"8/11/25 collage" tweaked again today / 8/13/25 collage /  by Philip Tarlow

8/11/25 collage, 12x14” on bristol, as it looked following this morning’s tweaks

1:08 PM: yesterdays tweaks to 8/11/2025 collage still wasn’t doing it for me, so i continued work this morning. the red top on the female figure to the right seemed too dominant, the face on the right too distracting and the area to he left too busy. so now, from about 18 feet, it seems more coherent as a composition, and less descriptive.

BELOW: yesterdays version is on the left

3:33 PM: after tweaking the 8/11/25 collage, i made 8/13/25 collage, which is 8 1/4 x 4 3/4” and is complete.

8/13/25 collage, 8 1/4 x 4 3/4”

"8/11/2025 collage" tweaked today /  by Philip Tarlow

8/11/25 collage 12x14” on strathmore bristol, as it looked moments ago, after adding the shadows beneath their feet

BELOW: before (left) and after today’s tweaks

1:43 PM: when i brought 8/11/2025 collage to the house yesterday, mikela and i gazed at it and her always sharp eye focused in on the dark area between the heads of the couple and found it too dark, distracting from the flow of the composition. so i worked on correcting that this morning, as well as adding a highlight to the red garment of the female figure. as well, collaging a blue strip of color on the right, balancing out the upper & lower blue strips. blue gouache with tiny white dots was added between the couple, which in tlhe original photo i was inspired by, was a blue glass floor. lastly, beneath their feet a violet shadow has appeared which, if you could see the actual collage, plants the couple, who were kinda floating, on terra firma!

10 more drawings / 8/11/25 collage /  by Philip Tarlow

yesterday i posted 12 drawings made over the past 50 years. here are 10 nore

8/11/25 collage, 12x14” on strathmore bristol

1:21 PM: today i made a new 12x14” collage on strathmore bristol paper. it reached a point about an hour ago where it became far too busy; something that happens often and i should, by this time, be used to. but obviously, i’m not!

so this time when it reached that point, i was inspired to take a piece of 8.5x11 paper and make a drawing of one of my favorite images. it’s one that has appeared in many of my recent works, of a couple seen from behind and slightly above. she’s got her arm around him, with her hand on his neck and his arms are folded behind him.

then i cut out the colored pencil drawing, leaving some white space around the two figures, and collaged it to the center of the piece. i was kind of surprised at how beautifully it integrated and looks like the whole collage was made for this couple!

right now i’m thinking i won’t do any more work, take it over to the house and see how it holds up in the company of the other recent work. i’m feeling that i’m just now discovering my own version of abstract realism that coincides with the nature of my personality as much as with my mark making.

The preparatory marks in black & white and colored ink that i make and then cut into pieces before i start a new collage play a vital role. the variety of marks; some made with bambool pen, others with various size fan brushes, give me an array of possibilities. where and when i collage them is purely a gut feeling, taking into account the entire composition but without plotting and planning.

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.