"legs crossed" /  by Philip Tarlow

2:12 PM: i decided not to do anything further to yesterday’s bathing, so i started a new one, titled legs crossed. it was inspired by some of the same sources as bathing; just as vibrant but more of an abstract composition.

legs crossed, 11 1/2 x 14 1/2” watercolor, cored pencil & collage on bristol paper

"BATHING" day 1 /  by Philip Tarlow

2;36 PM: this morning in the studio i scrunged about, waiting for directions from …….and finally at about 12:30 i cut a piece of bristol paper into quarters, so each piece is 11 1/2 x 14 1/2” and began a colored pencil drawing, which evolved into what you see here & will be continued tomorrow. the bit of sky on top is collaged and the rest is in colored pencil & watercolor. i stopped because i prefer to work in natural light & it’s gotten very dark, with a threatening sky, but also because i was running out of steam. so as soon as i post this i’ll walk back over to the house, as mikela has the car today.

bathing, 11 1/2x14 1/2” watercolor & collage on bristol paper

reorganizing the south studio wall / "le rélage" 2022 /  by Philip Tarlow

3:38 PM: this is a small oil on linen, 17x21 1/4”, titled le rélage, which is french for the adjustment. these 3 guys were working on the entryway area of our house in 2022. we’re able to go up the stairs and see them form above; my favorite angle, so i photographed them and, while the memory was fresh, made this little painting, which now hangs in my studio.

today i reorganized my south studio wall. I hung recently stretched new paintings. i have a few more, but i’ll need a tall ladder to hang them just above these.

le rélage, 2022, oil on linen

my newly organized south studio wall

"3/17/25 ano kato" stretched / tweaks to "afternoon moonlight" /  by Philip Tarlow

2:23 PM: today i used my newly ordered stratcher bars to stretch 3/17/25 ano kato, 32x38”, oil on portrait linen. as is true for all the other paintings from my south studio wall i’ve recently stretched, it has gained tremendously now that the surrounding white canvas is gone. the dancing figure is from a performance by the netherlands-based dance collective CDK.

i made a slight tweak to afternoon moonlight, 42x18” oil on portrait linen. the central leaf is now a light green, which pops more.

BELOW: afternoon moonlight before (left) & after today’s tweaks

3/17/25 ano kato, 36x32”, oil on portrait linen

"afternoon moonlight" does a backflip /  by Philip Tarlow

12:04 PM: this morning i was in an interesting mood. i took one look at the pale, tentative afternoon moonlight of yesterday and knew something dramatic was brewing.

indeed it was! i flipped the canvas upside down and began a brand new composition, inspired once again by a photo i shot from above in 2022 of mikela watering the plants. having made numerous variations on this theme, i knew the moves and thus was able to put my attention on the energy and painted non stop until just a few minutes ago. as often happens, the underlying image, what little remains of it, contributes hugely to the success (my opinion) of this new afternoon moonlight.

never give up. trust your gut. and have fun!

afternoon moonlight, 42x18” oil on portrait linen

"afternoon moonlight" day 3 /  by Philip Tarlow

12:23 PM: more work this morning on the 2 figures in afternoon moonlight. not yet sure whether i prefer yesterday’s more sketchy version, so i’ll keep looking at it on my East studio wall.

afternoon moonlight, 42x18” oil on ortrait linen

"afternoon moonlight," day 2 /  by Philip Tarlow

afternoon moonlight, 42x18” as she looked moments ago

2:37 PM: since my 12:34 post, afternoon moonlight has radically transformed. what i had done this morning has been scrubbed out, leaving only faint traces, and 3 familiar figures have appeared on the glass floor of the musuem. the look & feel of the compositin is now more in alignment with what i’ve been doing over the past year, leaving lots of white or in this case off white space so that the painting and the viewer can breathe deeply.

every new painting is an adventure, a journey with destinaation unknown. over recent months, as i’ve said, a menagerie of figures, mostly viewed from above, populate the journey. this couple are players in that journey. they are integrated into an architectural compositiokn; in this case the glass floor of a contemporary museum, gazing at works of art while themselves are unwittingly the subject of such a work.

12:34 PM: afternoon moonlight, 42x18” has jumped from a rough sketch yesterday to an almost (?) complete painiting at noon today. i forgot all about my molar/gum pain as i immersed myself in this new one.

it has gone further than i expected today, and i ran out of steam about an hour ago, so now i’m gazing at it to determine what, if anything is next.

afternoon moonlight, 42x18”, oil on portrait linen

“Luck and Magic” stretched / “afternoon moonlight,” day 1 /  by Philip Tarlow

luck and magic, 32x38” oil and collage on portrait linen

afternoon moonlight, 42×18” on day 1

12:59 PM: this morning i stretched luck and magic, 32x38” which was completed april 7th of this year. it’s one of the more dynmaic paintings in this series. the two figures: the guy in blue doing a dance move and the guy with the checkerboard patterned sleeve doing a handstand have an unexpected (for me) relationship. the figure in blue seems to be observing the handstand figure with awe. they are interdependent.

the painterly brush strokes provide the figues an environment mirroring their movement; free and spontaneous.

late this afternoon i started `afternoon moonlight, 42x18”. it’s just a drawing with a few colors in crayon & pastel for now, and will evolve further tomorrow morning. it’s inspired by photos i shot this past tuesday while having dinner in salida.