acropolis museum, 80x20" -continued /  by Philip Tarlow

acropolis museum, 80x20” oil on linen, as it looked yesterday (left) and following the work i did today

2:07 PM: the bright colors i introduced yesterday, while compelling, didn’t work for me when i entered my studio this morning and gazed at the painting critically. especially that bright green stripe on the left.

so now, it’s much more subdued, and the overall greyness allows the areas of color to sing. the subtle transitions allow the eye to roam slowly over this very tall, narrow composition, and to slowly realize that what we’re looking down at is probably a 2-300 foot expanse of one of the galleries in the acropolis museum, with the sunlight raking across the floor and the visitors taking in the experience, which many of them, who are foreign tourists may never have again.

DETAIL of the upper 1/4 of the painting

continued work on "acropolis museum" 80x20" /  by Philip Tarlow

1:50 PM: a little while ago i introduced some brighter colors. it’s still too wet to hang on the wall, so to avoid drips i climbed on a ladder and photographed it from above.

i’m liking where it’s going with these new brighter colors. i have to wait, sometimes hours, till i get the message to introduce something new.

tomorrow, when it’s dry enough, i’ll hang it on my east wall and take better photographs.

acropolis museum as it looked following today’s work

day 4, “acropolis museum” formerly "figures from above iv" ...further work needed? /  by Philip Tarlow

2:54 PM: when we both took a critical look at figures from above IV, we felt it needed more work, particularly in the area of floor beneath the woman with the red bag.

and after thinking about it last night, i decided acropolis museum is a better title. of course this means i have to go back and change the name in all my files, but that’s ok.

acropolis museum, 80x20”

day 3, "Figures From Above IV" livens up /  by Philip Tarlow

1:47 PM: it would appear that i had to go grey before diving into brighter colors. today is that day, and everything in this long narrow composition has livened up. it helped that i sent to image to my son in greece yesterday. he responded positively, but i could feel his mind wondering why my painting of the acropolis museum with strolling, gazing figures had to be so monotone.

so bright colors have appeared: on the floor, on the figures and the dark blue horizontal band of color up top. as well, an ancient marble relief sculpture has appeared at the very top, giving the couple facing it a focus of attention.

i entered the studio with a different spirit today, and now, as i gaze at the painting from my usual 20 ft. distance, i’m amazed at the transfromation!

day 2, figures from above 4 /  by Philip Tarlow

figures from above IV, 80x20” oil on linen, as it looked moments ago, at the end of my painting day today

3:19 PM: today i was able to make some significant improvements to figures from above IV. a few figures needed to POP more, which they now do. some subtle additions to the architectual design of the Acropolis Museum floor and display windows on the right, make it clearer what we’re looking at, without being overly descriptive. now the woman on the upper right holding the red bag makes more sense; she’s looking at ancient artifacts in a glass showcase. the familiar (if you follow my BLOG) striding male figure below in the plaid shirt, while slightly larger than the rest of the figures, adds a note of mystery, which i always love. the grey border gives us mor eof a sense of having a birds eye view.

DETAIL

u.s. open I becomes "figures from above IV" /  by Philip Tarlow

figures from above IV 80x20” as it looked at the end of my painting day today

1:57 PM: i did a fair amopunt of work on the now titled figures from above IV, which is now a vertical composition, 80x20.” all the figures except for the familiar guy with the plaid shirt were inspired by a series of photos I took in the acropolis museum on one of our trips to greece to visit my son & grandkids. they’re mOstly all looking at ancient artifacts through the glass windows on the right. many probably just arrived from their visit to the acropolis itself, just a few hundred yards away.

whiting over u.s. open I and preparing to create figures from above IV

u.s. open I, 20x80” before it transformed today into figures from above PT paints into new figures from above IV

11:15 AM: i’ve been looking on and off at u.s.open I for weeks now, and decided yesterday afternoon that it wasn’t working. so this morning, i whited over it and am now painting back into it.

day four of "figures from above iii" /  by Philip Tarlow

figures from above III as it looked moments ago, afer removing the shadow of the skateboarder, upper right

1:53 pm: so i took out that big shadow, as i said i might a few hours ago. in it’s place are a few creek inspired marks suggesting branches & flowing creek water. better, but i’ll have to see how i feel about it in the morning. right now gotta leave for a meeting.

day four of "figures from above iii" 35x37” oil on linen

12:48 PM: there was an empty space in the upper left asking to be filled. this morning i added a jumping skateboarder with a long violet shadow. not yet sure about the shadow, which seems to dominate the composition in a way i hadn’t intended. so i may take it out.

day three of "figures from above iii" /  by Philip Tarlow

day two of "figures from above iii" 35x37” oil on linen

1:27 PM: i/we didn’t like all that green i painted in yesterday, so it’s gone, along with the pinks. the painting is back to it’s original spare state, but with some critical additions of color on the figures, as well as the triangle of yellow on the lower right. it seems to be singing, but i’ll know better in the morning.

day two of "figures from above iii" /  by Philip Tarlow

figures from above III 35x37” as it looked at the end of my painting day today

3:04 PM: i took figures from above III to the next stage todayintroducing greens, pinks & blues and some bold patterns inspired by 18th c. japanese fabric prints. the 5 figures are integrated into the swirl of brush marks and the whole composition will go to the next level tomorrow.

day one of "figures from above III" /  by Philip Tarlow

figures from above III as it looked at the end of my painting day today. outlines of a creekscape can be seen next to and behind the skateboarder, and a few colors have been introduced, such as the red shoulder strap of the woman in the museum.

4:23 PM: so i feel complete with figures from above II and this morning launched into figures from above III, which has the same dimensions as the previous two, and has started out along a similar path, with figures from above sketched in with grey oils. and as with the previous two, the composition will very likely morph ove rthe next few days until she finds her song and sings it loud and clear!

this morning i placed the creek plein air watercolor i made october 8, in a frame, which makes quite a difference!

late this afternoon, i stretched and then hung figure from above I in our living room. looks pretty good!