2/5/26 "kifissia" /  by Philip Tarlow

2/5/26 kifissia, 6x18” watercolor on arches paper.

2:59 PM: today i painted a new watercolor, inspired by photos i shot about 15-20 years ago when we were visiting my son, the actor/director/producer dimitri tarlow. this new watercolor, which i may or may not continue working on tomorrow, measures 6x18” and is painted on arches watercolor paper.

kifissia is a large suburb located just noth of athens, in the municipality of attica. it has many large, beautiful homes and in the downtown area, galleries and is home to the goulandris museum of natural history. in this photo-collage mikela, holding a cup of coffee, is seated on the right, in front of one of the many impressive homes with large, beautiful gardens.

baca#3 continued /  by Philip Tarlow

baca #3, 38x36” oil on portrait linen, as she looked at the end of my painting day today

baca#3, 38x36” as she looked at 11:30am today, following this morning’s work

11:35 AM: as is my preference, i’ve been working on this latest painting, baca#3, as it is lying flat on my painting table. i haven’t yet tacked it to the wall for fear of drips, so i photographed it from above, standing on my step ladder.

"baca#3" 38x36" /  by Philip Tarlow

baca#3, DETAIL, 38x36” oil on portrait linen, as she looked at the end of my painting day today

2:47 PM: i worked on the drawing i made yesterday for baca#3, completing the drawing and starting to add oil color. more tomorrow.

1/30 baca#2 /  by Philip Tarlow

baca#2, 38x36” oil on portrait linen

2:02 PM: today i worked on baca#2, for which i had made the drawing yesterday. it’s a bit too busy, so i’ll sit with it and see how i feel about it in the morning.

1/6/2026 oil, latest tweak /  by Philip Tarlow

1/6/26 oil, 24x24” following my latest changes, including some maps collaged

2:30 PM: more work on 1/6/26 oil

1/6/26 oil, 24x24” following this morning’s changes

12:40 PM: this morning i made asome additional changes to 1/6/26 oil, mostly on the right side of the composition..

"1/6/26 oil" tweaked /  by Philip Tarlow

4:53 PM: towards the end of the day, my eye caught this 24x24” oil/collage painted on 1/6/26. i felt moved to make some changes, which i did. here’s the before and after: now that i’m looking at it, i think it needs more work.

baca#1, day 4 /  by Philip Tarlow

baca#1 38x36” oil on portrait linen as she looked today at the end of my painting day

3:10 PM i added a collaged piece, painted a warm grey over the dark blues at the top and gave the figure on the right legs.

"baca #1," day 3 /  by Philip Tarlow

baca #1, 38×36” oil on portrait linen, as she looked this afternoon at 2pm

2 PM: this morning i introduced a few collaged pieces into the composition, as well as a blue border top, bottom and left. i’, currently gazing at it tacked to the wall and contemplating where i may go next.

baca #1, day two /  by Philip Tarlow

baca #1, 38x36” oil on portrait linen, as she looked at the end of my painting day, at 1pm

BELOW: THE 3 STAGES OF BACA#1 thus far

12:54 PM: i did a bit more on baca #1, before cleaning my brushes and preparing to go with mkela to watch the movie over at the college.

baca #1, 38x36” oil on portrait linen, as she looked moments ago, at 11:30am

11:27 AM: this morning i took baca#1 further. i tacked the unstretched as yet canvas to my east studio wall and i’ll leave it there for a bit and evaluate before resuming painting.