"Ellas" on day 4 /  by Philip Tarlow

Ellas, 64x30” oil on portrait linen at 2pm

2:04 PM: i worked mostly on the lower portion of the composition over the past few hours, although i did add arms to the female figure at the top. slowly is holy, especially in a delicately balanced compostion such as this. i need to do a bit more to the area just beneath the upper figure to unite it with the rest of the composition. but, as much as ossible, i’d like to maintain the simplicity and spareness, allowing the viewer space to invent the rest.

11:55 AM: got bored doing roughly the same composition as the two earlier versions of this composition, so i switched it up and am drawing form a number of different photos i shot from above over the last few years.

Ellas, 64x30” oil on portrait linen, at noon today

"Ellas" on day 3 /  by Philip Tarlow

Ellas, 64x30” oil on xtra fine portrait linen, as she looked at the end of my painting day today

1:26 PM: yesterday’s ellas was whited over and a new composition has been created, which is a version of earlier paintings. my intention is to keep it very spare, so i’m proceeding slowly and carefully.

"Ellas" on day 2 /  by Philip Tarlow

2 PM: i took Ellas to the next level. still a lot to do, but now we get a sense of what the composition as a whole will look like once completed.

we now see the greek flag on the right, with an icon featuring an image of christ.

in a way, one could say that this painting is a distillation of my 15 years living in greece; filtered through the intervening 48 years and colored perhaps by the recent visit of my son dimitri with his family and the memories it stirred up.

although i am jewish by birth and have many memories of being in synagogue with my dad, my experiences with the greek orthodox tradition: my deep connection with the construction workers i painted during that period, my visit to mt. athos and my numerous visits to the byzantine museum in athens have cultivated a deep connection.

i can’t recall when or where i shot the 3 collaged photos i’m using for this painting, but when i came across them a few days ago, they struck a chord.

Ellas, 64x30” oil on xtra-fine portrait linen at 2pm

ELLAS 64X30” / "SEATED WOMAN" /  by Philip Tarlow

4PM: this afternoon i started a new painting in oil on portrait linen. i began work on the lower portion of the composition, and will continue tomorrow, moving up the canvas, when it will become clearer what the natur eof this painting is and why it’s titled Ellas.

seated woman, (cropped) 6x5.75” watercolor & collage on paper

11:41 AM: this watercolor collage was created a month ago. today i was inspired to crop it, using a cardboard passepartout that was floating around my studio. i’ll leave it sitting in this little frame for a few days and then make my decision as to whether or not to separate it from the larger 16x15” composition.

on the RIGHT: the original, uncropped version

"taiko #8" /  by Philip Tarlow

3:05 PM: inspired by my grandson philip’s watercolor of a taiko drummer, from a photo i shot a few days ago, i started a 56x28” oil on linen, titled taiko#8.

Philip Tarlow-Taiko Drummer, 12.5x9.25” watercolor on paper

taiko #8 56x28”, oil on linen, on day 1

MOMA 1 /  by Philip Tarlow

10:51 AM; moma 1, 60x60” oil on linen was created in 2020 and currently hangs in my studo. i’d like to donate it to MOMA in NYC, but when i researched the process of donating a work of art to the museum it seemed too complicated. i’d like to contact a friend in NYC who could help me with the process, so i may send these images to them and see….

the creek on 9/3025 /  by Philip Tarlow

a cropped photo i shot on 9/30/25 of the creek, which may become a painting soon

3:47 PM: this past tuesday we went for a walk up the creek with my son and his family. i shot a photo with the beautiful light we had that day, and just now cropped it. i think this may be the inspiration for a new painting, probably oil on linen, which i may start in a few days.

10/2/25 watercolor/collage /  by Philip Tarlow

2:07 PM: this afternoon, i decided to panit over an older one. i can’t figure out which one it was, so it’s renamed 10/2/25 watercolor/collage. the main figure is one of the two paddlers i photographed last year from a bridge above the river in alamosa. it helps being familiar with the figure from previous paintings, so it’s a stronder presence than the figures that appear in recent watercolor/collages. so they may well be subject to revision as well in the coming days. my son dimitri and family will be here for another 2 days, which means i’ll likely be working after they leave the studio, where they visit in the morning and little filio makes her compositions using my watercolors and pieces of collaged weeds she gets from just outside the studio.

10/2/25 watercolor/collage 14.5x10.5” on bristol paper

10/1/25 playground drawing /  by Philip Tarlow

the salida playground with figure, 6x8.5” 10/1/25, colored pencil on paper

8:29 AM: my son Dimitri and his family are visiting from Athens, Greece for a week. yesterday we went to the playground in salida, where filio, who is just turning 4, loved the playground. while she was playing, i sat and made this 6x8.5” drawing.