14x18" canvas ii day 2 / matcha tea /  by Philip Tarlow

14x18” canvas II as it looked following today’s work.

2:28 PM: in my unusual way of working; skitting about the studio, looking at a bit of matisse; preparing some yoghurt, bananas & berries; reading dimitri’s proposal for an exhibition with works of mine that are inspired by theatre or novels, such as the illustrations i did years ago for karagatsi’s book, sergios and vakhos, ….i took 14x18” canvas II to the next stage.

if you haven’t tried it, you should consider it. here’s an article that talks about the benefits: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/7-benefits-of-matcha-tea

and here’s a quote from a guy who got some on Amazon.com

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent

Reviewed in the United States on December 2, 2023

Flavor Name: Culinary Grade (Pouch)Size: 3.53 Ounce (Pack of 1)Verified Purchase

If you don’t drink Matcha then please start now.
This Japanese Matcha is the best quality that I’ve found for taste, mixability, purity and value.

It’s not cheap and that’s because it’s not cheap! And have you researched what this can do for your body and overall health?

I believe in this as a superfood that has increased my body’s livelihood.
I’ve experienced weight loss, increased energy and focus, a kickstarted metabolism, thicker stronger hair, improved cholesterol and numbers on my annual labs, and I have actually grown to love the taste on its own or mixed with other flavors for richness.

I boil my water in a tea kettle, I shake in a cinnamon/sugar mixture from the grocery store, add some honey and some whole milk or unflavored kefir (another superfood which I make at home), sometimes a scoop of coconut flavored or unflavored collagen peptides, and whisk them together with a frother. And voila! I’m sipping on this delectable concoction every morning and alkalizing my body instead of acidifying it from coffee.
The caffeine content is maybe 1/10 that of coffee so if I need more of that I take a caffeine pill on rare occasion.

I drink Japanese Matcha for the absurd health benefits that I get, not for the short lived buzz of coffee which gives me stomach issues.
Try something new and get off that coffee!

14x18" canvas II /  by Philip Tarlow

14x18” #2 following last minute changes moments ago

2:54 PM: last minute changes just before walking out the door!

14x18” #2 as it looked just now, at the end of my painting day.

2:35 PM: that’s it for today; we’re about to take our afternoon trail walk, after many days when it was too cold or windy! here’s where 14x18” 2 is at….needs more work tomorrow, perhaps simplification…

1:00 PM: i’m leaving #1 as it was at the end of day yesterday, and have started #2. here’s how it looked at 1pm.

continued work on "the drummer" /  by Philip Tarlow

the drummer, 37x35” oil on linen as it looked at 2pm today, following considerable work

2:23 PM: i made a total mess of the drummer yesterday, so i cleaned off everything i had done and started fresh, with the painting as it was the last time i worked on it, december 27.

we now see the drummer once again, as well as the full length of the tree branch traversing the composition and the influences from the art of the japanese momyama period. i didn’t touch the skateboarder, who is now surrounded by white. i’m going to sit with it until tomorrow and see how it feels.

rework of “the drummer” / DETAIL of The Last Supper," 38x20" /  by Philip Tarlow

the drummer, 37x35” oil & collage on linen, as it looked at 2pm

BELOW: before (left) and after today’s changes

2:23 PM: this is the next stage o fmy rework of the drummer.

the drummer, 37x35” oil & collage on linen, as it looked midway into a rework today

1:02 PM: the drummer seemed too busy today, so i’m going back into it. right now it’s a bit of a mess, but i’m still working and will post updates.

every morning lately i’m gazing at the last supper, 38x20” this is a detail i especially like this detail.

acropolis museum LLL changes / breakfast in studio / 2011 painting of rocks /  by Philip Tarlow

the acropolis museum III, 35x37” oil on linen following today’s additions

BELOW: acropolis museum III before and after today’s changes

2pm: acropolis museum III has been hanging in the house. after gazing at it for the last few weeks, it became clear that, although it’s spareness was beautiful, we both felt it needed something more.

i brought it to the studio yesterday, but wasn’t in the right space to mess with it. today i felt differently, so i’ve been making some additions, taking care not to do too much and spoil it’s elegant, geometric simplicity. i introduced a new figure in the bottom left, inspired by a shot i took in salida of a kid taking off his shoe. and i added color to a few of the other figures, which now pop. after a few other changes. i’ve stopped here for the day.

