a selection of 12 drawings from my collection /  by Philip Tarlow

10:25 AM: i was going through some of my sketchbooks this morning and selected twelve drawings to post on my blog. there are many many more, but this is a start, which perhaps will develop into a book of my drawings. whenever we travel, locally or internationally, i always have my drawing materials.

in this representative selection, you’ll see everything from the drawing i made in 1976 of my then mother-in-law, the greek painter niki karagatsi, to drawings made in museums here & in Europe, to drawings made in a hospital waiting room, to drawings made on the subway.

they span a 50 year period; the most recent drawing, on the lower right, was made just 4 days ago at cottonwood creek, a few miles from our house.

8/9/25 collage /  by Philip Tarlow

8/9/25 collage, 16x20” on strathmore bristol as she looked at the end of my painting day

4PM: i started this collage at 11am. i spent the first hour making lots of fan brush gestural marks on white paper, then cutting them up to use in the collage. i had lots of printouts of photos i’ve shot over time to cut up and use as well. there’s even a piece of a UPS label!

i worked on it till just a few minutes ago. i collaged over many areas, some of which had very cool passages, but they just had to be sacrificed for the sake of the whole composition.

so here’s where she’s at now; i think i’ll leave her be for now and start something new tomorrow.

bathers at piso yialia, andros, 2007-10 /  by Philip Tarlow

11:54 AM: i painted this small oil on canvas, 18 1/2 x 53/4”, in 2007 and made some tweaks to the figurtes in 2010. it wsa painted following a summer trip to greece, with a stay in andros, where we swam at piso yialia beach and i took photos of bathers, which i used to make this painting. i had originally included the rocks behind them, but later decided that these two figures needed to stand out against a dark grey background.

this afternoon i started work on a new 38x14” painting as yet untitled.

DETAIL of bathers at piso yialia, 2007-10 oil on canvas 18 1/2 x 5 3/4”

colors & collage added to 8/5/25 creek #1 and 8/5/25 creek #2 /  by Philip Tarlow

1:26 PM: i never imagined i’d go back into any of these creek drawings. this morning i had the inspiratoin to add some colored pencil to 8/5/25 creek #1, and, before i knew it, i was adding a few collaged elements as well. here are the before & after photos. if you click on the images, they will become full page and you can go back & forth between the two by clicking on the right arrow beside the image.

BELOW TOP ROW: 8/5/25 creek #1, BOTTOM ROW: 8/5/25 creek #2

8/6 creek draiwngs 1&2 /  by Philip Tarlow

2:32 PM: today i decided to go to a diffent sit than yesterday to make a couple of creek draiwngs. i went behing elephant cloud up the road to where the camgrounds are. each of the campground sites has it’s own parking (just a small dirt driveway) with a path leading down to the creek. there are many more places to set up my little folding table & 3 legged stool, with some very cool views of the rocky creek.

i made two drawings and, unlike yesterday added some color with a few colored pencils. both drawings are simpler than yesterday’s, especially the second one, which has lots of space and allows the viewer to fill it in. i think it’s the best one yet, and i plan on going out again for at least the next few days.

8/6/25 creek #2, 21x5 1/2” india ink on bristol paper

8/6/25 creek #1, 21x5 1/2” india ink on bristol paper

8/5/25 creek 1&2 /  by Philip Tarlow

2:05 PM: at noon i went back up to that same spot on cottonwood creekwhere i made the b&w quill drawing 2 days ago. it’s a place i know well, having made quite a few watercolors, gouaches & oil there in the recent past. i was much better organized than on the 3rd, making it easier to do what i needed in order to make these drawings woithout struggling with the logistics. i used something from the packaging of the replacement printer i received last week, which looked like this once i re-purposed it.

re-purposed packaging from epson printer

in the first ink drawing, you can see how i’m searching for the right marks, whereas in the second one, i’ve found the marks and clarified where i wanted to go with the composition, giving more emphasis to the central area and fewer shadows and detailed patterning below.it’s this second version that will likely be the basis of the oil on linen i’ll be doing tomorrow.

8/5/25 creek #1, 21x5 1/2” india ink on bristol paper

8/5/25 creek #2, 21x5 1/2” india ink on bristol paper

cottonwood creek B&W /  by Philip Tarlow

8/3/25 drawing of cottonwood creek, 5x21”, ink on bristol paper

8/3/25 cottonwood creek, 22 1/4 x 80” oil on portrait linen

3:06 PM: this morning i drove up to cottonwood creek with my quill pens, black ink and 5x21” bristol paper taped to board. i hadn’t been up there to paint in over a year, maybe two. i accidently dropped my stuff in the creek, and the lid on my bottle of black ink wasn’t screwed on tightly, so it spilled all over the place.

nonetheless, i managed to make a drawing, which i brought back to the studio and, at mikela’s request, turned into a 22 1/4x80” black & white oil drawing, on portrait linen. once it dries and is stretched, mikela has found the perfect wall in our house.

7/31/25 collage completed / a very interesting article on Kos /  by Philip Tarlow

7/31/25 collage, 14x18” on bristol

BELOW: 7/31/25 COLLAGE yesterday (left) and at the end of my painting day today

BELOW: 7/29/25 COLLAGE as it looked on 7/29 (left) and following today’s changes

1:59 PM: i worked on yesterday’s 7/31/25 collage and completed it, rtaher elegantly i’d say. and i also simplified and improved 7/29/25 collage, which retained some of the more successful elements fropm the previous verson and getting more white space, allowing the entire composition to breathe deeply.

Japan’s Quiet Rebellion Against Growth: Instead of striving for more, Japan simply chose less

Something strange is happening in Japan—not with its politics or its technology, but with its spirit. Quietly and without fanfare, the country appears to be opting out of the global race for growth. Its economy is stagnant, its birth rate declining, its appetite for innovation dulled. But more striking than the numbers is the cultural shift behind them. Young Japanese are not merely failing to strive—they are choosing not to.

They are working fewer hours, skipping promotions, and living modestly. They are renting instead of buying, saving rather than investing, and increasingly uninterested in romantic or sexual relationships. To Western economists, this is deeply troubling. To politicians, it’s a puzzle. To the people living it—it may not be a problem at all.

What if this isn’t economic malaise, but existential clarity?

The American Dream, like the postwar Japanese dream, has long equated freedom with consumption. But freedom might also mean the ability to stop consuming, to step off the treadmill without shame, and to find dignity in simplicity.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/7/31/2336178/-Japan-s-Quiet-Rebellion-Against-Growth-Instead-of-striving-for-more-Japan-simply-chose-less?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web

7/31/25 COLLAGE /  by Philip Tarlow

7/31/25 collage, 14x18” on strathmore bristol, as she looked at the end of my painting day today.

1:51 PM: i started a new collage this morning: 7/31/25 collage,” 14x18” on strathmore bristol. gotta stop early because we have a meeting to attend this afternoon. more tomorrow…

7/30/25 COLLAGE /  by Philip Tarlow

7/30/25 collage, 14x18” on strathmore 500 bristol paper as it looked moments ago

3:39 PM: today i decided to make a larger collage, 14x18” on bristol.. i’ve been working on it most of the day. i wanted it to have more white space to breathe than yesterday’s, and so far i’ve accomplished that. i could possibly leave it in the current state; tomorrow will tell the story.