starting THE HU SERIES /  by Philip Tarlow

the first in the new hu series is 38x20” linen

2:01 PM: this morning i felt like the second 80x20” piece of portrait linen i cut (the first was used for gained vision IV”) was too big, and i had the desire to cut it in half, resulting in two 38x20” canvases.

i initially intended to make them 2 interconnected paintings, but changed my mind afer watching this video of the hu: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4xZUr0BEfE

in this photo you see me from my loft, where i took my nikon & tripod & set it to a 20 second delay, giving me just enough time to scurry back down & grab my brush. and as i was ding all this, we had a 5 minute burst of heavy rain & wind, creating wonderful aromas we haven’t experienced in quite a while.

remembering and somehow returning to a state of play, as we all experienced when we were little kids, is something that requires a deep, unstructured letting go. i feel i’m getting closer to that space, but the mind is such a trap!

i’ll pick up where i left off tomorrow morning earlier than today.

gained vision IV continued /  by Philip Tarlow

1:56 PM: the lower portion of gained vision IV looked way to heavy when i entered the studio this morning. i whited over it, intentionally leaving some of the underpainting visible. then i proceeded to work into it, using a few of my creek phostos as inspiration, and adding a triangle of green/yellow in the lower right corner., which may or may not remain.

i think it’s definitely an improvement over yesterday’s version, but i’m not yet sure whether it hangs together. i did want a much less cluttered surface with one focal point; in this case the figure up top. i owe a lot to matisse & diebenkorn (as diebenkorn owes a lot to matisse!)

looking at it now from 20+ feet, i’m seeing that the whited over portion below enlivens the entire composition in a way that couldn’t have been predicted, thereby becoming an element in my constant striving for the unpredictable!

gained vision IV as it looked at the end of my painting day today

3 creek oils from 2011/ gained vision 4, day 1 /  by Philip Tarlow

at work today on the new gained vision IV

3:19 PM: this afternoon i started work on a new painting in the gained vision series: gained vision IV. i made the initial drawing with the unstretched canvas laying on the floor and then moved to my painting table. there’s an underlying creek theme here, with a large tree trunk surrounded by bubbly blue creek water dominating the lower 2/3 of the composition i knocked over a glass jar of india ink, which i stepped in before cleaning it up. i thought the bottom of my sandle made interesting marks on my cement floor, so i lat the canvas back on the floor & stepped on it, creating the pattern you see half way up the composition on the right.

the naked bather on top comes from some photos i shot on the greek island of andros about a decade ago, and remoinds me of an indigenous figure. as of now, the top half on the composition remains white, with the exception of the figure.

11:25 AM: this morning i took a look into my studio storage room. which, like the rest of the studio, needs cleanup. i found 3 plein air creek paintings painted in august, 2011, each 16x16”. i have a new appreciation for this work, which i think deserves to be shown along with other plein air paintings from that period, which you can view below.

looking at them for the first time, after 12 years has gone by, i’m impressed that i was able to create this level of abstraction while sitting and observing the flowing creek. the watercolor and gouache paintings on paper i made during that period are far more realist and descriptive. these oils correspond more to where i’m currently at. i’m taking realist elements and simplifying and abstracting them, so that they’re more about patterns, colors, forms.

cottonwood I, 2011, 16x16"

my studio storage space as it looked this morning.

cottonwood kokh, 2011, 16x16"

creek study II, 2011 16x16"

stretching “gained vision LLL” / starting my day with a self portrait drawing /  by Philip Tarlow

3:48 PM: today i stretched gained vision III and took it back to the house, where i hung it at the head of our stairs.

