"periscope," day 2 /  by Philip Tarlow

12:45 PM: i continued work on the new painting i started yesterday: periscope,” 78x23”/198x58cm. right now, it kinda looks like a long, narrow jigsaw puzzle! the title, periscope, derives from the name of the hotel we stayed at while in athens, which is locate dconveniently 4-5 doors down the street form genesis, the gallery where i had my solo show, which just ended a few days ago. for those of youwho missed seeing the show and are located in athens, the works are available to be viewed, if you ask to see them. George Tzaneris, the director will gladly show them to you.

so, getting back to periscope, it hasn’t quite jelled yet, but is in an interesting state. asn always, i need to sit with it for a bit, casting my all important glances from 20+ feet, in order to know my next moves.

a few of the things going on here: the profile face in the center is me making a drawing in the lobby of periscope hotel, on haritos street, athens. the figures at the bottom of the composition are from photos i shot of ancient greek vases, while mindy, marc, mikela & i visited the archeological museum. the form towars the top is a pair of animal horns i shot a photo of in an athenian shop window. above the horns, in lettering you can barely make out: have multiple orgasms today. so is that the greek equivalent of our have a good day?

the viewer becomes part of the process / benaki vista comments on detail / STARTING “PERISCOPE” /  by Philip Tarlow

2:16 PM: i didn’t feel like doing anything further to good doc, so i started periscope,which has the exact sme dimensions as benaki vista: 78x23”/198x58cm.it’s loosely based on photos i shot on our athens trip. thus far it’s in alignment with my latest color tendencies: pastel-ish greens, yellows, greys with accents of red.

8:44 AM: i was talking with mikela for about an hour as she was driving to san luis, where she just arrived to give her 3 hour presentation to some of the high school kids there. towards the end of our conversation, which covered a number of subjects, i spoke about my process of creating this latest painting: benaki vista.

check out the 4 stages in it’s development, above, to clarify the points i’m about to make. click on the first to make it full screen, then the right arrow to move to the next stage.

my main point is that the viewer becomes part of the process. what do i mean by that?

because this painting is layered, with each succeeding stage partially covering the previous one, my process is transparent. this can, if they are so oriented, engage the viewer in my process of creation. their discoveries, which may well be very different than mine as i gaze at it this morning, become part of their own process.

as well, it’s important to know that, during the period of time i was working on this painting, i was browsing through some of my books on matisse, archile gorky and deKooning.

one of the reasons i now consider this painting “resolved” is that my ongoing process of mark making, scraping, rubbing has reached a moment of perfect balance. could i take it even further? sure! but my gut says it’s enough. like when you know you’ve eaten enough of a delicious meal, and any more would just be the habitual shoveling of food into our mouths, rather than that exquisite spark of a new flavor or mixture of flavors that needs to be savored over time.

so that’s what the viewer is presented with: that moment when it just needs to be savored. and in the process, subtle discoveries happen. discoveries that someone else eating that dish may not have made.

that said, of course the ideal is to be able to view the painting in person rather than on a screen. we’ve become used to viewing art on a screen, but when you have the opportunity of viewing a work of art in person, it’s a very different experience. is reading about savoring a great dish the same as actually tasting it?

ideally, the viewer’s experiences lead them to re-visit parts of their own daily-weekly-monthly-yearly process. the process of becoming who they are, knowing increasingly who that is, celebrating and enjoying it, and using that knowledge to enrich their own experience of being alive in a body, as well as those in their circle.

FINAL: benaki vista 78x23”/198x58 cm. oil & collage on linen

6:03 AM: up at 4am today in preparation for mikela’s early departure to san luis, an hour and a half drive from crestone. today is forecast to be a sunny day, warming up to 55F, which is just about normal for this time of year.

6:30 am morning sky frmo our living room looking south

yesterday before leaving the studio i did more work on benaki vista, originally inspired by photos i shot during our visit to athens a few weeks ago. now, there’s only a trace of the original composition. when i go to the studio later this morning, i’ll see if the oils have dried enough to take it from my painting table & secure it to the wall, so that i can look at it over breakfast & see where it wants to go next, or if it feels resolved.

here’s a detail of the lower portion of the composiion.

