"6/13/26 collage" becomes a vertical composition /  by Philip Tarlow

1:59 PM: although mikela liked it a lot, i was not satisfied with this collage in the state i left it yesterday afternoon. although i loved the two dancing figures, who have appeared in previous works, as a whole, i felt there was too much going on; too many things fighting for your attention. what do you look at… the goldfish; the blue architectural element on the right; the fragment of a reproduction of a taiga drawing in the center; or the naked legs beneath the goldfish? too much, man!

after making mikela’s coffee, i went through an old, spiral bound sketchbook laying on top of one of my tables. i proceded to tear out the page with a drawing of a potted plant and, using my mat knife, cut away the areas between the leaves. then i lay the ink drawing on top of 6/13/26 collage after flipping it so that it became a vertical. i applied glue to the back of the drawing and pressed it onto the collage. the result was, i found, far more interesting. you can still make out part of the body of the female dancing figure, with her hairy armpit and red hair, as well as the face and raised arm of the male dancing figure, now to her right.

the top of the potted plant drawing was just short of the upper end of the composition, so i supplemented it with a piece of paper from the same sketchbook so that it would have the same off-white tone, and then drew the remainder of the leaf with my fountain pen.

so there you have it! lets see how she holds up to our scrutiny this evening and take it from there tomorrow.

BELOW: yesterdays version on the left

6/13/26 collage, 17x11” collage, colored pencil & pastel on bristol paper as she looked at the end of my painting day

"6/13/26 collage" modified /  by Philip Tarlow

6/13/26 collage, 11x17” as she looked at 1pm today

1:24 PM: modifications to yesterdays version.

BELOW: an earlier version of todays modifications is on the left

"studio play" on day 1 /  by Philip Tarlow

studio play, 25x25” 6/14/26, the initial drawing in pencil on portrait linen

4:41 PM: i made a drawing for a new painting title studio play on a 25x25” stretched portrait linen canvas today.

6/13/26 collage /  by Philip Tarlow

6/13/26 collage, 11x17” on bristol as she looked at the end of my painting day today.

3:21 PM: this new one, 11x17” has gone through numerous stages today and i don’t know right now whether it’s there yet. we’ll see in the morning, on what is predicted to be a stormy day.

"6/10/26 oil" transforms (for a change), and then goes back to where she was! /  by Philip Tarlow

6/10/26 oil, 10 3/4x20” as she looked following my rubbing out of what i did this morning.

2:22 PM: when we saw what i had done to this painting, we both felt it had been way better, way more interesting as a painting in the previous version. the oil paint was still fresh enough that i was able to rub out what i did today and now we’ll see where she wants to go tomorrow morning.

i have my mens group meeting at 8, back around 9:30, so i’ll pick up then. she did however lose some of the elements that hadn’t yet dried, so i’ll address that tomorrow.

BELOW: in yesterdays version, on the LEFT, you can see what got rubbed out that i’ll be restoring

6/10/26 oil, 10 3/4x20” as she looked following this mornings burst of energy

9:17 AM: we were going to go for our morning walk and i hadn’t yet meditated. it’s very buggy, so we would have had to stop at the house and get our netting to put over our heads. mikela was deep into a project she has to complete and get out today, so i figured, what the f…k, i may as well do a bit more to yesterdays 10 3/4x20” oil. and of course it transformed radically. goldfish have once again entered the picture, borrowed unashamedly from matisse, and now this is looking like my recent series of 25x25” paintings, but with a light blue instead of the darker blue i had been using. in addition, yesterday’s version contained 3 figures. one has remained visible; his head is just above and to the right of the fish bowl.

so now maybe i’ll take my meditation break and see how i feel about what i did once i emerge.

6/10/26 oil /  by Philip Tarlow

2:12 PM: the right portion of the composition i made at noon wasn’t working, so i took it out painted over it with white oils, made a light sketch in colored penciland am waiting till tomorrow morning for it to dry so i can work into it. my early morning energy is always best, so lets see what happens tomorrow.

6/10/26 oil, 10 3/4x20” mixed media on portrait linen as she looked after taking out the right portion of the composition

12:03 PM: i got into my groove about an hour ago and made a new painting on a stretched 10 3/4x20 portrait linen i worked rapidly and with certainty, using oil, colored pencils, crayons and oil pastels. continuing my journey into abstracted realism.

6/10/26 oil, 10 3/4x20” mixed media on portrait linen

"6/6/26 jacob’s pillow" on day 3 /  by Philip Tarlow

6/6/26 jacob’s pillow-crop a, watercolor/gouache, on day 3

once i reached a point in the process where i had no choice but to cut the composition in half, i did just that. so 6/6/26 jacob’s pillow-crop a was the left half, and crop b is the very small bit of the right half that i was able to crop. the figure you see in crop b was part of a poster for a karagiozis performance in athens, greece. this crop is only 3x2” but when you see it in person, it really pops!

9:17 AM: over time, i’ve learned to take full advantage of my early morning energy & inspiration. so this morning, after making mikela’s coffe and our smoothie, i launched right back in to 6/6/26 jacob’s pillow, which i worked on yesterday.

using collage, glue stick and colored pencils/crayons, i went where i was called, staying away as far as possible from planning thoughts. the result may qualify as the “best” of my recent works on paper, and definitely holds up when viewed from a distance, adjacent to the other recent works on bristol paper.

the green shoes on the dancing figure, which i introduced yesterday, take on a whole new meaning now, amplifying the joy of this jacob’s pillow dancer. so i’m glad i decided to wait before sending my exhibition proposal to the director of the Dance Festival at jacob’s pillow. and now, for the first time, i can envision these small paintings mounted at the Festival, enhansing the attendees experience.

6/6/26 jacob’s pillow-crop b, watercolor/gouache, on day 3

6/6/26 jacob’s pillow on day 1 / found on our morning walk today /  by Philip Tarlow

2:43 PM: this afternoon i started the next in my jacob’s pillow series: 6/6/26 jacob’s pillow. she’s a size up from the previous one: 11x17” and has 2 joyous dancing figures with matching red & black plaid shirts. between the two is a pattern you will see on the photo below, which is inspired by a beautiful, tiny plant i got on our morning trail walk & brought back to the studio. the pattern on this flower seems to have been created by an artist, which it was: nature! i stopped because i felt too tired to continue today, so i’ll pick up where i left off tomorrow.

6/6/26 jacob’s pillow, 11x14” watercolor/gouache on bristol

10:58 am: about an hour ago we took our usual walk up the spanish creek trail. on the way down, i found this gorgeous plant, which i now have on my desk.