9/5/25 watercolor/collage is now watercolor-oil/collage / starting "you-ess open" /  by Philip Tarlow

2:07 PM: i did more work on what was 9/5/2025 watercolor/collage, introducing oil colors and giving the figure more definition.

and i started a new oil painting on a 42x16” piece of portrait linen, working from photos i shot of the exciting us open mens final between sinner and alkaraz., who is now #1 in the world.

"you-ess open" 42×16” oil on portrait linen, day 1

9/5/25 watercolor/oil/collage 14 1/2× 11 1/2”

"afternoon moonlight" tweak / preparing for "us open' /  by Philip Tarlow

2:13 PM: this morning i very slightly lightened the dark grey in the bottom center of the painting, so that your eye isn’t drawn there, allowing the rest of the composition to breathe

i captured some of the overhead shots of sabelenka anisimova from yesterday’s us open final, and am preparing to incorporate them into my next painting, or perhaps, series of paintings.

5 shots from yesterday’s us open final

afternoon moonlight, 42x18” oil on portrait linen, tweaked this morning

"9/5/25 watercolor/collage" /  by Philip Tarlow

3:22 PM: i took yesterday’s watercolor to the next level and now it’s 9/5/25 watercolr/collage. the figure of a woman with her legs crossed has appeared in recent works on paper. here she’s more an abstracted element of the overall composition. i just sprayed it with fixative, since it has a fair amount of oil stick.

9/5/25 watercolor/collage, 14 1/2 x 11 1/2”

"9/5/25 watercolor" /  by Philip Tarlow

3:21 PM: this is day 1 of 8/5/25 watercolor. it contains, or will reflect, manmy of the elements i love to paint: mirrors; a byzantine icon; figures multicolored bowls….this is a study, which may become an oil painting later on….

9/5/25 watercolor 14 1/2 x 11 1/2” on day 1

"Salida Creekside" /  by Philip Tarlow

salida creekside, 11 1/2 x 14 1/2” watrecolor on paper, on day 1

2:49 PM: this morning i did a major cleanup of my two joined painting table. together they measure 80x89”. it felt really great to have the entire space cleared, and inspired mt to start a new watercolor this afternoon, which thus far has no collaged elements. it’s titled salida creekside. and is inspired by a series of photos i shot from above a few years back. the little girl in blue sits on a rock by the creek, the upper half of her body interrupting the frame of the mirror.

the upper portion of the composition is inspired by a photo i shot of mikela refelcted in a mirror, taking the piece beyond the creek to an interior; an enigma only possible through painting, where color, composition and drawing rule.

my two joined painting tables post cleanup

view of my north studio wall, with numerous works on paper, mostly recent, except for the view of the baca on the far right. above whhich is a watercolor of the port in mykonos, greece, and the andros landscape on the left and, above that, my (cut off) study of an archile gorky painting

9/1/25 4 works on paper cropped /  by Philip Tarlow

4 recent watercolor/collages cropped, in mats

3:20 PM: i came across some small mats while cleaning up this morning and tried an experiment, using 4 of them to crop 4 recent watercolor/collages. this of course is temporary and all i need to to restore the originals is remove the mats. but it’s definiely an interesting experiment.

BELOW: 2 of the more interesting ones

"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