"minoan celebration" day 5 /  by Philip Tarlow

minoan celebration, 38x38” oil on linen, following this mornings modificatoins

1:20 PM: on the left side of the composition was taking away from some of the more exciting aspects above and to the right. so i scrubbed it and whited over it, introducing a few hints of creek and rocks which, unexpectedly are somewhat gustonesque. if you’re not familiar, google philip guston and you’ll see what i mean.

i also worked a bit on the blue shirted figure at the bottom so that he pops more. he’s the same guy who you see just above him & to his right, but with his shirt, pants and hair painted in.

goodby minotaur in the "minoan celebration"/2014 museum interior /  by Philip Tarlow

minoan celebration, 38x38” oil on linen, as she looked moments ago following the paint-over of the minoan minotaur

1:37 PM: just now i did something you might consider radical, but which is a normal day in the studio for me. i painted over the minoan minotaur, which was the centerpiece of this composition, allowing bits and pieces to appear beneath.

the result, i think, is a composition that’s easier on the eye, and at the same time creates a richer, more painterly surface. the figures that now dominate are inspired by a photo from above, shot years ago in the acropolis museum in athens. the female figures were ancient sculptures standing on the museum floor. and the walking figures are museum visitors. the familiar olaid shirted figure towards the top of the composition needs no introduction for those of you familiar with my work.

BELOW: before (left) and after todays modifications

i discovered this painting this afternoon in the pile of over 100n works that arrived from houston last week. they were all housed in the former gremillion gallery and in a storage facility that the gallery rented.

it will be a while before i can organize and catalogue the paintings. this afternoon i looked through one of the stacks of smaller works in oil on linen. this one is 16x16” and was painted in october, 2014. the subject is the interior of MOMA in NYC.

i brought it back to the house just now and hung it on a wall opposite our bed. the true test of any painting is to be able to gaze at it over time, at all hours and in different light. right now, it looks pretty cool!

in a way, this one reveals some of my core coloristic and compositional tendencies.

MOMA Interior, 16x16” oil on linen, 2014

"minoan celebration" day 3 /  by Philip Tarlow

minoan celebration, 38x38” as she looked at the end of my painting day today.

3:57 PM: i got a bit of a late start today, resuming work on minoan celebration at about noon. the minoan inspired bull’s head has gone through many transfromations; yesterdays version needed to have less intensity, as it was grabbing your eye when you looked at the composition. it’s better, but not quite there yet.

there was a point earlier when i whited over it completely, and whn i scrpaed away most of the white, it reduced the intensity and brought it more in harmony with the rest of the composition. i also modified the grey to the left of the bull’s head as well as introducing some of the square patterning we see on the right. at the very last minute, before cleaning my brushes, i introduced the light blue you see just to the right of the bull’s nostrils.

BELOW: yesterdays version is on the left

"minoan celebration" day 2 /  by Philip Tarlow

3:33 PM: this is minoan celebration at the end of my painting day today

1:58 PM: inspired by a minoan themed series of paintings i made a decade ago, i introduced this bulls head into the composition today.

STARTING "minoan CELEBRATION" /  by Philip Tarlow

minoan celebration, 38x38” as she looked at the end of my painting day today

3:16 PM: minoan celebratoin, which i started work on a few hours ago, to be continued tomorrow.

2:09 PM: a little while ago, after a wild monsoonal thunderstorm this morning, i cut a 38x38” canvas and began work on minoan celebration. it’s just a brush drawing in dark grey for the moment.

here’s a short video i shot of this mornings monsoonal downpour, with strong winds, rain & hail.

the morning monsoonal downpour from my studio

1 more salida drawing from yesterdays trip /  by Philip Tarlow

river surfers in salida yesterday

10:43 am: here’s one more final drawing i made while waiting for my annual knee shots in the doctors waiting room in salida yesterday. this guy kept crossing & uncrossing his arms & legs, but i managed to complete the drawing nonetheless.

there were a bunch of guys with surfboards attached to one leg who were jumping into the roiling water and remaining upright until a string wave flipped them. then they swam to the shore and did it again.

today's salida drawings /  by Philip Tarlow

6:46 PM: we were in salida ll day for medical appointments. we had 4 hours between the 2 appointments, so we went down to the river, where i made some sketches of river surfboarders with colored pencils and watercolor, plus a few sketches in the waiting room of the doctors office.

a piece of "roiling creek" /  by Philip Tarlow

2:04 PM: roiling creek is a recent 40x46” painting i considered unsuccessful. this morning a cut off 2 pieces i found interesting, and this is one of them. i’ll probably mount it on board at some point, since it doesn’t have room on the edges for stretching.

celebration XIII rubbed over & painted into as a creek-scape /  by Philip Tarlow

celebration XIII 30x34”, as it looked moments ago

2:22 PM: there was way too much going on in the central portion of the composition, so i simplified it, and in the process it became a more dramatic painting, with the reflection of the aspens in the background becoming the focus of attention. i’m going to stop here & see how i feel in the morning.

BELOW: three phases of the painting today

celebration XIII as it looked moments ago

1:32 PM: after whiting over the 11:36 am version you see below, i behan painting into it as a creek-scape. it’s not there yet, but as always, it will progress and it’s been interesting making this shift.

celebration XIII, 30x34” as it looked following my scrub-over this morning

11:36 AM: when i encountered the painting this morning, it looked way too dark, way too busy and just not me.

so my first impulse was to take a break from painting in oils and start a new watercolor/gouache, series, which i still may do. but i had to get rid of all that harsh business, so i scrubbed it down with solvent. here’s how it looks post-scrub, and i’m contemplating going over it with a thin layer of white, allowing some of this to show through. if so, i’ll post later.

celebration Xlll continued /  by Philip Tarlow

celebration XIII as it looked at the end of my painting day today

3:47 pm: i continued work today on celebration XIII, which is unrecognizable from yesterdays version. i went into the pinks, making some richer than others, added some bubble wrap textures, also in pink, and the green palms inspired by shots of mikela i took from above a while back. the lower half of the composition has a black charcoal drawing of a bar scene, inspired by a b&w photo i have in my collection. i’m stopping here for the day.