matisse study & continued studio cleanup /  by Philip Tarlow

study of a matisse landscape, 20x18” oil on canvas

3:07 PM: yesterday i came across a matisse landscape i loved, so i decided to break up the tiring process of studio cleanup & reorg by making a small study of it in oil. as usually happens when you look carefully the master and try to replicate his marks, colors, composition… it’s a wonderful learning experience.

it became clear to me why he did certain things, which i might not have otherwise noticed. i’m certain this will enrich and deepen my experience next time i start a new painting. for now, it has given me an even deeper love and appreciation for matisse. so much so that i may make another study, perhaps of an interior.

BELOW: two of the areas i cleaned/neatened up. the top of that file cabinet was piled willy nilly with works on paper, some of which were almost 20 years old. i did a preliminary organization, separating out the ones i consider most successful. the area beneath those cabinets was piled with prints i’ve made over the years, msotly from phots i took of our creeks. i separated them out from the rest of what was in the pile and, as with the works on paper atop the file cabinet, they’ll undergo further organization, but for now at least i know they’re all in one place.

studio cleanup & reorg /  by Philip Tarlow

6:14 PM: yesterday, today and for the next few days i’ll be cleaning up and organizing my studio, which is long overdue.

i’m starting with the big pile of works on paper; gouaches & watercolors from 1997 to the present. i did the first stage of organizing them, separating out the finest. i was surprised at the amount and, in general, the high quality. of course, they vary from #5’s to #10’s, 10 being the best.

i’m a little pressed for time right now, but here are a few of the best ones i set aside.

10/22/22 creek watercolor 8 1/2 x 16”

1/29/07 turtle gouache 7 1/4 x 5 1/2”

2006 living room gouache 15 1/4 x 6”

gouache made in costa rica 1994 /  by Philip Tarlow

TARLOW: the jaguar, gouache & watercolor on paper, 1994, coll. of the artist

5:55 PM: today i started a long overdue studio cleanup. i began going through a big pile of paintings on paper. one of those is this watercolor/gouache on paper portraying mikela and others surrounding a tamed jaguar lying on the ground.

continued work on Kosode" and "Asuita" /  by Philip Tarlow

12:32 PM: not much time to post right now; gotta run to a 1pm meeting. i worked this morning on both asuita and kosode,” moving between the two while having a conversation with my former gallery director in houston. talking with hime made it easier to make good moves on the canvases, as it took me out of my plotting, scheming mind!

whiteover of "Atsuita," and starting "Kosode" / travel drawings /  by Philip Tarlow

kosode & asuita as they looked at the end of the day

2:26 PM: i’m cooked for the day. did quite a bit of work on both paintings. they look like they want to stay together, side by side, forever! speaking of which, you gotta check out this article from the guardian; she really inspires me.

Eileen Kramer on 108 years of extraordinary life: ‘I can dance in the mirror for hours’
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/jul/29/eileen-kramer-life-keeps-me-dancing-book?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

going to town to do some food shopping. lotsa good energy today!! see you tomorrow…

11:49 AM: me first glance this morning let me know that atsuita was way to busy & the colors too strong. i whited over it, then scraped into that with a strip of plywood that has just the right amount of uneveness. and now i’m working back into it, going back and forth between a new one, same size, titled kosode. a kosode is the name of a 17th c. japanese garment with small sleeve openings and floral motifs likely imported from china. kosode is at a very early stage; i started the drawing yesterday but didn’t post.

TRAVEL DRAWINGS

3/7/20 TRAVEL DRAWING IN COLORED PENCIL

this morning before coming over to the studio i adjusted a group of travel drawings. when we were traveling more, i made a lot of them in various coffee shops across southern colorado while waiting for mikela to finish whatever event she was facilitating. i think i may post one every day until i get through them all, or at least the ones i know about. there are a lot more in a studio closet full of old drawing books.

tweaks to atsuita /  by Philip Tarlow

2:50 PM: when i cast my first glance at atsuita, it looked a bit too busy and fuzzy. so i went over the yellowish-reddish whites with a brighter white, made adjustments to the unresolved upper right corner, a black diagonal band of color in the upper right and added a few green verticles. when i glance at it now (i say glance because that quick look allows me to evaluate what might me off in the composition or color) it looks a lot better, but as always, i’ll know better in the morning.

atsuita 38x20”/96.5x51 cm. at the end of the day

BELOW: before & after today’s tweaks

atsuita continued /  by Philip Tarlow

2:43 PM: atsuita went through quite a few stages before arriving at what you see here. figures were introduced, and if you look carefully, you’ll see 6 of them. most of them have played a role in paintings i’ve made over the past year or so: the jumping skateboarder on top; the walking plaid shirted figure reaching out to his girfriend below, the skateboarder with the checkered shorts and the kid with the striped green cap (overlapping the checkered shorts) will be familiar to you if you follow my work and this blog.

i had attempted to introduce elements from our creek; branches, rocks, water… but it was coming too much from my head and not supporting the composition at all. so i wiped all that out just before sitting down to post. it was on the lower left, doing nothing more than overloading and confusing the composition and proclaiming: look at me! i can be part of this painting too! so now it’s a white space with visible brushmarks and a ghost image of what’s beneath.

what i most enjoyed and related to in the two diebenkorn videos i watched a few days ago, was just how much, surprisingly, i was able to relate to his process. not only did i learn a lot, but i became stronger in my conviction that i’m on a good path, which seems at this point to be figurative abstraction, and simply need to keep going.

atsuita 38x20”/96.5x51 cm. as it looked at the end of the day

atsuita /  by Philip Tarlow

ATSUITA 38x20” as it looked at the end of my painting day today

3:50 PM: atsuita is the name of a japanese robe from the middle edo period, which i’m borrowing as the title of this painting. this 38x20” piece of portrait linen was originally intended to be half of a new painting in two pieces hung side by side. initially, i lay them next to one another on my painting table and made some sweeping marks in bright colors, which were inspired by japanese robes from that period i had been loooking at.

so this morning, i decided to let hu 1 have a little rest, and began work on atsuita. the by now familiar walking figure in the blue plaid shirt has shown up, as well as a tip of the hat to diebenkorn in the form of a green triangle of color in the lower left. on the upper left is the half scraped over figure of a bather sitting on the rocks above piso yialia, a beach we used to frequent on the greek island of andros.

continued work on “HU 1” /  by Philip Tarlow

HU 1 following today’s work

2:40 PM: so i brushed aside my morning comments and continued work on hu 1, following a one hour break to deal with the technician who came to set up our new tv. for the most part my attention was on the bottom musician on the lower portion of the composition and the shadows cast by his body & instrument.

i’m out of juice, so let’s see what happens in the morning.

11:40 AM: this morning i saw what i needed to do and did it, before the spirit left or weakened. i was also aware of the time, because we were expecting the technician from directv to come and help us connect our new tv set to the dish.

when a painting is this far along, there’s a moment when you feel what needs to happen, but it can only happen when you grab the brush or oil pastel stick do what it tells you. the greatest amount of time was actually spent on the shadow of the lower musician’s arm, on the right side of the composition. it was too dark, then too light until i realized that it was the space between the shadow and his actual arm that was a big part of the problem. some vertical and horizontal lines helped make it sing.

i won’t do anything more and allow it to breathe until tomorrow morning. , when i cast that all important first glance. so now it’s still early enough to do some work on the second piece of 38x20” linen, originally meant to be a companion piece to hu 1.