dancing creek LL / prehistoric bison painting /  by Philip Tarlow

2:26 PM: i collaged a few cut out pieces of quill pen drawings i had made months ago, mainly to break up the predictability of subject matter and composition. as a result, although the dancing figure continues to be readable, he has integrated more with the composition as a whole and taken on a somewhat otherworldly, musical air.

dancing creek II , 24x20” following the collaging

dancing creek II , 24x20” following this mornings work

12:12 PM: dancing creek II has progressed in unexpected ways.

Bison cave painting, La grotte de Marsoulas , Haute-Garonne, Pyrénées, France . Discovered in 1897. 17 000 years old

dancing creek LL / dancing creek revised / moralis / rocks /  by Philip Tarlow

dancing creek II, 24x20” oil on portrait linen, at 2pm

1:47 PM: once i resolved dancing creek, i began work on dancing creek II, which has the same dimensions. my inspiration is coming from the same screen shot from our tv with a room full of dancers moving wildly to the music.

12:52 PM: the white space remaining after i took out the dark browns needed something, so i just went back into it.

dancing creek, 24x20” as it looked moments ago

11:52 AM: yesterday before leaving the studio and while the paint was still fresh, i took out the brown portion at the top. i think it’s way improved, so i’m starting a new one and will keep glancing at dancing creek to see if it’s really resolved as is or perhaps needs something more at the top of the composition.

moralis was one of the artists i knew during the 15 years i lived and painted in greece. i wouldn’t say i had a close relationship with him, but he was a dear friend of my then mother-in-law, the painter niki karagatsi.

i recall vividly the night he came to our appartment in athens for dinner. the conversation was riviting, and his simple humility very moving. a beautiful soul.

this is one of a series of colored drawings on paper he did in 1965, for the poems of the great greek poet, seferis.

i photographed these crestone conglomerates on our trail walk yesterday. these rocks, scattered along the trail, were formed about 1.8 BILLION years ago!! their unique forms, patterns and coloring deeply influence my painting.

dancing creek /  by Philip Tarlow

dancing creek, 24x20” oil on portrait linen, at the end of my painting day today

2:46 PM: today i started dancing creek, on one of the 3 24x20” extra fine linen cnavases i cut from the roll 2 days ago. this dancing figure with his arms passionately outstretched has been appearing in recent work. i captured the image from our tv screen, and for me he epitomizes the joy of moving ones body to music. there are no national boundaries here; moving to music is universal.

whereas in the previous works where he appears there are other figures in the space, here he’s the central and only figure. during my years in greece, i witnesses many scenes of dancers passionately and spontaneously moving to live rembmetika music, but they never entered the space of my paintings. it seems i wasn’t ready, although my mentor tsarouchis showed me the way, creating some of his greatest masterpieces incorporating sailors dancing to rembetika.

taiko, day 6 /  by Philip Tarlow

taiko, 22 1/2 x 30” mixed media & collage

10:19 AM: i did more work on taiko; there’s a lot more white breathing space, much of the composition is covered by semi-transparent white paper cut into biomorphic shapes. all but one of the taiko drummers are gone, leaving a largely non-representational composition.

all that came before on the previous 5 days has contributed to the current composition, providing a visual richness, frteshness and suggestiveness that could not have been established otherwise.

taiko," day 5 /  by Philip Tarlow

taiko , 22 1/2 x 30” as she looked moments ago following extensive work this morning

11:25 PM: this morning i made some critical additions and modifications, bringing taiko closer to completion. as you can see in the comparative photos below, the most significant change took place when i collaged over the dark bit on the lower left, which was a cutout of a photo of a taiko drummer. you will see many more improvements, such as the female drummer figure on the upper right and the black clad drummer seen from above in the center of the composition.

“taiko” day 4 / walking stick corner /  by Philip Tarlow

taiko, 22 1/2 x 30” watercolor, gouache & collage on arches watercolor paper

BELOW: details of taiko

1:43 PM: i arrived at my studio early today; about 8:45, and after making breakfast, i worked pretty much all day on taiko. i introduced collage elements as well as palm leaf patterning. i collaged rectangular pieces of tracing paper over areas that seemed too dark or busy.

i had attached the arches watercolor paper to a piece of white foam core, which created a white border surrounding the image. about an hour ago i began finding that white border was taking away from the painting. i have some pieces of dark grey cardboard, which were not big enough, so i improvised, cutting 4 narrow strips and fastening them around the piece, which now allows me to view it withoutdistraction.

9:41 AM: this morning i completer the transformation of the NW corner fo my studio. what was once stacked with empty 85” cardboard tubes is now home to my collection of walking sticks, some of which i painted, and two of my skateboarder collages.

taiko, day 2 /  by Philip Tarlow

taiko, 22 1/2x30” as she looked at the end of my painting day today

2:19 PM: a few years back, there was a taiko drumming performance here. i shot a lot of photos, some of which are serving as inspiration. it’s been a while since i worked in watercolor, a medium i love a lot.

this was originally going to be 6 vertical pieces, each 6” wide. but it’s now turning out that way, so it’s looking like it may turn out to be one painting, 22 1/2 x 30” you can’t really paint over anything you’ve done, as you can with oil or acryllic, so what you see now will remain. i may however decide to use gouache in some areas….we’ll see. this arches watercolor paper is a very sensitive surface and takes the paint really well.

STarTING THE TAIKO SERIES / walking stick corner /  by Philip Tarlow

2:46 PM: THIS AFTERNOON I STARTED what is to become the taiko series of 7 watercolor/gouache paintings, each of whic is 22x6” on arches watercolor paper. stay tuned!

12:55 PM: the rolls of canvas i order come in 85” long cardboard tubes, which, over time had accumulated in a corner of my studio. there were a lot of them, and as i’m currently in cleanup/organizing mode, i found someone to take them to the trash. in their place, i created a waking stick corner, with a number of walking sticks i’ve gathered over time. i decorated some and left others in their original state.

so i arranged them in the corner where the cardboard tubes had been along with a watercolor-gouache of a skateboarder.

pt paints plein air /  by Philip Tarlow

pt paints plein air,12/13/24, watercolor on stonehenge cream paper, 6×7 3/4”

1:52 PM: a small watercolor using my last stonehenge cream watercolor block, purchased during the period when i was living & panting in my studio on central park west, in the ‘80’s.

12-13-24 PT paints plein air-2, watercolor on stonehenge cream paper, 6×7 3/4”