further work on skateboarding girl / study of a matisse i made on 1/12/24 /  by Philip Tarlow

SKATEBOARDING GIRL 42x42” following the tweaks i just made to the girl’s previously bare breasts

1:51 PM: her bare breasts were drawing my attention to the detriment of the composition as a whole, so i covered them with her dress, which has made a big difference. i think it may be close to resolution now.

skateboarding girl. 42x42” as she looked following the changes i just made

10:18 AM: i knew where i wanted to go with skateboarding girl last night, so as soon as i entered the studio i got straight to work without having breakfast. i’m on a break now and we’re going tpo take a walk up the trail while it’s still cool, so i’ll post more when we’re back.

STUDY OF A MATISSE PAINTING I MADE ON 1/12/24

7:33 am: matisse is one of the masters i study. sometimes in order to learn more i make little studies like this one, from january 12 of this year.

today i’m asking myself: what can i learn form this that i can apply to the painting i’m currently working on: skateboarding girl?

skateboarding girl, continued... /  by Philip Tarlow

skateboarding girl, 42x42” oil & collage on linen, as she looked following today’s session

2:29 PM: i took skateboarding girl to the next level today. as are all my recent paintings, it’s a figurative abstraction , where the figures anchor the entire composition and give the viewer a doorway into the balance of colors and forms constituting the composition. i believe my main mentor, tsarouchis, would get it. although this would be a leap forward for him and his ‘60’s-70’s sensibility, he was so anchored in the history of great art over time, that he would not, i believe, have the slightest difficulty understanding where i’m at, and the role he played and continues to play.

DETAIL

changes to "skateboarding girl" /  by Philip Tarlow

skateboarding girl, 42x42”, oil & collage on linen

4:19PM: i worked on this one yesterday but it’s still in process. i could not for the life of me find the title of that painting, other than still life with refugees,” but there’s another painting with the same name. so go figure!

so it now has a new name: skateboarding girl.

still life with refugees stretched today / /  by Philip Tarlow

still life with refugees, 42x42” oil and collage on linen as it looked after i streched it today

2:34 PM: today i was in the mood to stretch still life with refugees, which as been tacked to my wall since i completed it on may 14. it looks so much better, it makes me want to stretch the others. i’ll have to wait on the 24x28” recent ones, because the stretcher bars i got were too thin & fragile and cracked when i applied any pressure. so i sent photos to blick, where i bought them and asked for a refund so i could get sturdier ones.

new creek paintings today /  by Philip Tarlow

4:10 PM: this morning i ventured out to the creek, just in time to beat the mosquito season, which starts in days. i acually saw one while i was painting. i made 4 paintings, using watercolor, colored pencils and crayons.

at work today on 6/3/24 creek painting 2

stretching "vyd Zverkhou II" and "the lobby" /  by Philip Tarlow

the newly stretched vyd zverkhou and the lobby hanging on my east studio painting wall

3:16PM: today i stretched vyd zverkhou II and the lobby. you get a much better sense of the compositions once they’re stretched and are no longer surrounded by blank white canvas. i have 3 more of these recent 24x28” paintings and one more blank canvas cut this size, which i’ll start working on tomorrow. that will make a total of 6 24x28” new paintings. when i show them, they’ll be hung one above the other in 3 rows.

"the lobby," stage 2, 3 /  by Philip Tarlow

the lobby, stage 3, as she looked moments ago, after re-flippping 360 degrees.

2:18 PM: the lobby has been flipped 360 again, returning it to it’s old self. well, one day old!

the lobby, stage 2, as she looked moments ago

12:29 PM: in a move familiar to those of you who follow my process, i flipped the lobby 360 and introduced a large, colorful bird. when i find these birds, and i currently have 285 of them in my birds folder, i never make note of the name, so i can’t tell you what bird this is or where it lives. right now of course, it’s living in the lobby!

i also collaged a few pieces of ink drawings and maps.

the lobby, day 1 /  by Philip Tarlow

the lobby, 24x28” oil on portrait linen, at the end of day 1

3:36 PM: i declared kodo II resolved and started a new one, also 24x28”, titled the lobby. so far there are two figures viewed from above in a large open spave with plants. the imagery is based on three or four photos i shot about a decade ago. my intention is for this painting to retain it’s freshness and simplicity, so i’m ging to take it slow. you’ve heard all this before, right?

kodo II tweaks /  by Philip Tarlow

kodo II, 24x28” as it looked following this morning’s tweaks

11:23 AM: this morning i made some tweaks to kodo II. it needed to POP more and there were a few things that needed work on her hand, in the middle figure. it looks like she has only 3 fingers plus her thumb. in the photo, her pinky finger is folded under and thus not visible. after the work i just did, that hand looks more natural. as well, i painted over her face reflected in the mirror, since it was takking your attention away from the movement of the composition as a whole. i removed the protruding breast of that same middle figure. too many breasts!

BELOW: yesterday’s version is on the left

kodo II continued... /  by Philip Tarlow

kodo II, 24x28” oil & collage on linen, as she looked at the end of my painting day today

2:43 PM: this painting is certainly taking a long journey! from yesterday’s plaid shirted walking figure to today’s mikela with mirror…

i do like what happened today a lot more than where she was yesterday, but, that said, the journey is not over yet. we’ll see tomorrow how she evolves, and if mikela remains or serves as the ground for yet another trip. i do love the photo collage this version is inspired by, which i made at least a decade ago and probably more.

as i gaze at today’s version, there are some stellar moments, and i love how the plaid shirted good doctor figure come through. the green on the top right definitely helps the composition as a whole. but it definitely hasn’t yet POPPED!