studies for a companion painting /  by Philip Tarlow

one full size (48x18” oil) and two small studies in gouache/oil pastel/collage on paper for the denver collector

6 PM: over the last few days, i’ve been working on creating a companion piece for a denver collector who purchased one of my 2014 paintings last week. this collector would like one more painting the same size as the one she purchased: 48x18”

i kind of did this backwards (not unusual for me) and first made a full size painting, which i felt good about. then i began deeling i could do something a bit closer in composition and color to the one she purchased.

2014 museum interior gouache / study for “HOO” /  by Philip Tarlow

3:13 PM: i wasn’t satisfied with HOO, the 48x18” oil i made yesterday. so i’m reversing the usual process of making a study or series of studies followed by the painting. i made a small study in gouache & collage on paper, and will likely make a few more before making a new version of the larger painting on linen.

study for hoo, 17.5x6.5” gouache & collage on paper

7:46 AM: this museum interior gouache was painted in 2014 and is one of our favorites. it’s magical in person.

"hoo" on day 2 /  by Philip Tarlow

3:01 PM: i made a few chnges, which i think makes the painting easier to read. here’s how she looks at the end of my painting day today.

hoo, 48x18” oil & collage on linen, as she looked at the end of my painitng day

1:49 PM:this is day 2 of this new painting, now titled hoo, painted for a client of the denver gallery where i’m represented. i may simplify a bit.

blacking over "celebration 26" then removing the black! /  by Philip Tarlow

celebration 26, 36x36" after removing the black i added earlier today. better, eh?

6:37 PM: mikela walked over to the studio late this afternoon to have a look at the newly blacked over celebration 26. she pointed out, accurately, that the sensitivity of the painting had been lost. she’s got such a good eye!

i spent about an hour scrubbing off the fresh black oil paint with some old washclothes soaked in a solvent. and here she is.

celebration 26, 36x36” as she looked after blacking over 2/3 of the composition

1:40 PM: there was too much white in the composition. the dramatic figures were getting lost. so i mixed up some black oil paint, attached it to my trusty long stick and began painting black around the figures. when i got about 3/4 of the way down, i stopped. and then i took one of my spatulas and scraped 3 vertical tree trunk-like marks vertically down into the black.

i had 2 fans on high to avoid breathing in the toxic fumes, and i think it worked.

i can’t hang it till it dries a bit to avoid drips, but on first glance, i think the black works, and as a result it’s a far more powerful painting.

more work on celebration 26 /  by Philip Tarlow

celebration 26, 36x36” following today’s drawing with oil pastel

4:40 PM: i’ve been gazing at celebratoin 26, which is hanging on my east facing studio wall, and contemplating doing more to it, since that central white area seemed too empty. so i went in with an oil pastel and made a creek landscape drawing, with rocks & branches.

CELEBRATION 29, 6x8" /  by Philip Tarlow

celebration 29, 6x8" watercolor on paper

2:35 PM: today was a topsy turvey day. this morning i was dealing with a bird who smashed into my window and lay on the ground, dazed. she finally recovered and flew away, but not before i tried contacting a local service that deals with wounded wildlife and waiting on hold forever.

then a technician came to repair the studio toilet and the rest is history. i’ll be without a toilet until sometime next week.

i couldn’t end my day without putting brush to, in this case, paper. so i made a 6x8” watercolor title celebration 29. it’s a still life of sorts, using whatever was in front of me; in this case, a plastic bowl resting on a cutting surface with measurements, a wooden picture frame and a landscape watercolor, vintage 2009.

furher work on vyd zherkou / whiting over celebration 26 /  by Philip Tarlow

vyd zverkhou, 24x28” oil & collage on linen, as she looked at the end o fmy painting day.

3:47 PM: i went back & forth between these 2 paintings today, using discoveries and solutions i found in one and applying them to the other. they are both part of a new, lighter touch, with lots of white space in an uncrowded composition.

celebration 26, 36x36” as she looked folllowing my white-over earlier today

BELOW: celebration 26 before and after the white-over

12:14 PM: celebration 26 has been hanging in the house for the past week or two. as has been happening with other recent paintings, the more i gazed at it, the more it bothered me that here was so much going on my eye didn’t know where to rest.

so this morning i brought it back to the studio and began whiting over quite a bit.

whiting over much of celebration 26, 36x36” moments ago