Designs within Design

Yesterday was supposed be our video editing day- finish another portrait- but we started late and decided to make a short pretty unedited video about the concept of "designs within the design."  The idea of the designs with design define quite well, although not completely, Dick's painting process.
So, for the video, using one of his older, small, premiere coup landscapes, which he had used to create a background for a large nude of Tom Johnson- whose video portrait is coming soon- Dick illustrates how a viewer's eyes enter the painting through the edges of the painting. He flips the painting to its sides and upside down to analyze the framing, a great, simple tool in painting, photography and critical tradition, to get a better sense of space and the painting's compositional organization.
He then moves to another painting, the work in progress, the three figure piece, and reveals a stages in his color-spot process and the way he arrives at designs within the design of the picture as a whole.

Studio Interior Sheffield (2009) Still Life Videos: Berkshires, Golden Section, End Game

This is our final word on the "Studio Interior Sheffield"(2009) painting and videos, the three videos have been so far called Summer '09 Still Life. See our entry on how it all started in the summer in Sheffield.



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Summer '09 Still Life: Studio in NYC. The What It Is, End Game.

Final, part three of Summer '09 Still Life is up on YouTube. I'd had some trouble uploading the big file, higher quality video, so I decided to lower the quality just a bit. You probably can't tell, except in a few places where the camera moves too fast, when painstakingly following Dick dancing around "the stage" in front of the paining, explaining "the what it is" and the "end game" of the painting process in general and particular.

Summer '09 Still Life: Studio in NYC. On the Golden Section Ratio

I originally planned two short videos on Dick's summer-long project, still life done in the Berkshires, but it ended up being three videos because of the amount of great material Dick discussed on camera. So, below is the video, part 2, recorded in Dick's NYC studio in which he discusses and explains his use of the golden section ratio in "organizing the surface of the canvas and its relationship to the space in the painting." If you have not yet seen part here it is  on YouTube and here is our blog entry on it.

Still Life Summer 09 and Artist's Studio

In August I spent a weekend in the Berkshires as of previews entry here. At that time Dick and I worked one day on a video, which I managed to finally edit with helpful insights from Dick after his return to the NYC studio. Part one of two of this project introduces Dick's studio in the country and the still life in the middle of being work on. Enjoy the cliff hanger ending. Part 2 and more coming soon.

About New Still Life Video & My Lunch with Dick and Michelangelo on the Tea Cup

Yesterday was my first full day working from Francis Cunningham studio and I spent most of the day editing video about his summer'09 sill life. I made a solid rough cut of part one and am up very early this morning getting the first sequence re-done. I'll just add that the October mosquitoes in my house were a big "help" getting me out of bed 6am. Anyone else has mosquitoes in Manhattan?

Today is Dick's check up day at the doctor's, and the pre-exam dietary restrictions prevented him from sharing this lunch with me yesterday. But, he had yogurt, other goodies and tea from Michelangelo cup.


Next week, perhaps Dick will share the recipe for his famous sandwich when we start on part two of the video about the big still life.

Weekend of August 22nd: Perke and Dick in the Berkshires

Despite the "micro burst" storm that tore through the Berkshires area and despite merciless mosquitoes, we managed to do quite a lot of work with Dick. I took scores of photos of the barn, of the outside and inside, but especially the studio. Here is the set and here the slideshow, to see almost all of the work and fun in photos an videos. Not yet ready is a longer video, which I'm beginning to edit now.
Talking with Dick about the still life he's currently working on demystified a lot of painting process for me and I hope to show Dick elaborating on it in our video.
This is part of the still life set up, of which only a fragment is visible on the canvas and on the "map."

The rest of the set-up. The dried fruit is a beauty.

Finally, an attempt by me to capture the whole of the setup with my still camera, as it is on Dick's canvas.

Something, I'd not known about Dick's painting process is "the map." He starts his longer projects with a map like this, transfers it to a canvas and then begins his "color spot" painting process. (The many maps that got saved would look great strangely as a B&W graphic novel, in my opinion.) The "color spot" process that Dick uses justly attracted attention of my companion to the Berkshires, partner at NY Art Beat and husband, Kosuke who brought attention to it on his Japanese blog. He touched upon the subject of the technique and wrote in general about our trip and some of the anecdotes that Dick is so good at telling.

Here is the yet unfinished still life on canvas.

When not working on our video and photos, or enjoying a few meals prepared by Kitty, Dick showed us around the area where he's been coming to paint every summer since the 60s. So, here is Perke and Dick by one of the pear trees.

I'm taking the the pear to the barn and then to NY. It was good after a few days of sitting on my fridge.

Walking through the swampy area in the back, from which we had to eventually withdraw, because my shoes were not ready for such an adventure and mosquitoes were biting strong.

At the falls, which Dick claims he used to run to daily after a day of work to cool off. We drove, due to the unstable weather and the mosquitoes.

Saturday afternoon in the barn- resting with tea before Kosuke and my leaving for NY- after a lunch of Sheffield corn, sandwiches and some wine which we'd bought for early Friday dinner in the barn. The dinner was supposed to be followed by Dick and Kitty's trip to a ballet by Ulysses_Dove. All of it was literally cut short by the storm. With the power and telephone out, we made the most of the evening by driving to the nearest restaurant for a good meal and plenty of anecdotes.