2011 painting , 6x51/2” oil on linen

the kid i added, who is taking off his shoe

10:26 AM: yesterday i picked up my weekly order of fresh baked sourdough & this morning i toasted a piece, slathered it with French Brie, tomato & capers, put it in the toaster oven and had it with fresh, home roasted & ground Yemen Sanani Ismaili Traditional coffee. oh yeah!

i am what the greeks call meraklis:
Meraki means to do something with passion and absolute devotion. A “Meraklis” or “Meraklou” puts his or her soul into something. It can be the simplest of tasks, such as making a coffee for your girlfriend – you made it with love, with meraki!

so how come WE don’t have a word for that? think about it.

this small painting of rocks, dating from 2011, reveals my decades long love affair with rocks, going back to my teen years at birchwoods, the interrracial camp i attended from the ages of 5 to 15. visit my story page for more about this: https://www.philiptarlow.com/chatty-bio

and here’s the 1954 letter from the Director, Otto K. Rosaahn, announcing that fact:

8/9/11 painting of rocks, 6x51/2” oil on linen

acropolis museum VII, further adjustments /  by Philip Tarlow

acropolis museum VII as it looked following today’s chnages to the collaged piece of paper

2:26 PM: i was having issues with the piece of collaged paper on the mid-right, which wouldn’t stick to the canvas. so i read up on it and learned something i’ve wanted to know for a long time; how to collage a piece of paper to an oil painting on canvas. the solution was simple, and i happen to have the recommended PVA size.

once i had accomplished that by tracing the shape i wanted and cutting it out then mounting it on the painting, i worked into it. the result is different than before, and i think much improved! imy original intention was to hide the figure of the jumping female skateboarder, and what i had done on the other piece of paper that wouldn’t stick was ok, but not fully integrated into the composition, which it now is.

BELOW: yesterday’s version, with the paper i couldn’t attach, is on the LEFT

acropolis museum 7 re-work /  by Philip Tarlow

acropolis museum VII 35x37” oil & collage on linen as it looked today at 1pm

1:41 PM: i began reworking acropolis museum 7 yesterday, but i didn’t like where the female skateboarder was going, so today i flipped it 180 and strated woking into it again, painting and collaging over the female skateboarder completely.

lately, these reworks are giving me the opportunity to play. as you know if you follow my blog, at heart i’m not an abstract painter, and rercently i love playing with some of the photos i’ve shot of figures viewed from above that i have in my files, creating figure based, painterly abstractions. in this crop you see here, the unplanned and “accidental” painterly passages and colors interact with the figures in a fashion deKooning would have appreciated when he said:

the stars i think about, if i could fly, i could reach in a few old fashioned days. but physicists stars i use as buttons, buttoning up curtains of emptyness. if i stretch my arms next to myself and wonder where my fingers are-that is all the space i need as a painter.

BELOW: the earlier verson of acropolis VII

DETAIL of acropolis museum VII

recent work / cold wind chill today /  by Philip Tarlow

one of my recent paintings, incorporating imagery drawn from the olympic celebrations. this is one of a series of works in oil on linen. selections from this series, as well as other recent work will be shown at my solo exhibition at gremillion on sunset, in houston, texas, opening april 1st.

7:50 AM: currently the wind here at 8,000 ft. in the Sangre de Christo foothills is gusting to 42 MPH, the tempreature is 20F, so the wind chill is -1F.

matisse study re-visited /  by Philip Tarlow

matisse study, 16x20” as it looked following this morning’s changes

3:10 PM: matisse study is so titled because that’s what is was originally. this past august 3 i whited over it and left the lone figure on the whited over ground. since then, it’s been hanging in the bedroom. i felt yesterday that it needed something more, so i brought it over to the studio and did some work on it this morning.