the canvas i chose to start working on is larger than the paintings i had been making before leaving for greece: 78 x 23”, or 198.12 x 58.4 cm. how i proceed tomorrow is up in the air.

BELOW: details of this new painting

*benaki museum vista,* 198.12x58.4 cm. stage 1

a change of plans / March 29, 2023 by Philip Tarlow

4:08 PM: today in reviewing the photos i shot while in greece last week, i was moved to draw from them instead of the watercolor/collage i posted yesterday. so right now i’m adjusting them in photoshop. i may strat working on the 78x 27” canvas tomorrow.

2018 watercolor/collage 1 will become a 78 inch high oil / March 28, 2023 by Philip Tarlow

4:33 PM: this morning i read and made corrections to mikela’s proposal for an important grant for her educational product and took periodic breaks, which allowed me to be more focused when i resumed as well as allowing me to start a new project. the new project will be an oil, possibly with collaged elements, inspired by this 2018 watercolor/collage, which i have framed & hanging in the studio.

it’s something, believe it or not, i’ve never done! it’s going to be tricky to translate the spontaneity of this small work on paper to a 78” tall canvas, but i haven’t signed a contract stating that it has to exactly mirror the watercolor/collage! more than anything, it excites me as a challenge, whatever happens.

we’ll see tomorrow how it goes…

light snow last night / resuming work in the studio / March 27, 2023 by Philip Tarlow

1:13 PM: my jet lag today is a lot worse than yesterday, plus i can’t seem to warm up. the temperature outside is 25F and the wind is gusting to 30mph, with a wind chill of 12F.

i tried getting to work, but all i could do was to make a small self portrait in colored pencil & pastel. maybe tomorrow will be better.

self portrait in colored pencil & pastel, 25x17 cm.

6:51 AM: it’s currently snowing lightly, and we received about 1/4” last night. every litttle bit counts in continuing our emergence from drought conditions here in crestone/baca!

i’ll be headed to my studio in an hour or two and will resume painting after 2+ weeks in greece. updates as they occur…

welcome home philip & mikela! / 6/19/20 creek watercolor in new frame / a dramatic afternoon sky / March 26, 2023 by Philip Tarlow

*3:28 PM* the southern sky as it looked when i left the studio. looks kind of like what i remember the *dutch* skies were like.

3:28 PM: as i left my studio this afternoon (the time difference was affecting me & i suddenly felt vert sleepy) i glanced across our san luis valley to the south and saw this dramatic sky. remember, the valley floor is 7,500 ft./ or 2,286 meters.

3:06 PM: i’m back in my studio & it feels fantastic! too tired to work until tomorrow morning, but i placed a 6/19/20 creek watercolor in a spare frame i brought back from athens & it fit prefecftly, showing off the piece beautifully. it’s inspiring me to go back to paint plein air at cottonwood creek, and it won’t be too long before it warms up enough for that to happen!

10/20/22 watercolor, 10x38cm. creek inspired

5:50 am: temperature, 7.7 F. wind chill -9F (-22.7 C.) 20% chance for snow after 3pm.

we fell asleep yesterdayat 6:15 PM, and we’ve both been up since about 1:30 am due to the 8 hour time difference from athens.

the first thing i saw as i went upstairs to brew mikela’s yemeni coffee (our kitchen/living room are on the top floor so we can enjoy the spectacular views) was this, as yet unframed, watercolor, painted on 10/20/22.

after the athens experience of my genesis show, it looks pretty damned good, and would have fit in well with the other two creek paintings in the show. Ah well…..there will be more next time…and we’re but deeply grateful to george tzaneris, director of the gallery,for his outstanding support during our entire stay, and for the love and care he put into every detail.

in case you’re wondering about the yemeni coffee, i get the beans raw & roast them a day or so before brewing, to insure freshness and taste, then grind them just before brewing in my Giannina 6 Cup Stainless Steel Stove Top Espresso Maker. a little frothed soy milk & you’ve got the perfect cappucino! if you’re interested in knowing more about roasting & brewing just text me.

BELOW: the fresh roast raw coffee bean roaster, which you adjust based on how light or dark you like your beans. Freshly roasted coffee reaches best or "Peak Flavor" on day 8-14 after roasting. Compare this to coffee from the grocery store, which is often >120 days old!