diebenkorn / continued work on jazz 7 /  by Philip Tarlow

jazz 7 37x35”/94x89cm. as it looked moments ago, at the end of my painting day today

3:56 PM: i did more work on jazz 7, which may reflect my experiece this morning with the diebenkorn book.

a second figure was introduced, of a guy seen from above looking at his phone. it’s the same guy you see in the previous jazz 6. the composition may need more going on in the lower portion; we’ll see tomorrow.

9:53 am: today is my birthday. this morning while having my breakfast, i was perusing richard diebenkorn, the ocean park series. below is a quote from diebenkorn himself

there is no main subject, or center of attention. the composiotn itself is the center of attention, constantly drawing the eye away from the center and towards the edges, and back. what might be perceived as a rigid geometrical frame is, when explored carefully, an ever changing, often smudged & blurred reality.

it’s hard to put my finger on what it is exactly the attracts me to diebenkorn’s work, particularly this series. but, as happens with other artists at the top of my list, i resonate with his process; in this case particularly with his compositional sensibility.

in my current phase of self discovery, it helps to have such a guide. and this quote may be the little push i needed to move to a larger scale, which may happen soon.

jazz 5 on may 9 at 3:30 pm. the painting has changed dramatically since then, but i think you can see how & why my process has been influenced by the work of diebenkorn, as well as matisse.


continued work on jazz 7 / an adjustment to jazz 6 /  by Philip Tarlow

1:27 PM: i started my painting day by making an adjustment to jazz 6. the bit on the right wasn’t working, which mikela pointed out when she walked over yesterday afternoon to give me some feedback.

so i scraped it & painted over it with off white. then i introduced a new figure, which was inspired by the views from above of skoufa street in athens, shot from a balcony during my solo exhibition at skoufa gallery.

the figure i introduced was too well defined, and so didn’t work with the other figures. so i scraped & whited over it, and removed his legs, which also weren’t necessary to the composition. i think it works now, but i’ll sit with it for a day or two & see how i feel.

BELOW as it looked yesterday, on the left. i think the figure i introduced today, on the right, integrates way better into the composition as a whole.

jazz 6, 35x37”/94x89cm. oil on linen

on a kind of comical note, after introducing the figure on the right and before whiting over his legs, i blotted the image with a piece of paper towel, which helped push it back a little, but didn’t reallt solved the problem. i taped the paper towel, with it’s blotted image in reverse, next to the actual painted image, which i thought looked kinda cool.

the blotted paper towel image is taped on the lower right

once i was done with jazz 6, i moved on to the new jazz 7, which i started work on yesterday. the sexual japanese imagry was, as i predicted yesterday, painted over, but it’s remains have enlivened the new figures form above i introduced this morning. more changes are on the way tomorrow, but right now i’m going to clean up early in preparation for our trail walk at 3:30, assuming we don’t get a thunderstorm at 3pm, as predicted.

BELOW: jazz7 as it looked yesterday on the left, and after the work i did earlier today, on the right.

a slight adjustment to "jazz 6" & she's done / starting “jazz 7.” /  by Philip Tarlow

5:16 PM: today i started work on the new jazz 7. what you see here is an underpainting, and much, if not all of it will be painted over.

it was inspired by an 18th c. japanese print, and it’s sexuality was common during that period, when censorship was unknown. as a result, there’s an innocence that i find touching. the characteristicallly subtle and sensitive patterning is something bonnard, vuillard and others drew from heavily.

i’ll continue working on it tomorrow morning, and will post updates then.

1:09 PM: when i first entered my studio today & glanced t jazz 6, the upside down head on the lower right seemed a tad too bright. so i toned it down with some white, which i then scraped over, and she’s done !

and now, on to a new one. i’ll update once i get into it. thanks my friends!

continuing jazz 6 re-visiting “periscope” /  by Philip Tarlow

jazz 6 following a few last minute changes made moments ago

3:15 PM: as frequently happens, before walking out the door to go over to the house so mikela & i could take our walk up the creek, i made some changes to jazz 6. i used the edge of a palette knife to scrape into the figures, which were too highly defined and weren’t working in the composition as a whole. it’s better, but more may be in store tomorrow morning; we’ll see.

jazz 6 37x35”/94x89cm. as it looked at the end o fmy painting day today.

