ano kato renewed 1 / no longer going on facebook / paintings in the studio /  by Philip Tarlow

ano kato renewed 1, 16×16” oil and oil pastel on linen, as she looked following todays revisions

2:37 PM: i’m in a space where i like choosing older paintings that i feel could be better and painting over them. this one, from my ano kato series, https://www.philiptarlow.com/anokato is now titled ano kato renewed 1. the only part remaining as it was is the figure of a man in a plaid shirt, walking. he is now ensconsed in a multi colored composition of blues, yellows, pinks, blacks and greens, which evoke plant life without actually describing it.

11:55 AM: these are some paintings currently on the long table beneath my north facing windows. they include: 5 recent collages; 1 study of a gorky painting made in 2017 and a study in oil of a vermeer painted in 2016. i’m in a space where i’m taking stock of my work over the years and getting a feel for where i’m at currently.

11:32 AM: i’m no longer using facebook, although i haven’t deleted it yet. it takes up too much of my precious time,

so now i’m gazing at celebration 27 following the modifications i made yesterday. it’s kind of compelling, so i think i’ll move on to something else and see how i feel about it later.

re-visiting "celebration 27" /  by Philip Tarlow

celebration 27, 32x36” oil & collage on linen, as it looked at the end of my painting day

3:02 PM: celebration 27 was sititng on the studio floor adjacent to my storage room door, since i last worked on it, september 11, 2024. i knew at some point i’d have to go back into it, and today was the day.

BELOW: celebration 27 as she looked before and after today’s modifications

a 1976 painting from athens /  by Philip Tarlow

the artist with six workmen, oil on linen, 1976, 20x68” private collection, athens

2:02 PM: during the 70’s, when i was living and exhibiting in athens, i made a series of paintings of construction workers from a site near my studio at the time. this was the final painting in the series, based on the smaller paintings of individual workers i had made. when i shot this only surviving photo, the face on the right was not yet completed.

rework of 3 collages today /  by Philip Tarlow

tangier imagined, 6x10”

10/12/24 collage, 6 1/4x 8 1/2”

10/15/24 collage, 11 3/4x 6 1/4”

today i reworked 3 recent collages. i spent more time on these than inormally do on a much larger oil painting. i was very much in the flow and able to keep my thinking, scheming brain out of it. to borrow from kamala, they exhude joy; the joy i feel when i’m painting/drawing/collaging.

yesterday's reworked "10/20/24 collage has become "Tangier Imagined" /  by Philip Tarlow

tangier imagined, 6x10” collage, crayon, ink & pastels on paper, mounted on dark grey board

12:37 PM: before even sitting down to breakfast, began work on the collage i started yesterday, which is now titled tangier imagined. The left portion was fine, but the right half of the composition was way too busy, creating confusion for the eye.

now, with the changes i made this morning and it’s new title, which came to me as i studied what i had done, it feels resolved and is, in all humility, a delight to gaze at!

BELOW: yesterdays stage is on the left

a new collage today, still in process... /  by Philip Tarlow

10/20/24 collage, 6×10”, as she looked at the end of my painting day

4:02 PM: today, after handling some logistics around painting sales, i dove into this new collage, 6x10” titiled 10/20/24 collage. it still needs some work, but there’s always tomorrow morning! she’s a rather bold presence at the moment.

10/15/24 collage as a vertical /  by Philip Tarlow

11:34 AM: something was bugging me about this collage and i couldn’t figure out whether it needed more work or something else. finally, i tried turning it and making it a vertical, and that worked instantly!

10/15/24 collage as a verticle

10/15/24 collage / a 2023 painting, 35x37" /  by Philip Tarlow

3:32 PM: a few tweaks before leaving the studio…

10/15/24 collage, 16×30 cm. 

2:52 PM: i made a new collage on paper today: 10/15/24 collage 16x30 cm. which is a tad larger than the ones i’ve been making the past few weeks. she seems to like being in the company of my recent oils; particularly euphoria, which has a similar vibe.

the cut up quill pen drawing was made a few months ago, with the intention of cutting it up and using it in a collage or collages. the red figure on the lower right is a piece of a drawing made by a 3 year old visiting my studio with his parents a few years back, and has been waiting for this moment to shine ever since then.

35x37”, oil on linen

6:59 PM: one of a series of paintings i made last year which we have in our home.