so what did you do today, philip? / by Philip Tarlow

5:49 PM: an odd day, it was. i had absolutely no juice to paint. nada. so i did some stretching & unstretching, preparing for my next paintings. i did look at my books on 18th century painter taiga.

as you can see from the paint stained book cover, i’ve spent lots of time studying this remarkable artist. i made a series of studies in 2011, ABOVE, which dramatically influenced my path from then on.

i contemplated how my current series of creek oils reflect the lessons i learned from my old buddy.

4/29/21 creek oil, BELOW, may give you an idea. this creek-scape contains many of the same elements as taiga’s landscape based compositions. i’m beginning to think maybe i’ve finally found a way to integrate his discoveries.

this is how art happens; over decades, we slowly wind our way back to our core identity, the one we were all born with then forgot. the freedom of a particular mark in a particular moment bursts forth, defining new territory as it sniffs the aroma of now.

5/3/21 creek oil 26 x 78”

DETAIL of 5/3/21 creek oil 26 x 78”