luck and magic, 32x38", day 1 /  by Philip Tarlow

luck and magic, 38x32” oil on portrait linen, as she looked at the end of day 1

3PM: having completed feeling worldly yesterday, i started a new painting titled luck and magic, 38x32”. i like painitng on this portrait linen, especially when it’s unstretched and tacked to the wall. i’ve stopped deliniating the 38x32” bounds in pencil, as i’ve always done; i like the feeling of an unbounded surface and i know from experience where the borders are. if a fraction of an inch gets cut out when it’s stretched, so what?

this super fine portrait linen, as i’ve said before, takes the paint like magic, thus playing a significant role. i’ll continue work on this one tomorrow, and i’ve tacked a second canvas with the same dimensions right next to it, so i can go back & forth if i’m feeling stuck.

working in watercolor on small pieces for my exhibition in greece this summer kind of loosened me up, which i think shows in this forst day of work on luck and magic.

feeling worldly becomes a creekscape /  by Philip Tarlow

feeling worldly, 32x38” oil & collage on portrait linen, as she looked at the end of my painting day today

2:38 PM: today i painted over feeling worldly and created a creekscape, inspired by the numerous printouts of photos i’ve taken over time. so i know each rock as thought it were an old friend, which it is! my energy ran out about half hour ago, so i’m stopping for the day, and i’ll see how i feel about it tomorrow.

rework of "feeling worldly" /  by Philip Tarlow

feeling worldly, 32x38” oil & collage on portrait linen, as she looked following a rework still in progress

2:02 PM: i’ve been gazing on and off at feeling worldly on my studio wall since i completed it, on february 19. it wasn’t working for me and, as mikela commented a few days ago, it had no center and your eye kept wandering aimlessly.

so i decided today, after whiting over yesterday’s mamiko and erasing it from my blog post, to go back into it. so here’s where it’s at at 2:08pm, with ever darkening skies and high winds.

BELOW: before & after today’s rework

sotiris spatharis ii / 2/15/25 collage updated /  by Philip Tarlow

sotiris spatharis II, 11x7” watercolor on arches paper

1:23 PM: sotiris spatharis ii, day 3; this is the completed watercolor.

i made some modifications to the february 15 untitled collage. essentially, it’s a new collage, with very little remaining of the original. BELOW: the BEFORE (left) and AFTER

“sotiris spatharis” day 1 / "bather at yialia" day 2 /  by Philip Tarlow

sotiris spatharis, 11 1/4 x 7 1/4” watercolor on arches paper, day 1

3:26 PM: in the late ‘60’s in athens, i met the great karaghiozis shadow puppeteer, sotiris spatharis. he took me to his athens workshop and we chatted while he worked on creating new figures. i shot quite a few photos of him, and today i was overwhelmed with the desire to make a painting. it’s a watercolor, 11 1/4x 7 1/4”, which i’ll continue work on tomorrow.

bather at yialia beach, 7 1/4 x 11 1/4” watercolor on arches watercolor paper

11:04 AM: this morning i got an early start and completed my new watercolor, bather at yialia beach, 7 1/4x 11 1/4”

judith aller plays Paganini / day 1 of “bather at yialia” /  by Philip Tarlow

day 1 of bather at yialai beach, 7 1/4x11 1/4” watercolor on arches watercolor paper

today i started a new watercolor for my summer exhibition in andros, of a nude bather on a rock at piso yialia beach on the island of andros. here’s how it looks on day one.

3:17 PM: i have a wonderful new friend, violinist judith aller. she found me online, and knew my Dad, about whom she had wonderful stories; things i never knew. we had a long call yesterday. here she is playin paganini. https://youtu.be/XgUPq5Ald94?si=rISYhdSRLOJ7TVeP