celebration 26 breakthrough /  by Philip Tarlow

celebration 26, 36x36” oil on portrait linen, as she looked at the end of my painting day.

3:09 PM: i worked on celebration 26 on & off from noon till now. i’m calling this a breakthrough for what seem to me obvious reasons. i was attempting to modify the composition to allow all 5 figures to work together in the composition. and i think, in the final half hour of working on it, i was able to do just that and more. the and more refers to that unplanned, unexpected flash of light that guides your hand and brush to do what no planning could ever accomplish: majik!

if you click on the detail to the right here and make it full page on your computer, you’ll see what i mean.

celebration 26, day 2 /  by Philip Tarlow

celebration 26, 36x36” as she looked at the end of my short painting day today

1:58 PM: i had to cut short my painting day today so i could get to the doctor in alamosa & have my gum boil checked out. they’ll likely prescribe an antibiotic till i can get to the dentist on tuesday.

i was able to do more work on celebration 25, partially filling in the drawings i made of a drummer and a woman on the beach shooting a photo with her phone. i went over the black surrounding the female basketball player with dark grey, since the black was too strong.

starting "celebration 26" 36x36" /  by Philip Tarlow

celebration 26, 36x36" as she looked at the end of day one

3:15 PM: i had done some prep work on the sienna ground of this one a few weeks back, and let it sit while i worked on completing celebration 25. this afternoon i launched into it, first making drawings in black litho crayon of assorted figures in my growing menagerie. today i focused on the jumping basketball player, who first appeared in celebration 25, and a female bather, hands in the air, jumping into the sea. we’ll see where she takes me tomorrow, which i’m anxious to learn!

july 18th, with "celebration XIV" /  by Philip Tarlow

12:53 PM: yesterday we both had our new covid booster shots at the pharmacy in alamosa. so today we’re predictably achy and tired. we’re taking the day off, so instead of posting what i’m working on today in my studio, i’ll be posting recent and not so recent paintings and commenting.

going back about a year, this is a 6-19-23 creek watercolor which i made on site at one of our local creeks, which are about 8,500 ft. altitude and run down from the 14,000 ft. sangre de christo mountain peaks.

celebration 25 -next stage /  by Philip Tarlow

celebration 25, 24x32” oil on portrait linen

2:56 PM: i introduced a new figure into the composition today, a female basketball player from the 2024 paris olympics. so now both female figures were participants in the olympics. i think the overall composition has improved, and the painting now, as i gaze at it hanging on the same wall as others in the series, looks like it belongs.

continued work on celebration 25 /  by Philip Tarlow

3:47 PM: after whiting over the entire painting this morning and starting a new composition, i decided to wipe it and return to the original composition, with the skateboarder & the seated student viewed from above.

snce then, i’ve been re-working the skateboarder, however i was interrupted by issues starting our car. so i spent the rest of the afternoon, making an appointment to have it checked out a week from today. until then, we’ll leave it parked in opur driveway and keep our fingers crossed that it starts up next tuesday morning, when we’ll drive 4 hours to the dealer in denver & pick up a rental vehicle.

that said, i did manage to do some good work on the skateboarder figure, and will pick it up again tomorrow morning.

starting celebration 25, 24x32" /  by Philip Tarlow

celebration 25, 24x32” oil on portrait linen, as she looked at the end of my painting day today

2:05 PM: this morning i started painting celebration 25, 24x32”

2 days ago i stretched this portrait linen canvas and applied a broken italian sienna ground, leaving some of hte white canvas showing. my intention in doing that was to incorporate those resulting white shapes into the composition. if you can imagine the two figures i’ve painted thus far on a plain white or sienna ground, you’ll see what i mean.

the figure on the left was inspired by one of the 2024 paris olympics skateboarders; the one on the right derives from a series of photos i shot some years ago of students in one of the schools we were working with at the time. this girl is sitting on the floor next to the lockers, at work on her laptop.

i have no predetermined plan when i start the paintings in this series; rather, i follow the energy in the moment, which i know may sound kind of new age, but i can’t say it any other way. i now have a menagerie of figures in various settings; mostly architectural, and before staring work on a new painting i browse through them and pick out 3 or 4 that grab me.

and at any moment, they may be painted over. as the 19th c. french artist Roussel'‘s son in law Jacques Salomon said:

“beware, never let Roussel retouch one of his works…you won’t recognize it…from the sea, he makes a field of wheat!”

completing & signing celebration 19 /  by Philip Tarlow

the completed celebration 19, 20x38” oil & collage on portrait linen

1:05 PM: my first glance let me know all is good, although i did add a bit more red to the vertical line on the right edge of the composition before signing and dating it. so it’s now available for sale, price upon request.

it will be included in my next solo show, date and location to be announced.

continued work on "celebration 19" /  by Philip Tarlow

celebration 19, 20x38” oil & collage on portrait linen, as she looked at the end of my painting day

2:56 PM: today i think i may reached resolution with celebration 19. i collaged some cut up pieces of recent quill drawings, along with a piece of a map of paris. the blue of the sea in that map enlivens the entire composition and, along with a few blue stripes on the top & bottom right and the pink strip i added yesterday to the right edge of the painting, allow her to sing her song.

now that i’ve finally reached this place of aliveness and delicate balance with this painting, i’m looking at her brothers & sisters hanging to the right and left of her, as well as below her, and getting hits on what i might do that would provide them with a similar subtelty. do i dare go back into them, or start something new on the 38x38” canvas i stretched yesterday? stya tuned!

more work this morning on "celebration 19" /  by Philip Tarlow

celebration 19 as she looked at 3pm

3:11 PM: after a few more tweaks, here’s what she looks like

celebration 19, 20x38" oil & collage on portrait linen,  as she looked following the work i did this morning

12:42 PM: my all important first glance at the changes i made yesterday to celebration 19 let me know more needed to be done. my eye got confused and lost in the multitude of marks that were not essential.

so this morning, with my fresh energy and despite a poor nights sleep last night, i dove back in with fervor. here’s where she’s at as of noon. in poetic terms, i’d say she’s fluxotonic.