US OPEN 2 / trail walk drawings /  by Philip Tarlow

us open 2, 20x38” as it looked at the end of day 1

3:02 PM: i didn’t feel like continuing us open 1. instead, i felt like starting something new on a fresh, unpainted piece of 20x38” portrait linen i had cut from the roll a few weeks back. so by gosh i did! the drawing, as you can see, includes many different views of figures engaged in activities: tennis & skateboarding mainly, although my old friend, the plaid shirted good doctor is in there too, along with some flowers inspired by 18th c. japanese fabrics.

caressing the linen with fresh oil paints is a pure aesthetic and sensual delight. painting the dark bits of flesh in shadow adjacent to the areas lit by the sun is a huge turn on. only the french could create such a marvelous painting surface!

four recent trail walk drawings mounted on board this morning

12:15 PM: we took our trail walk this morning and i made a drawing i wasn’t satisfied with, so i collaged a piece of map, worked into it a bit and then decided to mount it on board with 3 others, which i then placed in a frame.

4 recent trail walk drawings framed this morning

this morning’s drawing with a collaged map fragment

starting "U.S. Open 1" /  by Philip Tarlow

u.s. open 1, 20x80” oil on portrait linen, at 4pm today

2:32 PM: i’ve had this 20x80” whited over canvas sitting for about a month. yesterday as we watched the u.s. open matches, i shot some stills of the players from the tv screen. this morning i printed out a few and began an experiment. we’ll see if it has legs or just gets painted over again.

adjustments to "skateboarder 3" /  by Philip Tarlow

3:43 PM: i was about to launch into something new today, but my gaze kept returning to skateboarder 3, and i had a persistant feeling something more was needed.

i mostly used collage to make the changes, which will become apparant if you compare the two images BELOW.

so i’ll wait till tomorrow morning to satrt something new. we took our trail walk this morning, and i made another study of the creek using my colored pencils and a small drawing book.

this morning’s creek drawing

hu 1 & jazz 13 reworks /  by Philip Tarlow

jazz 13 as it looked at the end of my painting day today

3:56 PM: this morning i stretched hu 1, and then discovered there’s more i wanted to do. i think my changes and additions, which were mostly around the borders, have enriched the composition.

jazz 13 seems to be an ongoing experiment in ways the entire jazz series could go to another level. if i had to use one word to characterize that, it might be fluidity. i’ve been working into, the making fluid, curviliniar movements with the palette knife, creating a subtle play of movement across the canvas as well as greater ambiguity in the human figures scattered throughout the composition.

hu 1 as it looked following todays changes

jazz 13 rework /  by Philip Tarlow

3:38 PM: i’ve been looking at jazz 13, 35x37” on the east studio wall for months. i brought it back to the house yesterday, which is the ultimate test of how well a painting stands up, and it failed the test.

so today, i dove back in & made some radical changes, which will likely continue tomorrow, since it needs to lighten up.

here’s the before and after.

tweaking "skateboarder 3" /  by Philip Tarlow

1:09 PM: i brought skateboarder 3 back to the house yesterday so that we could both look at it critically. as a result, i made the tweaks you see here. the strokes i made on the bottom 1/4 are critical to the composition. the highlighting of the skateboard, her sneakers and the outline of her dress allow the painting/collage to be seen more easily from a distance.

starting skateboarder 3 /  by Philip Tarlow

4:56 PM: i started skateboarder 3 this morning. i’ll post more later; gotta get back to the house.

like the other two, she’s flying high above a number of maps on her siena skateboard. her green dress and white petticoat are blowing in the wind.

compositionally, again, as with 1 & 2, the shape and colors of the maps RE ll importnt, providing structure to the curvaceous figure. however the lower quarter still needs work.

continuing skateboarder 1, starting skateboarder 2 /  by Philip Tarlow

3:46 PM: i continued work on skateboarder 1, which may be complete, and started skateboarder 2, a guy with a red shirt & cap & a red striped skateboard. i like them both…i’ll know better in the morning.ing

it’s interesting going from painting in oil to gouache. especially since, in my evolving style of working in oil, i routinely scrape just painted passages or white over them and then paint into the ghost image.

all of a sudden, i have to stay with the brush marks i make. going over something you’ve painted in gouache is not advisable and, as with watercolor, the marks you make are permanant.

on the other hand, it’s always good to switch it up, whatever you’re doing: cooking, reading, making love or just walking up the trail. i’m using different parts of my brain when i switch mediums as i did today, and that too is beneficial.

plus, i’m noticing things about skateboarders i never knew or paid attention to. one could say this is about as close as we can get to flying. i love how their arms create balance, and how every part of the body is engaged. it could be perceived as a form of dance.

skateboarder 1 16x6” gouache on paper

skateboarder 2 16x6” gouache on paper

skateboarder series /  by Philip Tarlow

3:28 PM: i’m interrupting my recent series of 38x20” oils to make a few paintings of skateboarders this weekend, for a prospective client who expressed interest. i’m about 70% through the first one, titled simply: skateboarder 1. they will all be 16x6” gouache on arches paper.

skateboarder 1 16x6” at the end of my painting day