celebration XII, 16x20”
3:23 PM: before stretching some new 35x38” canavses, i decided to make a new celebration series painting on an already stretched 16x20” linen canvas. it’s a simpler one, with no collaged elements, no scraping or paint-overs. just 6 figures in a museum and their shadows, viewed from above, plus the walking figure in the plaid shirt, but i haven’t painted the blue plaid stripes.
celebration XI 36x44” following this mornings tweaks
1:09 PM: before moving on and stretching a new canvas, i made some tweaks to celebration XI, 36x44”
mikela pointed out that the hat on the figure to the left, seen from above looking at his phone, needed to pop more. so i accented that red patterning on the blue ground and added a few white accents that are actually there in the original.
the leaf patterning on the lower right now extends a little into the yellow ground, plus a few other minor details.
celebration XI, 36x44” oil & collage on portrait linen as it looked following todays work
1:23 PM: i continued painting celebration XI. as following the path created by the previous celebration series works, blue-green & yellow dominate, figures overlap, are scraped and engage with the new pieces of collage; either pieces of quill pen black & white drawing or cutout pieces from art magazines.
BELOW: celebration XI as she looked yesterday (left) and just now, at 2pm
celebration X 36x44” oil & collage on linen, following today’s tweaks
celebration XI 36x44” as she looked following the work i did today
3:20 PM: today i made some minor changes to celebration X and continued work on celebration XI.
the blue mark to the right of the figure (mikela) creates mor balance in the composition. a collaged piece of drawing has been added to celebration XI, as well as a new figure, above the guy with the patterned trousers. tis figure, see from above, derives from photos i shot some years ago in athens, greece, and is one of a number of people millling about on a heavily trafficked main street near kolonaki square, where i lived for 15 years, and around the corner form the gallery i showed at during that period: skoufa gallery. visit this page on my site for more images of paintings i made during that period: https://www.philiptarlow.com/art-created-in-greece
12:47 PM: i was rushed when i posted a photo of the painting i took with my iphone 2 days ago, and yesterday we were in colorado springs and i didn’t have my laptop, so this morning i took a much better shot with my nikon, which i was able to adjust while looking at the original hanging on the wall, so here she is.
i was looking through some old travel drawings sketchbooks this morning and especially liked these two. the guy on the left is asleep on the ferry to the cycladic island of andros; on the right is a patient asleep in the dermatologist’s waiting room.
celebration XI, 36x44” after whiting it over and introducing a drawing of mikela, oil on quadruple primed portrait linen
celebration X, 36x44” as she looked following today’s whiteover
2:23 PM: i whited over celebration XI, leaving only a portion of the figure with the blue outlined shirt and the figure, viewed from above, of the guy in the checker patterned trousers looking at this phone. as often happens, the white-over has created a mysterious image and has given her lots of breathing space. the white oil paint was kind of thick and runny, so in order to prevent dripping, which i sometimes like but didn’t want in this case, i had to lay it on the studio floor and photograph it from above, standing on a step stool & using my iphone instead of my nikon.
2:01 PM: i whited over almost all of celebration XI earlier today and introduced a drawing in grey oil inspired by a composite photo i shot at some point in the past…at least a decade ago…of mikela holding a mirror and adjusting her hair. i’ll probably wait till tomorrow for the next stage to reveal herself.
6/19/2020 plein air creek watercolor
12:11 PM: this is one of my plein air creek watercolors, painted in june, 2023. panting plein air at the creek is indescribably wonderful on all levels: the frangrances; the sound of the rushing water; and the kind of observation only possible during the act of painting on site.
3:19 PM: i made a few tweaks to the lower portion of celebration X and started celebration XI, which has the same dimensions.
celebration X as she looked at 3pm, following tweaks to the bottom portion
celebration XI on day 1
celebration X 36x44” oil on linen, as she looked at the end of my painting day today
3:48 PM: this was a long day, but i’m not feeling that tired. those cornbread CBD sleep gummies are helping my sleep. i entered my studio remembering what matisse said about how we find our path as we paint, not beforehand. so i was feeling pretty loose and open to whatever, and whatever is what happened. in the sense that i was able, moreso than ever before, to draw from my familiar figures seen from above and play around with them, overlap them, scrape them; in other words, i was able, on a higher level than i can recall, to PLAY!
she’s lively, sexy and interestingly musical. i’m remembering my belief that music & poetry are the foundational arts.
so we’ll see where she wants to go tomorrow. i may start celebration XI on the same size canvas, which will give me the option of going back and forth between the two, which as you know i love.
celebration X, 32x36” as it looked at the end of day 1
3:54 PM: this morning, ahving resolved celebration IX, i started celebration X, 32x36” newly stretched on stretcher bars with aluminum supports. the figures are floating about in an as yet undefined space, and there’s no telling yet where the top & bottom are. an inetesting moment!
celebration VII in a frame i had in the studio. although it cuts off part of the painting, it shows what a difference a frame can make
12:41 PM: although this frame is a bit too small for the painting, it shows it off really beautifully, and gives an idea of how the series can look when they’re well framed.
2:15 PM: behind the glass window on my studio door was a photocollage; the very first thing a visitor would see when entering. today i replaced it with one of my celebration series paintings, a diptych with celebrating figures on a white ground. i was too long for the size of the window, so i made a few adjustments, and it will remain until i find something that actually fits.