10:55 AM: i started my day today going back & forth with a FB friend, then making 2 colored pencil self portraits, (the one on the left, from the previous page, which appears faintly, is the first, more abstracted version) in this corner of my studio,, above the colored pencil portrait, is my study of an arcile gorky painitng.

i was going back & forth between drawing & stretching 2 16x20” canvases to fool around on when i’m taking a break from larger works. yesterday i cut 2 more 80x20” pieces of extra fine quadruple primed portrait linen, which i plan on strarting work on as soon as i post this. more later!

gained vision III tweaked / Mikela's cappucino /  by Philip Tarlow

gained vision III tweaked this morning

12:11 PM: i got an early start this morning, and was able to tweak the figure in the plaid shirt, who needed to pop more.

i accented his plaid shirt, added the shadow above his foot and gave his hand more flesh tones, as well as adding his gold wedding ring.

so i think i can declare this one RESOLVED! gazing at it next to gained vision II, this one is softer and more subtle in color. i love them equally and i’d like to see them hung about 4-5 feet apart in the right setting.

they also integrate well with the entire jazz series, consisting of 16 paintings.

DETAIL of the figure i tweaked this morning

6:50 AM: this is the cappucino i made for mikela this morning: home roasted yemeni beans, finely ground and placed in my moka pot, with organic soy milk frothed in my new breville frother, and served to her in her 1st floor office!

about to mediate; more when i get to the studio!

gained vision III / figure contemplating tourlos, andros1975  egg tempera on board  18x47 cm. /  by Philip Tarlow

this 1975 painting in egg tempera on board is representative of an entire series of works in egg tempera painted in greece the’70’s. most are in private and museum collections in greece, but tis one is in my collection. tourlos, for those of you not familiar, is a well known site in chora, on the island of andros, greece.

gIned vision III 80x20”/203x59cm. as it looked before (left) and after the work i did today

11:29 AM: the studio is just starting to heat up, but i haven’t yet turned on my swamp cooler; it’s so noisy that i like to wait till it’s necessary, which will be in the next little while.

i’m continuing work on gained vision III, carefully giving more definition to some of the areas i had whited over.

it’s somehow easier for me to work on a long, narrow painting, 80x20” on my work table, so that i don’t have to climbing up on my ladder. and it’s also easier for me to view the entire composition at a glance and see what’s working and what’s not.

gained vision III /  by Philip Tarlow

gained vision III as it looked at the end of my painting day today

2:40 PM: as i’ve been saying over the past few days, i’m taking it very slow with gained vision III so as not to upset it’s delicate balance. today’s focus was on the face and red garment of the japanese figure. i had gone over it with a very diluted off white tint, and now that it’s dried, i went back into it , livening up her facial features and the upper portion of her garment & black neck band, as well as the blue to the right of her head.

it’s getting there, but it ain’t there yet!

important modifications to "gained vision III" /  by Philip Tarlow

gained vision III 80x20”/203x59cm. as it looked before (left) and after the modifications i made this morning

12:32 PM: today marks a turning point in the evolution of gained vision III. i say that because i finally painted over a few areas on the very top & bottom of this tall, narrow canvas (80x20”/203x59cm.) which have, as i’m gazing at it right now, allowed it to sing it’s song.

"gained vision III" continued /  by Philip Tarlow

gained vision III, 80x20”/203x59cm. BEFORE and AFTER today’s changes

1:20 PM: i gingerly did some work on gained vision III, taking care not to disturb the delicate balance. here are the 3 areas i worked on.

in the first image, the circular area on the right, in yellow ochre with white dots is new.

in the the central image, the flower to the left of the figure in plaid is new.

and in the image on the right, the solid, horizontal bar of red has been broken uo by a continuation of the white curved form, which is actually a tree branch at the creek, surrounded by blue water with white bubbles.

10:52 AM: i’m just strtaing work on gained vision III and will post updates as they become available. it’s a delicate balance, but that can’t keep me from making bold marks.

work on "gained vision III" continues /  by Philip Tarlow

1:36 PM: as i’ve said a few times, i’m taking it very slow on this one. ever since i whited over it and it took on that faded, ghost-like appearance, i’ve had the strong desire to maintain that quality. but it was too far in that direction and needed some level of detail.

so today i’m focused on the bottom quarter of the composition, which i’ve already scraped into, uniting it with the upper quadrant.

i’ll keep going till the jiuce runs out, probably around 3pm.