two dancers, 30x44” oil & collage on linen feeling worldly, 32x38”, oil & collage on linen
1:38 PM: today i went back & forth between feeling worldly and two dancers.
two dancers: i whited over yesterdays grey and then worked into the white. checkerboard patterns appear in both compositions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzeLynj1GYM
BEFORE AFTER MODIFICATION
two dancers, 30x44” oil and collage on linen, as she looked after scraping, then surrounding them with grey this morning
11:38AM:as i was having my breakfast i gazed at two dancers and began feeling the urge to scrape and then surround the two figures with grey oil paint, which i already had ready in a jar, intending to use it for something else. once again, the unpredictable raises it’s head and points me in a direction AI could never imagine., giving a poignance to the two dancers.
the marks made by my brush as i applied the grey oil paint to the still wet surface enhanse their movement in space. it’s almost as if the figure on the right has transformed from what he was yesterday into a state of ecstasy.
i have it lying on my studio floor until it’s dry enough to put on my west wall, since it’s still very wet and i don’t want any drips, which are welcome on some other paintings.
a few blue & red bits of the original, underlying acropolis painting (see my february 16 post) peek through on the very top, which used to be the side.
two dancers, 44x30” as she looked at the end of my painting day today
2:55 PM: i kinda knew yesterday at the end of my painting day that acropolis museum visitors on glass floor was history. this morning i whited over it, flipperd it 90° and began a new painting, now titled two dancers.
these dancing figures have appeared in a number of recent paintings, most recently in my dancing creek series: https://philip-tarlow.squarespace.com/config/pages/505103ebe4b0b2bc7caf0fb8 and it would appear that my passion for painting them continues.
3:03 PM: as frequently happens just before leaving the studio, i made a modification. it was getiing too prodictable, so i grabbed a few pieces of paper amongst the many i have for this purpose, and taped them to a few areas of the compostion. the deep red may be a bit much, but it’s just a temporary experiment to see how i can break up the composition a reduce the descriptiveness.
acropolis museum visitors on glass floor, 44x30” oil on linen, as she looked moments ago
1:54 PM: i’ve been working till now on acropolis museum visitors on glass floor,” 44x30” what was a black and white painting, with a few touches of color yesterday, as exploded into a multi-colored composition with an architectural framework. it’s obvious from the perspective that the very simplified figures have been photographed from above. as yet, there’s little indication that they’re standing on a glass floor, with a view, albeit blurred, of the floor beneath their feet.
11:22 AM: this morning i’ll continue work on the painting i started yesterday, which is 44x30”, oil on linen.
11:17 AM: this morning i framed yesterday’s 2/15/25 untitled gouache/collage, which is available. contact me for details.
acropolis museum visitors on a glass floor, 44x30”, oil on linen, day 1, at the end of my painting day
acropolis museum visitors on a glass floor, 44x30”, oil on linen, day 1
12:23 PM: this morning i started a new painting: acropolis museum visitors on glasss floor. i’ve referred to the photos i shot from above in this museum, which i’ve used for previous, smaller scale paintings. i chose to put my brush on a long stick so that i’d have less control, and my marks would be freer.
i’ll post updates as the painting progresses.
3:23 PM: this is a 7x6 3/4” gouache/collage i created today inspired by an image i captured last night on the FBI series.
2016 photo
swimming 38×10” as she looked moments ago
1:50 PM: today i returned to working on swimming. i began introducing colors in selective area, enlivening the entire composition.
10:30 AM: a photo of my Mom in our Brooklyn Heights Appartment, in 1942. At the time, she was Betty Tarlow. After she remarried, she became Liz Gitten.
2:46 PM: yesterday mikela told me about a woman she’s working in one of the schools here in the valley. she’s passionate about birds, and has an impressive collection of photos and prints and an equally impressive knowledge of bird species. from what i understood, she does not as yet have an original work of art.
we did some research and found the western tanager, a bird found here in colorado, which has beautiful markings. so i made an 11x7 1/4” watercolor on arches watercolor paper, for her to hang on one of the the walls in her new office.
western tanager, 11x7 1/4” watercolor
2:56 PM: today i started a new 38x10” painting on portrait linen, titled swimming. it’s a study of a portion of a pompeian fresco which can be found in the archeological museum of naples. as yet, the sea creatures, all of which were favorite food of the ancient romans, remain without color.
swimming, 38x10” oil on portrait linen, on day 1
