"baca spring" day 2 /  by Philip Tarlow

day 2 of: baca spring, 10 3/4x17” 5/7/26 watercolor & colored pencil on bristol paper

1:25 PM: i returned from the mens group meeting about 9:30 but couldn’t get to work till about 1pm….needed time to shift gears!

baca spring is a piece with such a delicate balance i didn’t dare touch it till the energy kicked in about half hour ago.so here’s where she’s at, and i’ll see in the morning where she wants to go. i may have to start something new, and do more on baca spring when she calls me. excuse the metaphysical language, but it does best reflect where i’m at in the process.

"baca spring" / my new Asvine 800 fountain pen /  by Philip Tarlow

baca spring, 10 3/4x17” 5/7/26 watercolor & colored pencil on bristol paper

3PM: today i tried something new; i made a watercolor/colored pencil painting titled baca spring on bristol paper, which is meant to be used more for drawing, with it’s very smooth textureless surface. i loved working on it! it’s about half way there, so i’ll continue tomorrow after the men’s 8-9:30am group at the cloud.

3:37 PM: on april 13, my new Asvine 800 fountain pen was delivered. in every way, it’s by far the most wonderful fountain pen i’ve ever owned, and i’ve had a LOT! it’s kind of big and hefty and, most important, it’s transparent. so with the cap on, you can see the nib and you can see the ink in the transparent barrel. it’s a total delight to write with. and it was relatively inexpensive; i paid only $39.47, including tax.

"spatharis-scape" /  by Philip Tarlow

1:53 PM: following a round of snow squalls earlier, i made a new drawing/collage, titled spatharis-scape. it contains a number of cut out pieces from printouts of performance announcements by the late great greek karaghiozis shadow theatre master, sotiris spatharis, whose career began in 1909. i was fortunate to have spent time with him in his workshop in the ‘70’s.

spatahris-scape, 14 3/4x10 3/4” pencil & collage on paper

"5/1/26 drawing/collage" on day 1/ TODAYS POEM /  by Philip Tarlow

5/1/26 drawing/collage, 11x14” on day one

5:22 PM:continuing my series of drawing/collages on paper, i strated this one today.

"4/30/26 collage/drawing" / /  by Philip Tarlow

4/30/26 drawing/collage, 11×14” pencil, crayon and collage on bristol paper

2:43 PM: today 4/30/26 collage/drawing” was created. i spent most of the day on it; drawing, collaging, cutting paper and mounting it….and i feel it’s now resolved. i plan on making a series of these; one a day possibly through the end of may. in this one there’s a hint of a self portrait, with my eyeglasses and eyes adjacent to the map up on top.

“4/29/26 man on bike” / 4/29/26 drawing/collage / 1981 NYC drawing /  by Philip Tarlow

this afternoon i painted over fish swimming and created man on bike. is it a bike or a scooter? probably the latter.

man on scooter, 18×14” 4/29/26 oil on portrait linen

4/29/26 drawing/collage, 12×14” colored pencil & crayon with collage

12:41 PM: this morning i made a 12x14” drawing/collage titled 4/29/26 drawing/collage. it’s a delicate girl, created with mostly colored pencil & crayon & a few collaged pieces of paper which already had some marks, creating those much loved unpredictable shapes and spaces.

this is one of th drawings i found in an old sketchbook on my studio shelves

1981 NYC drawing,

morning rock drawing day 2, “goldfish swimming” /yesterday’s sky /  by Philip Tarlow

4/28/26 rock drawing, 11x15” 8:42 AM, pencil on arches watercolor paper

9AM: mikela forgot her phone over at the house, so i taped a piece of drawing paper to a piece of foam core, took a couple of pencils and walked over to pick up her phone. then i started going up the trail we usually take for our daily walks. my intention was to walk over to the creek and make a drawing. but i stopped after a bit because i spotted a rock formation asking to be drawn.

2 shots of yesterdays sky at 3:42PM

i brought a stabilo 8008 and a caran d’ache sienna pencil and made a drawing before returning to the studio. mikela had a good intuition about getting her phone, as she received a work call just after i returned.

goldfish swimming, 15x19.5” oil on portrait linen, on day two.

goldfish swimming, day 2….if you look at yesterday’s version, you will see that it was way too dark, and today i’m working on lightening it up.

"figures in motion," day 3 / “goldfish swimming” /  by Philip Tarlow

4PM: i made some small but important updates to figures in motion towards the end of my painting day, following my work on the new goldfish swimming.

Figures in Motion, `18×18” oil on portrait linen, day 3

i started a new painting titled goldfish swimming today. unlike figures in motion, it was painted with large bold strokes of the brush; a delight to paint!

goldfish swimming, 15x19.5” oil on portrait linen