continued work on "jazz 8" grey-over /  by Philip Tarlow

jazz 8 35x37”/94x89 cm. as it looked at the end of my painting day today

12:37 PM: expected dramatic changes today, bringing jazz 8 more into alignment with the previous paintings in this series. i’m done for the day and will continue tomorrow morning…

11:42 AM: it was ripe today for a grey-over on jazz 8. the composition was all over the place, but that was intentional, to pave they way for what’s happening just now.

here are 4 stages of the process: notice that in the 4th stage i added a walking figure

continued work on "jazz 8" /  by Philip Tarlow

2:47 PM: about to take our trail walk, hopefully before the predicted thunderstorms start.

did quite a bit more on jazz 8; more commentary when we’re back later this afternoon.

12:41 PM: got a late start today. it’s saturday, so mikela doen’t have to scoot out the door at 7 am to get to the school on time, like she did yesterday. so we slept in & started work late. ever try ZzzQui Pure zzz’s if you have trouble sleeping? been using htem lately & sleeping much better & longer. they are mostly melatonin & other natural ingredients.

so anyway, i continued work on jazz 8, which as you know if you follow this blog, i started yesterday. here’s the current state; getting back to work now, & whatever i can do my 3, when we plan on walking up the trail if it doesn’t rain.

starting "jazz 8" /  by Philip Tarlow

3:34 PM: i began work this afternoon on a new painting in the jazz series: jazz 8. it too is 35x37”/94x89cm. it has, thus far, a different feel coloristically & compositionally and will stand out from the previous jazz paintings.

birds, selected from the 185 i have in my birds album, will play a role. amazing colors and patterns.

more work today on "jazz 7" /  by Philip Tarlow

2:27 PM: heavy rain, thunderstorms….that’s what the weather is like today. we were had planned a trip to santa fe tomorrow, but the same weather we’re having today here in crestone/baca is forecast for tomorrow & saturday in santa fe, so we pushed the trip to early june.

jazz 7 was asking for something to happen in the upper right portion of the composition, so i added a new figure; same guy you’ll see in the upper left, in jazz 6.the blues and reds in his shirt add a lot; i just need to make sure tomorrow that it works in the composition as a whole.

i really can’t say how this jazz series happened.

BELOW: jazz 7 on the left, as it looked yesterday and todays version on the right

adjustment to "jazz 7" / MY DOOR COLLAGE /  by Philip Tarlow

10:22 AM:i became tired of looking at the list of things not to forget when leaving the studio, which is mounted on a piece of foam core of the main west facing studio door, so i started collaging over it, adding a bit whenever the mood struck. this is it’s current state, which will likely keep changing.

my door collage, 24x23”/61x58.5 cm.

10:08 AM: the new figure i added yesterday was screwing up the composition, so i took it out this morning. i’ll wait for the white paint to dry a bit & then considerwhat i might do in that space.

BELOW: yesterdays state of the painting is on the left.

continued work on "jazz 7" /  by Philip Tarlow

1:38 PM: after ging in to the post office & futzing around in the studio for a few hours, i got back into jazz 7. it now has 4+ figures, and works whichever way you turn it. as i gaze at my east painting wall, 5 paintings in the jazz series are tacked to the wall, the 6th one having been stretched & gone to the house, i see a definite progression. this one is, at the same time, more complex as a composition and simpler. it’s those unexpected marks & scrapes that bring it to a new level. not to imply anything negative about the others. i love observing the unfolding of jazz, which, in case you haven’t been following my blog posts, emerged from listening to thelonious monk. he may not have been a painter, but, in my case at least, was a painter’s muse. those pauses…here’s a quote about his style of playing: Monk’s playing style is very unique, using sparse voicings and omitting notes to add dissonance. Another distinctive element of his playing is an extremely strong time feel. His soloing usually relies on motifs and is often based on the melody of the song.

i talked yesterday about diebenkorn’s ocean park series and how it has influenced my work. you could apply that quote about monk’s style as well to diebenkorn. and here’s another quote about his work that could equally apply to what i’m now up to: “he’s scraping away paint not only to affect the surface; it’s also to affect the color.” (sarah c.bancroft)

diebenkorn / continued work on jazz 7 /  by Philip Tarlow

jazz 7 37x35”/94x89cm. as it looked moments ago, at the end of my painting day today

3:56 PM: i did more work on jazz 7, which may reflect my experiece this morning with the diebenkorn book.

a second figure was introduced, of a guy seen from above looking at his phone. it’s the same guy you see in the previous jazz 6. the composition may need more going on in the lower portion; we’ll see tomorrow.

