“LB INTERIOR"/ View from Stavropeda," 2001/ 1/1026 watercolor/collage tweaked /  by Philip Tarlow

3:41PM: i painted over an older 56x12” canvas that has been whited out, with the subject being the interior of a friend’s appartment in nyc. i created a 28x11” photo collage years ago, before internet, and worked from that. i’ll continue tomorrow morning.

View from Stavropeda, 2001, 10.75x33” gouache on spekletone kraft paper whiloe sitting in my car.

11:06 AM: another painting from my storage room, titled view from stavropeda, painted on site in 2001 on Andros, Greece. this one was painted while sitting in my car, often during strong meltemi winds, which blow frequently during the summer months.

a good friend pointed out that the upper portion of 1/10/2026 watercolor/collage was too heavy, so i tweaked it. here’s the before & after:

"the musician" updated / "1/12/26 collage" tweaked /  by Philip Tarlow

12:34 PM: the upper left rectangle in the musician was bugging us both. i whited over it and, once the oil paint dries, i may go back in with a drawing perhaps of a walking female figure but more sketchy, akin to the drawing of the musician’s legs.

what you see BELOW are the before and after photos. once the white oil dries, i’ll see what if anything needs to happen on the upper left, but it’s definitely improved…

the piano room , 1997 /  by Philip Tarlow

the piano room, 25x20.5” oil on linen

12:36 PM: i came across this painting this morning in my storage room. it was painted in 1997 and measures 25x20.5” oil on linen. as you can see, over time it has suffered numerous scratches, which i plan on repairing today. the setting is the living room in the home of two dear friends in the netherlands, situated on one of the many canals. the standing figure is mikela and the other two are friends who were with us on this trip.

1/12/26 collage, 11x13 1/2” / sunset /  by Philip Tarlow

1/12/26 collage, 11x13 1/2” on strathmore bristol, as she looked at 1:45 PM following numerous tweaks

11:04 AM: so this morning i continued work on 1/12/26 collage, which measures 11x13 1/2”. not much remains of how it looked yesterday (surprise, surprise!) and it seems to me way improved. abstraction is always tricky in art. the casual observer may imagine eeverything is arbitrary, but the oppositen is actually true. since you’re not attached to a realist view, every mark, every collaged bit is absolutely essential to the composition as a whole.

so who would spend so much time on a 11 x 13 1/3” collage? look no further!

another gorgeous sunset here in crestone.

1/12/26 collage, day 1 /  by Philip Tarlow

11:50 AM: i started a new 11x13 1/2” collage today, and i’ll have to continue tomorrow since we have to leave for doctors appointments soon.

1/12/26 collage, 11x13 1/2” on strathmore bristol, as she looked moments ago….still working

1/11/26 collage /  by Philip Tarlow

1/11/26 collage, 6 1/2 x 14 1/4” on strathmore 300 bristol

2:16 PM: today i made another collage. i’m now calling them collages rather than watercolor/gouache collages. they give me great joy to make, so i’ll continue, probably making one a day for as long as the energy is with me.

1/10/26 watercolor/gouache/collage /  by Philip Tarlow

1/10/26 watercolor/gouache, 14.25x5” on strathmore 300 bristol paper.

1:31 PM: i felt a lot like going back to smaller works on paper, so this morning i made a 14 1/4x 5”watercolor/gouache/collage/colored pencil.

i love making small works on paper. i have a box full of cut up drawings & marks, maps, pieces of magazine articles, etc. i allow my instict to take over, frequently collaging over areas that have become too busy and always allowing lots of white space. the squares and rectangles in the composition are the result of my rediscovery this morning of a plastic design template, made in seattle.

i flipped the compositoin every which way till i finally settled on the vertical you see here.

"1/6/26 oil, 24x24” oil on portrait linen" day 3 / sunset /  by Philip Tarlow

1/6/26 oil, 24x24” oil on portrait linen, at the end of my painting day today

1:33 PM: ithis morning i took 1/6/26 oil further, adding some deep reds & yellows and making the composition richer. the black arches at the top may be a bit too strong…..i’m going to leave it as is and revisit it tomorrow.

on another topic, for the past 9 nights, i’ve been writing a short poem just before going to sleep.i’m not sure if i want to post any of them, but i’ll take another look later this afternoon and decide.

DETAIL

1/6/26 oil, 24x24” oil on portrait linen, at the end of day two /  by Philip Tarlow

1/6/26 oil, 24x24” oil on portrait linen, as she looked at the end of my painting day today.

2:32 PM: i spent most of the morning dealing with my malfunctioning macbook m4. i was on the phone with apple support, who were extremely helpful in clearing everything on the hard drive and preparing it so that i can send it in for repairs. they’re sending me a box and return label, so i’ll likely be without it for at least 2 weeks. so i’m typing this on my older 2020 macbook with the smaller 13” screen.

i spent the rest of my morning editing a text by my son dimitri, which presents his new producion of electra, by sophocles. It will take place at his athens theatre, POREIA., following a run at the ancient outdoor theatre in athens.i gave what i had done to mikela, who made some significant additions.

this afternoon i did more work on 1//6/26 oil, which still has no title other than the date it wa started. it’s getting more interesting, with a variation on matisse inspired motif, with the goldfish you’ll find in some of my erlier work. it’s still in process but i’m at the end of my painting energy for the day. so i’ll clean my brushes and get back to the house, where i’m expecting mikela to return from school in an hour or so.

“1/6/26 oil” / "mikela watering" / “1999 SLV Panorama” /  by Philip Tarlow

1/6/26 oil, 24x24” oil on portrait linen, at the end of day one

3PM: this morning i stretched a 24x24” piece of portrait linen and started a new painting which, for now is titled 1/6/26 oil. it feel good to be painting in oil again. i feel that the series i’ve been working on over the past few weeks, in watercolor & gouache, freed up my brush strokes and brought me back to my favorite, more muted colors. right now, there are 3 elements: the two figure and the flowers and leaves in the upper half of the composition.

SLV Panorama, painted in 1999

11:25 AM: mikela watering, 42x18” was painted in mid-2025. the day i painted it, i was obviously On my Game..

mikela watering, 42x18” oil on portrait linen, 2025