taiko, day 2 /  by Philip Tarlow

taiko, 22 1/2x30” as she looked at the end of my painting day today

2:19 PM: a few years back, there was a taiko drumming performance here. i shot a lot of photos, some of which are serving as inspiration. it’s been a while since i worked in watercolor, a medium i love a lot.

this was originally going to be 6 vertical pieces, each 6” wide. but it’s now turning out that way, so it’s looking like it may turn out to be one painting, 22 1/2 x 30” you can’t really paint over anything you’ve done, as you can with oil or acryllic, so what you see now will remain. i may however decide to use gouache in some areas….we’ll see. this arches watercolor paper is a very sensitive surface and takes the paint really well.

STarTING THE TAIKO SERIES / walking stick corner /  by Philip Tarlow

2:46 PM: THIS AFTERNOON I STARTED what is to become the taiko series of 7 watercolor/gouache paintings, each of whic is 22x6” on arches watercolor paper. stay tuned!

12:55 PM: the rolls of canvas i order come in 85” long cardboard tubes, which, over time had accumulated in a corner of my studio. there were a lot of them, and as i’m currently in cleanup/organizing mode, i found someone to take them to the trash. in their place, i created a waking stick corner, with a number of walking sticks i’ve gathered over time. i decorated some and left others in their original state.

so i arranged them in the corner where the cardboard tubes had been along with a watercolor-gouache of a skateboarder.

pt paints plein air /  by Philip Tarlow

pt paints plein air,12/13/24, watercolor on stonehenge cream paper, 6×7 3/4”

1:52 PM: a small watercolor using my last stonehenge cream watercolor block, purchased during the period when i was living & panting in my studio on central park west, in the ‘80’s.

12-13-24 PT paints plein air-2, watercolor on stonehenge cream paper, 6×7 3/4”

“cobble” on day 4, 9/21/08 creek watercolor /  by Philip Tarlow

cobble, 32x38” oil & collage on linen, as she looked moments ago following intensive collaging

12:31 PM: i’ve been going to sleep pretty early and getting up earlier and earlier. today i was up at 3 am and am still going strong! so i resumed work on cobble, with which i wasn’t too happy about following my last round of work. so here’s how she looked moments ago, following some collaging and the introduction of black in the upper quadrant.

9/21/08 11:40 am creek watercolor, 3 1/2x11”

9:47 AM: i was doing some cleanup in my studio and came across this plein air creek watercolor from 2008, which i’m now posting.

PLANET WILD VIDEO / wobble completed / cobble-day 2 /  by Philip Tarlow

cobble, 32x38 oil on linen, as she looked moments ago

11:40 AM: yesterday afternoon i made my final adjustments to wobble, which is now a completed painting.

this morning, i continued work of day 2 of cobble, which has the same dimensions as wobble: 32x38” and incorporates some of the same dancing figures, as well as the plaid shirted walking figure who appears in many recent paintings. i started out with drawings; some in oil pastel or crayon, graduating to oils. then i began adding grey, green and yellow surrounding the figures and the hints of creekscape. everything was then scraped over with a large palette knife, creating unexpected and unplanned swishes of color.

this is a 12 minute youtube video mikela sent me to watch this morning, i highly recommend watching it! https://youtu.be/m_SzuUHXP1M?si=sDA2ObStK-6Q6chS

wobble, 32x38” oil on linen, completed

continued work on "wobble" / starting “cobble” /  by Philip Tarlow

cobble, 32x38” oil on linen, on day one.

3:30 PM: this afternoon, after completing revisions of wobble, i launched into a companion piece: cobble. it’s a drawing in oil right now, and i’ll take it further tomorrow, wednesday…or is it cobbleday?

wobble, 38x32” oil on linen, as she looked following this morning’s modifications

1:01 PM: i received some excellent and very perceptive feedback this morning, which helped me to make some critical modifications to wobble this morning. i slightgly lightened the greys in the central portion of the composition and made important changes to the figure of th emale dancer in the upper right.

i finally feel ready to move on to a new paining, which will have the same dimensions as wobble: 38x32”

"wobble" on day 5 /  by Philip Tarlow

wobble, 38×32” oil on linen, following a late afternoon scraping.

the version before my late afternoon scraping is on the LEFT

4:19 PM: after returning to the house in the snow, i realized i had to go BACK to my studio in order to lighten what i did earlier.

wobble, 38x32” oil on linen, following the introduction of warm grey this morning

12:07 PM: big changes today, after introducing a warm grey which now envelopes all the figures as well as tweaks to the 3 dancers on the bottom

BELOW: yesterday’s version is on the left

"wobble" on day 4 /  by Philip Tarlow

wobble, 32x38”, oil on linen as she looked following the introduction of a new dancer in the upper right

3:18 PM: today i added a dancing figure in pink, surrounded by green, on the upper right corner of the composition. at the moment, galcing at it from about 25 feet, it works; meaning that it enlivens and enriches the painting.

"wobble" on day 3 /  by Philip Tarlow

wobble, 32x38” oil on linen, as she looked after taking out a lot of what i did today. scroll down to see the earlier version.

on second thought……before leaving for the day and while the paint was still fresh, i took out a lot of what i did today, and i think it’s a better painting now. still more to do tomoorow though…

wobble, 38x32” oil on linen, as she looked at the end of my painitng day today

2:43 PM: i continued work on wobble today. i may have done too much & might need to take some out tomorrow. i’ll know when i come in tomorrow morning.