"Fish Wish," 27x28" /  by Philip Tarlow

3:13 PM: i took out one of the four goldfish & a bit of the black surrounding the watering can, so that your eye goes to the green watering can rather than the black that was beneath it.

fish wish, 28×28” oil on portrait linen, as she looked moments ago, after the introduction of the figure watering

2:32 PM: a few moments ago, a figure entered the picture: mikela watering our plants in the entryway. she gives the composition new energy. she has appeared many times in previous compositions.

fish wish, 27x28” oil on portrait linen, as she looked at 9am this morning

9:01 PM: i started a painting in oil on portrait linen yesterday. it was a busy day; mikela and i moved paintings out of my storage space in preparation for the new shelving that was to be installed today. as it turns out, our installer texted that he wasn’t feeling well this morning….in any event, amidst all the trumoil yesterday, i was able to start this painting, but was unable to take it any further than a rough sketch.

so this morning, i got an early start, up at 4 and in the studio doing my morning meditation when it was still dark, at abour 6am. i had some matcha tea and got right to work, moving rapidly, taking advantage of my early morning energy, which i knew wouldn’t last more than a few hours. i was in a good place, and i just painted without too much planning or thinking about next steps.

i tried out my new tube of galkyd lite gel, which is meant to replace my neo megilp medium, which is no longer being made. it worked like a charm, and fish wish was born.

"Ellas" tweaked yet again! /  by Philip Tarlow

3:57 PM: the figure in the upper portion of the composition wasn’t quite cutting it, so i whited over it and created a new figure more in alignment with earlier versoins of this composiiton. i won’t know till tomorrow whether or not she sings, so stay tuned. i have an A.M. dental appointment, so i’ll post in the afternoon.

Ellas, 60x34” oil on portrait linen, ashe looked just now

"Ellas" resolved today /  by Philip Tarlow

Ellas, 64x30” oil on extra-fine portrait linen

DETAIL of Ellas, 64x30” oil on xtra-fine portrait linen, as she looked following today’s work

12:58 PM: today turned out to be a pivotal day for Ellas. yesterday i painted over the female figure at the top and instead added the green leaves of a potted plants. that didn’t work at all, as we both observed when we checked it out this morning.

the green leaves were still fresh, so i was able to rub them out this morning using a solvent, revealing the female figure below, which i refined once i had taken out the greens.

“Ellas” / "Table This" /  by Philip Tarlow

3:44 PM: i made significant changes to Ellas today but lost my post about those as a result of my macbook pro acting up again. so i’ll try to recreate the post later when i go back to the house.

10:41 AM: i started this watercolor/collage last week but yesterday when i glanced at it, there was a bit more to be done. so yesterday i added collage to the chair on the lower right and that was all it needed, other than a title, which mikela suggested could be table this. and so it is.

table this, 10/11/25, 16x15” watercolor & collage on paper

"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