DETAIL: benaki vista, 78x23”/198x58cm, oil & collage on linen

the smaller dots you see were made by pressing a sheet of bubble wrap into the wet paint. the larger ones are a result of flicking my wide brush full of white oil paint onto the surface, much the same as pollock and so many other, more contemporary artists have done.

what remains of the previous composition, which you see here, contributes to the many layered richness.

morning drawing / continued work on “benaki vista“ /  by Philip Tarlow

good doc 16x29” oil on portrait linen

4PM: more work today on good doc. here’s where it’s at at the end of my painting day.

2:26 PM: this afternoon, after taking good doc to the next stage (worked on my painting table with the canvas lying flat) i removed benaki vista from my east painting wall and worked on it lying flat on my painting table as well. i din’t want to move it till it dries somewhat, because there’s a lot of very wet paint. i don’t mind drips; as a matter of fact i love them, their unpredictability, but this is a different story. so i got up on my step ladder, then on the table where it’s lying, raised my iphone as far up above the table as i could, and shot this photo, which gives us a pretty good idea of where the painitng is at.

benaki vista 78x23”/198x58cm. at the end of painting day

10:42 AM: benaki vista 78x23”/198x58cm. as it looked following modifications after valuable feedback form a dear friend & expert in nyc.

the black lines have been softened, pinks & bliues added. something more is needed, however i may need to move to a different painting & come back fresh. it has passages i wouldn’t want to alter, but….

9:42 AM: while drinking my morning coffee, followed by matcha tea and casting furtive glances at benaki vista,, i grabbed my reed pen & a bottle of ink with some colored pencils and made a quick morning sketch.

it takes a lot longer to photograph the drawing & post than actually making the drawing!

as i was preparing to leave the house for the studio, this doe, accompanied by numerous friends, was munching grasses at our front door.

"benaki vista" transforms / “good doc” stage 2 /  by Philip Tarlow

3PM: as has been my habit, i made significant last minue changes to benaki vista just as i was about to walk out the door and head to the house. a few of the biomorphic forms suggestive of the female torso, wanted to become clearer statements proclaiming their identity, as buttocks, breasts, legs…

i listened to their plea, going in with anold dirty washcloth and solvent in a few of the areas in question and clearing the way for strokes of pink. so now, based on those 10 minutes of rubbing out & painting in, it’s a whole new painting! much more enjoyable to gaze at. giving more body to those quasi torsos increased the mystery! an underlying, subtle sexuality has bubbled up, rolled over in the bed and asked for a hug.

it’s always worth hanging in there and persisting.

benaki vista, 78x23”/198x58cm.following last minute changes

12:18: after the changes i made to benaki vista early this morning, i took good doc to the next stage; to be continued tomorrow morning. right now i have some editing to do on mikela’s proposal, which is almost ready to submit.

stage 2: good doc, 16x29” oil on linen

10:24 AM: i didn’t get much sleep last night. the window replacement crew didn’t protect the tv room sufficiently from the dust created by their work yesterday; as a result i inhaled some while watching tv last night & had a suffy nose & sneezing all night.

was all that somehow planned to that i could make these radical changes to benaki vista this morning? could be.

as soon as i finished my breakfast i launched in, working feverishly with the canvas msotly flat on the cement floor and sometimes tacked to the wall, as you see here.

i won’t make many comments other than that i like what happened, and how my calligraphic marks entered the picture, uniting the entire composition with biomorphic shapes sometimes reminiscent of the human anatomy.

benaki vista, 78x23”/198.12x58. 4cm. oil & collage on canvas

BELOW: benaki vista flipped in all 4 directions; which do you prefer?

benaki museum vista becomes "benaki vista" / WTF & why it's critical to my work / starting “good doc” /  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” /  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

benaki museum vista with 2 collages

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 /  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 /  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" /  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") /  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