STARTING "minoan CELEBRATION" /  by Philip Tarlow

minoan celebration, 38x38” as she looked at the end of my painting day today

3:16 PM: minoan celebratoin, which i started work on a few hours ago, to be continued tomorrow.

2:09 PM: a little while ago, after a wild monsoonal thunderstorm this morning, i cut a 38x38” canvas and began work on minoan celebration. it’s just a brush drawing in dark grey for the moment.

here’s a short video i shot of this mornings monsoonal downpour, with strong winds, rain & hail.

the morning monsoonal downpour from my studio

1 more salida drawing from yesterdays trip /  by Philip Tarlow

river surfers in salida yesterday

10:43 am: here’s one more final drawing i made while waiting for my annual knee shots in the doctors waiting room in salida yesterday. this guy kept crossing & uncrossing his arms & legs, but i managed to complete the drawing nonetheless.

there were a bunch of guys with surfboards attached to one leg who were jumping into the roiling water and remaining upright until a string wave flipped them. then they swam to the shore and did it again.

today's salida drawings /  by Philip Tarlow

6:46 PM: we were in salida ll day for medical appointments. we had 4 hours between the 2 appointments, so we went down to the river, where i made some sketches of river surfboarders with colored pencils and watercolor, plus a few sketches in the waiting room of the doctors office.

a piece of "roiling creek" /  by Philip Tarlow

2:04 PM: roiling creek is a recent 40x46” painting i considered unsuccessful. this morning a cut off 2 pieces i found interesting, and this is one of them. i’ll probably mount it on board at some point, since it doesn’t have room on the edges for stretching.

celebration XIII rubbed over & painted into as a creek-scape /  by Philip Tarlow

celebration XIII 30x34”, as it looked moments ago

2:22 PM: there was way too much going on in the central portion of the composition, so i simplified it, and in the process it became a more dramatic painting, with the reflection of the aspens in the background becoming the focus of attention. i’m going to stop here & see how i feel in the morning.

BELOW: three phases of the painting today

celebration XIII as it looked moments ago

1:32 PM: after whiting over the 11:36 am version you see below, i behan painting into it as a creek-scape. it’s not there yet, but as always, it will progress and it’s been interesting making this shift.

celebration XIII, 30x34” as it looked following my scrub-over this morning

11:36 AM: when i encountered the painting this morning, it looked way too dark, way too busy and just not me.

so my first impulse was to take a break from painting in oils and start a new watercolor/gouache, series, which i still may do. but i had to get rid of all that harsh business, so i scrubbed it down with solvent. here’s how it looks post-scrub, and i’m contemplating going over it with a thin layer of white, allowing some of this to show through. if so, i’ll post later.

celebration Xlll continued /  by Philip Tarlow

celebration XIII as it looked at the end of my painting day today

3:47 pm: i continued work today on celebration XIII, which is unrecognizable from yesterdays version. i went into the pinks, making some richer than others, added some bubble wrap textures, also in pink, and the green palms inspired by shots of mikela i took from above a while back. the lower half of the composition has a black charcoal drawing of a bar scene, inspired by a b&w photo i have in my collection. i’m stopping here for the day.

celebration XIII /  by Philip Tarlow

celebration XIII, 30x34” oil on portrait linen, as she looked moments ago

1:55 PM: i rolled up yeserdays roiling creek 1 and put it in a corner. i didn’t like where it was going, and there was too much going on underneath from previous compositions, including collaged elements that ultimately took away from the freshness.

so i started celebration XIII, a continuation of my celebration series, which i worked on back in march through may of this year. when i use some of the figures that have appeared many times in earlier paintings, they become like a familiar laguage that i can play with more and more freely. while the juices are flowing, i can play around; scraping, smudging and using my brush sometimes like a tool, other times like a japanese calligrapher.

roiling creek 1, day 1 /  by Philip Tarlow

roiling creek 1 40x46” oil & collager on linen as it looked at the end of my painting day today

12:59 PM: one of the 4 canvases i pinked yesterday had a few layers already. so today i painted into that one with a new composition: roiling creek 1. here’s me at work a few moments ago.

i haven’t yet done any work on the remaining 3 canvases but i may start one or two tomorrow, since i always work better when i can switch between two or three works in progress.

woman at work / 4 pink-prepped canvases /  by Philip Tarlow

four canvases prepped with pink strokes. the one on the bottom is a whited over pre-existing painting.

3:36 PM: this afternoon i preppped 4 canvases, one of which had already been worked on. i used a pinkish color, brighter than what i used 4 days ago on orange creek. whereas on orange creek i worked ro=ight into it while it was still wet, i lay these down on my floor until tomorrow, when they’ll be about 75% dry, and will start working into them then and she where they want to go. the unpainted white shapes will play an important role in the compositions.

woman at work, 25x10 1/4” oil on linen, 1997

12:48 PM: this is one of the 100 or more paintings that arrived from houston a few days ago. the subject is a woman at work at night.

this is a good example of how patterning delights me and has been a part of my work for decades. it harkens back to some of the interiors i painted on the excursions my former mother-in-law niki karagatsi and i made to shops in and near piraeus.

very glad i discovered this one this morning as i was doing some organizing in my studio. i haven’t yet had a chance to look at 90% of the paintings that arrived from houston.