9:53 am: today is my birthday. this morning while having my breakfast, i was perusing richard diebenkorn, the ocean park series. below is a quote from diebenkorn himself

there is no main subject, or center of attention. the composiotn itself is the center of attention, constantly drawing the eye away from the center and towards the edges, and back. what might be perceived as a rigid geometrical frame is, when explored carefully, an ever changing, often smudged & blurred reality.

it’s hard to put my finger on what it is exactly the attracts me to diebenkorn’s work, particularly this series. but, as happens with other artists at the top of my list, i resonate with his process; in this case particularly with his compositional sensibility.

in my current phase of self discovery, it helps to have such a guide. and this quote may be the little push i needed to move to a larger scale, which may happen soon.

jazz 5 on may 9 at 3:30 pm. the painting has changed dramatically since then, but i think you can see how & why my process has been influenced by the work of diebenkorn, as well as matisse.


continued work on jazz 7 / an adjustment to jazz 6 /  by Philip Tarlow

1:27 PM: i started my painting day by making an adjustment to jazz 6. the bit on the right wasn’t working, which mikela pointed out when she walked over yesterday afternoon to give me some feedback.

so i scraped it & painted over it with off white. then i introduced a new figure, which was inspired by the views from above of skoufa street in athens, shot from a balcony during my solo exhibition at skoufa gallery.

the figure i introduced was too well defined, and so didn’t work with the other figures. so i scraped & whited over it, and removed his legs, which also weren’t necessary to the composition. i think it works now, but i’ll sit with it for a day or two & see how i feel.

BELOW as it looked yesterday, on the left. i think the figure i introduced today, on the right, integrates way better into the composition as a whole.

jazz 6, 35x37”/94x89cm. oil on linen

on a kind of comical note, after introducing the figure on the right and before whiting over his legs, i blotted the image with a piece of paper towel, which helped push it back a little, but didn’t reallt solved the problem. i taped the paper towel, with it’s blotted image in reverse, next to the actual painted image, which i thought looked kinda cool.

the blotted paper towel image is taped on the lower right

once i was done with jazz 6, i moved on to the new jazz 7, which i started work on yesterday. the sexual japanese imagry was, as i predicted yesterday, painted over, but it’s remains have enlivened the new figures form above i introduced this morning. more changes are on the way tomorrow, but right now i’m going to clean up early in preparation for our trail walk at 3:30, assuming we don’t get a thunderstorm at 3pm, as predicted.

BELOW: jazz7 as it looked yesterday on the left, and after the work i did earlier today, on the right.

a slight adjustment to "jazz 6" & she's done / starting “jazz 7.” /  by Philip Tarlow

5:16 PM: today i started work on the new jazz 7. what you see here is an underpainting, and much, if not all of it will be painted over.

it was inspired by an 18th c. japanese print, and it’s sexuality was common during that period, when censorship was unknown. as a result, there’s an innocence that i find touching. the characteristicallly subtle and sensitive patterning is something bonnard, vuillard and others drew from heavily.

i’ll continue working on it tomorrow morning, and will post updates then.

1:09 PM: when i first entered my studio today & glanced t jazz 6, the upside down head on the lower right seemed a tad too bright. so i toned it down with some white, which i then scraped over, and she’s done !

and now, on to a new one. i’ll update once i get into it. thanks my friends!

continuing jazz 6 re-visiting “periscope” /  by Philip Tarlow

jazz 6 following a few last minute changes made moments ago

3:15 PM: as frequently happens, before walking out the door to go over to the house so mikela & i could take our walk up the creek, i made some changes to jazz 6. i used the edge of a palette knife to scrape into the figures, which were too highly defined and weren’t working in the composition as a whole. it’s better, but more may be in store tomorrow morning; we’ll see.

jazz 6 37x35”/94x89cm. as it looked at the end o fmy painting day today.

2:24 PM: today i did considerable work on the new jazz 6.

as with the others in this series, i whited over everything extraneous to the composition and added a new figure of a guy holding his phone in a way that so many of us do, oblivious to everything going on around him, including the other figures….even the debt ceiling!

that figure may be too dominant; i’ll know better in the morning. i’m stopping early because we’re going to walk up the trail in about an hour, taking advantage of the sunny day. more rain predicted for tomorrow.

periscope has been up on my south studio wall since the last time i worked on it. i’m considering more work on it, but am still undecided.

at work on periscope, april 10 and on the right, the painting as it looks today