2:46 PM: upon entering the studio this morning, my first glance told me that , after removing the collaged elements at the very end of the day yeasterday, skateboarder dancing was resolved.
so i moved on to a new one, titled in the garden, 42x15”. it’s at the very beginning, so it’s impossible to tell where it’s headed, but that will undoubtedly become clear tomorrow, if i can get in a good days painting.
in the garden, 42x15” oil on portrait linen
4:15 PM: after lookiing at the painting while posting an hour ago, i decided that the collaged elements were taking away from the coherence of the composition. the adhesive material was still fresh enough tha i was able easily to remove them; so here’s the current state of the painting.
3:22 PM: today i took skateboarder dancing to another level, introducing a few collaged elements: a piece of map and a cut up ink drawing on paper, which i made last week expressly for this purpose.
it was getting kinda busy and confusing to the eyes. so the white paper with the spare ink marks addresses that and, i think, resolves it. there is no longer a “main figure” of the skateboarder. rather, there are a series of forms, colors and patterns which bring to mind something playful and somewhat enigmatic. i also scaled back the violet skateboard, painting over it with an off white akin to the tone of the skateboarder’s jacket. much of the patterning is drawn from a japanese woodblock print i’ve grown very fond of, and the skateboarder’s patterned cap plays nicely into this mix.
it will be interesting to see what the greek viewers make of it, when my show goes up in march. we reserved our tickets today, which makes the whole thing more solid & real.
skateboarder dancing as it looked moments ago
BELOW: yesterdays version is on the left
2:38 PM: this morning, inspired by a comment mikela made a few days ago, i decided to shift the size & shape of my canvas & make a vertical composition. this one is 42x19”
the central figure is that of a skateboarder; one of the many images i have from the 2020 tokyo olympics. it’s kind of a follow up on the one i did yesterday, which however didn’t include any figures. thus far, yellows, red & blues dominate, with the exception of the violet skateboard at the bottom of the composition.
a quick glance from afar gives one the impression one is looking at an 18th c. japanese print. no accident, as i’ve been perusing a lot of them over breakfast.
at the bottom of this composition are a group of 18th c. japanese poets, artists & musicians seated in a landscape, drinking wine.
skateboarder dancing, 42x19” oil on linen, stage 1
choros tou kolpiskou 38x35” as it looked at the end of my painting day today
1:35 PM: today i started choros tou kolpiskou, (dance of the creek) 38x35”. i just now stopped working when the juice ran out. i love the colors and forms & i’ll have to see tomoroow whether a figure wants to appear, which is likely.
but it’s so refreshing and playful, it’s very tempting, as usual, to leave it alone. and at 6pm, i’m feeling strongly to let it be.
when i gaze at the paintings i’ve made over the past month or so in preparation for mt athens exhibition. they have a lot in common. they sing variations of the same song.
tokyo olympics skateboarder, 38x35” oil & collage on linen —as it looked at the end of my painting day today
2:38 PM: it’s a partly sunny day, with the temperature hovering around 25° F.
when i entered my studio this morning, my always important first glance let me know that what i did yesterday on windy creek was just an underpainting for something i’d do today. and indeed it was!
so now it has become tokyo olympics skateboarder, a figure i love and have included in earlier paintings. at that time, we had seen images & video from the 2020 tokyo olympics, and many of those images struck me and were burned into my memory. as i’ve already said in so many ways, these figures are the embodiment of the joy of being alive in a body. when i began painting this jumping skateboarder this morning, i had a fear that it was old news, and i would just be repeating myself. that fear was immediately dispelled once i launched into my strokes. and this painting has transformed,n ot only in name & imagery, but in spirit.
it needs more work, but not a whole lot more. a demain.
at work earlier today on tokyo olympics skateboarder
windy creek, 38x35” as it looked at the end of my painting day today
2:29 PM: it’s a cold, winy cloudy day, with temperatures hovering in the upper teens.
i took the canvas off the wall and worked a bit with it flat on my work table, where i applied a few collaged pieces. it’s very much in the vein of the previous 21x17” paintings i’ve made over the past few weeks, but on a larger scale: 38x35”
the canvas has been flipped 90° from where it was yesterday; what is now the lower portion of the composition was located on the right yesterday. this was based on my gut, not some planned or calculated decision.
at work on windy creek at 1:30 pm today
windy creek, 40x42” at the end of day 1
3:30 PM: about an hour & a half ago i cut a 40x42” piece of primed portait linen for a new painting, titled windy creek.” i was, and still am, in a playful mood; a good place to be when you’re starting a new painting. as i work on the initial strokes, i walk over to cast a glance at the wonderful new watch mikela got me as a new years present. you have to learn how to read it, but once you do, it’s a delight! in this photo it’s 1:20 pm. make it full page; can you read it?
i’ll take windy creek to the next stage tomorrow.
12:58 PM: i needed more of the cut-up marked white paper i use for collage in my paintings, so i made some this morning & cut it into irregular pieces, as i usually do.
the idea here is to introduce an element of the accidental, which of course is never accidental and always accidental, into the composition, both to avoid predictability and add measured complexity to the composition, as well of course as the gestures of the marks i’ve made. in this case those marks have been made with a reed pen & brush, using a diluted sepia india ink mix.
next, i’m about to cut some pieces of fresh primed linen from the new roll i have, and start a new painting. i may do two larger ones for the athens exhibition, since i’ve already done 8 paintings in the 17x21 format.
stay tuned & i’ll post next steps soon. i spent over an hour of precious time this morning getting info on possible rt flights to athens in march.
philip at piso yialia 17x21” oil on linen, 2022
2 PM: i started this painting on october 26, using photos i had shot a while ago at piso yialia, a cove near chora, capitol of the aegean island of andros, where my son has a house on the sea. it’s an idyllic spot, surrounded by large rocks and a view of the penninsula which ends at chora.
today, not satisfied with the sky, i came back to it. and when i did, i realized that the title man on rocks doesn’t do it justice. it’s me, philip, climbing over those rocks. my former mother-in-law, the late painter niki karagatsi and i made many drawings and paintings here, just 10 minutes from the house. afterwards, we would compare notes. niki was born in andros, so there was no way i could equal her deep feeling for this place, which was so present in her drawings and paintings. but, as a transplanted american who learned quickly to speak and gesture like a greek, i brought my own music to it. so there’s an echo of brooklyn in every stroke. but perhaps even deeper is the music of what i feel are my former lives in this place of magic.
an early stage of the painting
2:05 PM: i felt that the two figures on the left needed work, so, with some trepidatiopn, i went back into them; clothing, faces, hands, everything. not yet sure whether i should have left it as it was….
windows 3, oil on linen, 17x21” as it looked at the end of my painting day today
today is a short day, so we can get to my doctors appointment at 3. i continued painting windows 3, to the central and right portions of the composition and adding a figure on the right.
i like how the white spaces allow the composition to breathe, so i may leave most of them alone. the urge to describe is always rearing it’s head & needs to be tamped down again & again.
i also like the dominant tans & greys punctuated by the blue of the ladder top & the new guy’s shirt, and the yellows. i think that one violet shadow is enough, and if i were to extend it to the other areas in shadow, it would lose it’s potency.
the new figure i added today
