celebration VII; letting go / celebration IV modifications /  by Philip Tarlow

12:25 PM: i was in a mood this morning. i grabbed celebration VII, which i had considered complete, and collaged a few pieces of paper i had drawn on for the purpose, as well as a piece of map.

the reason i say letting go” in the title of today’s blog post is that i had to enter unknown territory when i began collaging and painting over areas i had worked many hours creating. in the end, you have to sacrifice prized details and passages like that for the sake of the whole. so i let my brush take the lead, and simply followed where it was taking me, irrespective of whether i was painting over precious details.

there’s no road map for where i went. no process i could repeat. the result set me on my heels.

BELOW: celebration VII before (left) and after todays work

1:55 PM: on february 2, i had whited over the entire celebration IV, which i then painted over with some loose sketchy figures. just now i decided to go back into it. at the moment it may seem like a bit of a mess, but i’ll take it further on tuesday, since i won’t be in the studio tomorrow.

BELOW: celebration IV before (left) and after todays modifications

celebration VIII / celebration V re-work /  by Philip Tarlow

3:12 PM: celebration V had too much black, so i re-worked it just now & i think it’s hugely improved.

BELOW: the before & after todays re-work

12:29 PM: i cropped the image of celebration VII and one of those crops proved interesting to pursue as a new painting: celebration VIII. this is a preliminary sketch on the 16x20 linen canvas….let’s see where she goes next!

BELOW: on the left is this mornings sketch; on the right, where celebration VIII was at the end of my painting day

celebration VII lightened /  by Philip Tarlow

1:15 PM: celebration VII 16x20” as it looked following the work i did this morning

1:09 PM: we both felt there was too much black in celebration VII, so i worked on it quite a bit, taking out most of the black and revising the entire composition, so that it now sings. what’s most successful in this painting is how the two figures integrate with the basket of fruit and flowers, inspired by a photo i shot decades ago on the deck of a house we were living in in southern europe. if you check out the two details i posted, the fruit and flowers are more clearly visible.

celebration VII continued /  by Philip Tarlow

celebration VII 16x20” oil on linen as it looked at the end of my painting day today

1:53 PM: today i did extensive work on celebration VII. the composition is now rich with colors; perhaps most importantly the reds of the flowering cactus on the upper left and the blue checkered patterning below, playing off the checkered patterning on the sleeve of the handstand figure. both figures were inspired by the celebrations that took place following the 2020 olympics, where checkered patterning was a general theme, both in the clothing and the background sets.

celebration VII, day 2 / self portrait /  by Philip Tarlow

celebration VII, oil on linen, 16x20” as it looked moments ago

12:38 PM: i worked very gingerly this morning on celebration VII, which i started yesterday. i may do a bit more today, or wait till i’m fresh in the morning. what i added today, on the left, is drawn from a photo i shot at least a decade ago, of baskets of fruit outside a house we were living in at the time, i believe in california.

10 small canvases i’ve been working on over the past month

12:33 PM: i was rummaging through some old photos in my upstairs studio storage space and came across this photo of a self portrait. i don’t have a date or know it’s whereabouts, although it’s probably somewhere in the studio. my best guess is 2014, but it may well be earlier.

photo of a self portrait, oil on linen, date unknown

celebration VI continued / celebration V modified further /  by Philip Tarlow

2:47 PM: celebration V, 14x16” following dramatic modifications this afternoon.

2:44 PM: i’m moving back & forth between celebration V and VI. significant changes have just occured to celebration V, and i may have to sit with it till tomorrow morning to see where it wants to go next….or not.

the cactus flowers i made part of the celebration VI composition have appeared here as well, creating less of an architectural and more of an oriental feel.

celebration VI, 16x20”

12:42 PM: i continued the new celebration VI today, working into and enriching what i did yesterday. right now, she’s achieved an excellent balance of color, form and white space. so i think i’ll return to celebration V, which seems kinda tame after what i just did!

more work on celebration V / starting celebration VI, 16x20" /  by Philip Tarlow

celebration V 14x16” as it looked at the end o fmy painting day today

celebration VI, 16x20” at the end of day 1

2:44 PM: i added a few strokes on the upper right deliniating architectural details of the museum, then started celebration VI, which continues the series, but with 9 slightly larger canvases: 16x20” instead of 14x16”

having introduced them in many recent paintings, i know my cast of characters well. this allows me to paint them with a highe rlevel of certainty and playfulness. they are increasingly incorporated into the composition more as forms and colors and less as a guy doing a handstand. i’d say that, so far, that’s more true of this one than the previous ones. and, as matisse famously said, "you don’t wait for the inspiration; it comes as you’re working.”

celebration V on day 1 / 5 recent paintings hanging together /  by Philip Tarlow

celebration V, 14x18”, oil on linen, as it looked at the end of day 1

2:09 PM: this afternoon i started the fifth in my celebration series, which is 14x18”, like the others. it contains 4 of my cast of characters thus far, as well as a cactus blossom i photographed near my studio 3-4 years ago. these blossoms, by the way, only last for a few days. as usual, i had to wait a few hours before getting my groove. but i didn’t waste my time, and made some ginger-tumeric tea which, if you aren’t familiar with it, has many health benefits as well as being delicious. i used fresh ginger & tumeric root, purchased yesterday at elephant cloud in crestone.

5 paintings done since january 16th

11:17 AM: the purpose of this post is twofold: to remind/show you what i’ve been working on since january 16, 2024 and for me to evaluate it and get a sense of next moves.

museumscape horizontal /  by Philip Tarlow

1:28 PM: celebration IV has been whited and simplified along the lines of what just happened with museumscape. something similar may happen with celebration I, 2 & 3 tomorrow, when we’re hoping to have seen 7 or more inches of fresh snow.

celebration IV 14x16” as it looked moments ago

museumscape 16x40” as it looked after this morning’s whiteover and re-do

12:31 PM: there was far too much going on, mostly from my head, not my gut. so i whited over it anddrew into the still wet white with my brushes.