2:24 PM: today i did considerable work on the new jazz 6.

as with the others in this series, i whited over everything extraneous to the composition and added a new figure of a guy holding his phone in a way that so many of us do, oblivious to everything going on around him, including the other figures….even the debt ceiling!

that figure may be too dominant; i’ll know better in the morning. i’m stopping early because we’re going to walk up the trail in about an hour, taking advantage of the sunny day. more rain predicted for tomorrow.

periscope has been up on my south studio wall since the last time i worked on it. i’m considering more work on it, but am still undecided.

at work on periscope, april 10 and on the right, the painting as it looks today

starting jazz 6 /  by Philip Tarlow

JAZZ 6, 37X35”/94X89 cm. as it looked at the end of my painting day today

3:38 PM: today i turned jazz 5 to the wall & i’ll deal with it at a later date.

i started jazz 6, which is the same dimensions as 1 through 4: 37x35”/94x89cm. it’s starting out in the same vein as the others; with lots going on, and it’s up in the air whether or not it will become as spare as the others.right now, i like all that’s going on.

jazz 5 is inspired by a h.s. kid's drawing /  by Philip Tarlow

4:09 PM: in 2018, mikela was introducing our product to a high school here in the san luis valley. when i saw it, i flipped out. it was a masterful drawing! i posted it on fb & forgot about it.

yesterday, i got one of those fb memories. it was the drawing, which looked like something you might see in art forum or on a museum wall.

i sent it to mikela, who said copy it! so i did, making a drawing on top of the greyed over previous version (yesterdays version) of jazz 5.

BELOW: the original kid’s drawing and on the right my version of the drawing, in charcoal on canvas

changes to jazz 3 & 4, good doc becomes “jazz 5” /  by Philip Tarlow

3:30 PM: i had hung an early jazz series painting in the entryway of our house, thinking it was complete. think again, philip! it’s smaller than the other 4 jazz series paintings, measuring 16x29”/41x73 cm. it had a similar composition, and as i progressed with the evolving jazz series, it started feeling too busy when i looked at it.

so this morning i brought it back to the studio. after working on jazz 3 & 4, i lay it on my painitng table and began working into it, followed by some work i did on the east painting wall. it’s still too crowded, but moving in a good direction.

1 PM: my all important frist glance at my current jazz series paintings led me to make changes to a few of the figures in jazz 3 & 4.

lets start with jazz 4, which i was working on yesterday. i found the figure of the half naked woman in the red top annoying, first of all because she was provacative and, connected to that, tended to dominate the composition and draw the eye away from the music and movement of the whole. so i flipper the canvas 90° & painted over her. in her place is a second walking figure with the blue plaid shirt, who appears in all four paintings in the series thus far. the producers of the good doctor tv series might find this amusing, since he’s the lead character in the show, freddy highmore, who plays dr. shaun murphy. BELOW: yesterdays version on the left. do you agree with my assesment?

in jazz 3, the figure of the little boy in the lower left portion of the composition seemed unecessary to the composition, as did the figure of the girl in red with the shoulder bag, so out they went! see the difference BELOW:

"SKOUFA" IS NOW "JAZZ 4" /  by Philip Tarlow

jazz IV 37x35”/94x89 cm. oil & collage on linen as it looked at the end of my painting day today.

2:22 PM: i’ve been working on jazz IV since 11 am. i took out two extraneous figures, simplifying the composition. i flipped it 45° to the right and introduced the walking figure of the good doctor, who appears as well in the other three painitngs in this jazz series. to his right, a half dressed female figure with a red top. beneath these two figures are two more, who were in the original skoufa version, which you can see if you scroll further down.

so what started out as a play on the image of people seen from above walking down skoufa street in athens has become an enigmatic grouping of figures, all viewed from above, moving about the white, 37x35”/94x89cm. space of the canvas. it’s not a dead white; beneath it can be discerned another layer of paint with a barely visible composition, adding warmth and mystery to the painting.

the white drip on the hair of the woman in the red top is a reminder that this is, above all, a painting; evocative, painterly marks on a surface that play with the reality we all know and recognize.

i feel that it passes one of my teests of a resolved painting, in that the space breathes. i think i could gaze at this one every day and find something i hadn’t noticed before.

11:04 AM: usually, at this time of day i’m just getting to work. but today mikela had to leave for school at 8am, so i got ready early & she dropped me at the studio about 8:15. after having my breakfast, i got to work on the 4th painting in this current series, formerly titled skoufa. that title derives from the original photos it was inspired by, shot from a second floor balcony in 2010, when i had a solo show at skoufa gallery. i whited out most everything but the figures, and went over the figure in the upper middle, which i felt was extraneous to the composition.

you can see the orginal skoufa painting BELOW on the left. and on the right is how the painting, now titled jazz 4, looked moments ago.

someone posted this on FB today. so sweet!!

a delightful trail walk / continued work on jazz 3 /  by Philip Tarlow

i continued work on jazz 3 today, introducing new figures and a white background. BELOW: on the left, yesterdays version, and on the right: the current version

Our trail walk yesterday afternoon was a delight! The strong winds & temperatures in the mid’60’s made it ideal for hiking, and the first buds were visible everywhere.

a little work on jazz 3 this morning /  by Philip Tarlow

5:35 PM: this morning i had a narrow 30 minute window to do some work on jazz 3. we had a call with our dear friends in germany and then i needed to make brownies for a meeting at a friend’s house.

i kinda knew where i wanted to go with jazz 3, so i jumped right in and added two new figures, but this is just the beginning.

BELOW: on the right is the painting with the figure i added today.at the moment, this new walking figure seen from above dwarfs the other, pre-existing 3 figures.