“cobble” on day 4, 9/21/08 creek watercolor /  by Philip Tarlow

cobble, 32x38” oil & collage on linen, as she looked moments ago following intensive collaging

12:31 PM: i’ve been going to sleep pretty early and getting up earlier and earlier. today i was up at 3 am and am still going strong! so i resumed work on cobble, with which i wasn’t too happy about following my last round of work. so here’s how she looked moments ago, following some collaging and the introduction of black in the upper quadrant.

9/21/08 11:40 am creek watercolor, 3 1/2x11”

9:47 AM: i was doing some cleanup in my studio and came across this plein air creek watercolor from 2008, which i’m now posting.

PLANET WILD VIDEO / wobble completed / cobble-day 2 /  by Philip Tarlow

cobble, 32x38 oil on linen, as she looked moments ago

11:40 AM: yesterday afternoon i made my final adjustments to wobble, which is now a completed painting.

this morning, i continued work of day 2 of cobble, which has the same dimensions as wobble: 32x38” and incorporates some of the same dancing figures, as well as the plaid shirted walking figure who appears in many recent paintings. i started out with drawings; some in oil pastel or crayon, graduating to oils. then i began adding grey, green and yellow surrounding the figures and the hints of creekscape. everything was then scraped over with a large palette knife, creating unexpected and unplanned swishes of color.

this is a 12 minute youtube video mikela sent me to watch this morning, i highly recommend watching it! https://youtu.be/m_SzuUHXP1M?si=sDA2ObStK-6Q6chS

wobble, 32x38” oil on linen, completed

continued work on "wobble" / starting “cobble” /  by Philip Tarlow

cobble, 32x38” oil on linen, on day one.

3:30 PM: this afternoon, after completing revisions of wobble, i launched into a companion piece: cobble. it’s a drawing in oil right now, and i’ll take it further tomorrow, wednesday…or is it cobbleday?

wobble, 38x32” oil on linen, as she looked following this morning’s modifications

1:01 PM: i received some excellent and very perceptive feedback this morning, which helped me to make some critical modifications to wobble this morning. i slightgly lightened the greys in the central portion of the composition and made important changes to the figure of th emale dancer in the upper right.

i finally feel ready to move on to a new paining, which will have the same dimensions as wobble: 38x32”

"wobble" on day 5 /  by Philip Tarlow

wobble, 38×32” oil on linen, following a late afternoon scraping.

the version before my late afternoon scraping is on the LEFT

4:19 PM: after returning to the house in the snow, i realized i had to go BACK to my studio in order to lighten what i did earlier.

wobble, 38x32” oil on linen, following the introduction of warm grey this morning

12:07 PM: big changes today, after introducing a warm grey which now envelopes all the figures as well as tweaks to the 3 dancers on the bottom

BELOW: yesterday’s version is on the left

"wobble" on day 4 /  by Philip Tarlow

wobble, 32x38”, oil on linen as she looked following the introduction of a new dancer in the upper right

3:18 PM: today i added a dancing figure in pink, surrounded by green, on the upper right corner of the composition. at the moment, galcing at it from about 25 feet, it works; meaning that it enlivens and enriches the painting.

"wobble" on day 3 /  by Philip Tarlow

wobble, 32x38” oil on linen, as she looked after taking out a lot of what i did today. scroll down to see the earlier version.

on second thought……before leaving for the day and while the paint was still fresh, i took out a lot of what i did today, and i think it’s a better painting now. still more to do tomoorow though…

wobble, 38x32” oil on linen, as she looked at the end of my painitng day today

2:43 PM: i continued work on wobble today. i may have done too much & might need to take some out tomorrow. i’ll know when i come in tomorrow morning.

wobble, 38x30" on day 2 /  by Philip Tarlow

wobble, 38x30” oil on linen, as she looked at the end of my painting day

2:16 PM: yesterday i sterted wobble with a drawing on the 38x30” canvas. todya i took her further, adding color to and around some of the figures. pink dominates right now, with greens, blues, yellow and purple. i’m taking the discoveries i made in the previous painting: cycladic revelry, to another level.

collaging yesterdays breakfast drawing /  by Philip Tarlow

stage 6 of 12-2-24 drawing/collage, 4×6” mixed media & collage on paper

1:31 PM: i don’t think i’ve ever done this much work and made this many changes to a 4x6” piece! what you sse here is stage 6 of what’s turning out to be an all day process!

yesterdays breakfast drawing, 4x6” following the collaging i did this morning

8:56 AM: this morning, while having my breakfast in the studio, i added some collaging to yesterdays breakfast drawing, which i was finding a bit too congested.

cycladic revery, day 4 / late afternoon drawing / wadaiko, 32x42" newly hung in our entryway /  by Philip Tarlow

2:33 PM: before leaving the studio for the day, i made another 6x4” drawing in colored pencil & watercolor while sitting at my desk.

cycladic revelry, 32x32” oil on linen, as she looked at noon today

12:24 PM: i continued work on cycladic revery. the biigest change i made is to the 2 figures on the lower right, which were confusing to the eye. so i removed one, painting over her with the same green i used for the background. fortunately, i saved some in a small container, as it would have been impossible to recreate.

the dancer with outstretched arms now had yellow pants, and there’s some patterning in the blue above.

10:18 AM: a few minutes ago i brought wadaiko over to the house & hung it in our entryway. it looks happy in it’s new home.

wadaiko 32x42’ oil on linen, completed 11/27/24

cycladic revery, day 3 / “Bathers at piso Yialia Beach” 2007-10 / yesterdays morning drawing framed /  by Philip Tarlow

cycladic revery, 32x32”, oil on linen, day 3

1:22 PM: after taking a scared shit to continue work on it break for a few days, i gingerly went back in and continued work on cycladic revery. while i loved the white spaces and suggestions rather than descriptions of figures, i felt it needed more. i didn’t like the red band i had introduced at the top, so i painted over most of it. then i introduced the blue at the top above the green, and added some color to a few of the figures, while maintaining the balance of the composition as my top priority, always.

this painting was started in 2007 and completed in 2010. it was inspired by photos i shot during that period at piso yialia beach, on the island of andros, beloved by andriots and visitors alike.

at the time, it was an isolated beach, accesed by climbing over the rocks separating it from the main beach, usually with just a handful of bathers who knew one another by name. PISO YIALIA literally means back yialia.

now of course, during the summer months, it’s jam packed and has, like many other seaside spots in greece, lost it’s poetic magic.

11/30/24 breakfast drawing, 6x4” colored pencil and watercolor on Strathmore paper

9:59 AM: yesterday afternoon, before leaving the studio, i mounted the breakfast drawing measuring just 6x4” in a much larger gold leaf frame we picked up on one of our trips a few years back.