1:56 PM: i started a new 25x25” painting in oil and colored pencil on portrait linen, which i’ll continue working on tomorrow morning. it’s a good start, and we’ll see where i take it in the morning.
my coffee grinder gave out earlier today, so i ordered a new one and in the mean time i’m using a little grinder i usually use for grinding chia seeds. it seems to work OK, but the whole deal has been a pain in the ass.
8/29/26 untitled, 25x25”, oil on portrait linen
hommage á Gorky, 17x11” on smooth bristol paper
8:49 AM: this morning i did more work on the composition i started a few days ago, which is now titled hommage á Gorky, inspired by several of Gorky’s pieces from the 1940’s.
8/23/26 figures in doorway II, 38x36” oil on portrait linen
12:27 PM:in yesterday’s version, the grey dominated and was really, you might say, the subject. this morning, after a good sleep last night, i was in the space where i could receive gorky’s message. i’ve been studying him lately and increasingly feeling a connection. my grandparents came to this country at the turn of the century, and no one is certain where they came from; could have been armenia. but that’s irrelevant. what matters is that, in looking at his work, i feel a connection; he awakens something deep in my soul.
1:56 PM: today i was looking for my pad of beautiful bristol smooth paper. when i finally found it, i realized i hadn’r removed the last collage i made on it, which was on august 10th.
so i removed that one, taped it to grey board and started working on a new one. she’s about at the half way point, but i really love how she looks in this state. so we’ll see how i wake up tomorrow!
8/22/26 collage, stage 1, 17x11” on exra smooth bristol paper
8/22/26 figures in doorway II, 38x36” oil on portrait linen
10:03 AM:yesterdays 3 figures in doorway is now simply figures in doorway II. it didn’t work for me when i first encountered it this morning upon first entering my studio.
my first step was to paint over the three figures from yesterdays composition with deep grey and then scrape the entire canvas so that the fresh grey paint partially covered the remaining figure on the left. the sex of this figure is indeterminate, and you can just make out that he/she is standing in what could be a doorway.
i had intended to paint into the greyed out area to the right of this figure, but when i moved the canvas, which i had been working on flat on my painting table, and leaned it against my freshly whited over east painting wall, she was strangely attractive and asked not to be messed with; at least not today.
something i’m realizing as i type this on my laptop is the importance to me of process in the creation of a work of art. embedded in this process is the history of a particular painting as well as the sensibility of the artist, in this case ME.
just imagine, if you can, if we could have access to such documents revealing the process underlying paintings by any of the great masters; goya; matisse; bonnard; gorky, to name but a few.
i was preparing to make a new collage today, and when i found the bristol pad i usually use there was a collage i hadn’t removed. so i removed it from the pad and taped it to a piece of grey board, and here she is!
8/22/26 figures in doorway against east studio wall
1:17 PM: this morning i made a new 38x36” matisse inspired painting in oil on portrait linen titled 3 figures in doorway II, a variation of the figures in doorway painting i made last week, which contained just two figures.
8/17/26 2 figures in doorway, 38×36” oil on portrait linen
2:02 PM:this afternoon i made a new painting inspired by matisse: two figures in a doorway is 38x36”, oil on portrait linen.
this is a painting made in 1979 in Chora, Andros, Greece. as i walked down the main street in andros, i would always see skouloudis standing in the doorway of his general store. he was in mourning at the time; thus the black ribbon on his lapel. it was not unusual during the ‘70’s to see a shop owner dressed in a suit.
this is one of a seriesof paintings i made at the time of andros subject matter: shop,interiors & exteriors; landscapes; and figures. if someone interested me as a subject, i’d invite them to my studio, prepare a little something for them to eat & drink and get to work. depending on the individual, we’d converse, usually about local or personal issues.
Skouloudis’ Shop, 16x10” egg tempera on board, 1979, coll. of the artist
11:07 AM: this morning i got into my groove and made one of my best collages. there’s no explaining how they come about…i just follow the energy.
so now it’s 11:13 AM…what next?
this smooth bristol paper takes the colors like beautiful music. the black is rich. the reds are fiery. decades of making these drawing/collages has opened the door to my spirit, which has evolved over time into philip tarlow. the marks sing their song like the sangres: steep, unexpectedly rocky, lingering on the high notes and gliding into harmony.
gorky would love them and see his spirit infused.
8/7/26 COLLAGE, 10.5x16.75”
this morning i made a new 10.5x16.75: collage on bristol paper.
