July | 2018 | The Direction of Intention

Raise A Cup To Unka John [on Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on July 17, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

We are fortunate. When we travel Unka John (aka 20) takes care of DogDog and BabyCat. Not only are our pets in excellent hands but they generally can’t wait for us to leave so they can have some Unka John time. They love their Unka John. We suspect that the party rages from the moment we exit the city limits until the moment we return. DogDog and BabyCat sleep for days after time with Unka John.

As parting advice, Unka John always tells us to “get some coffee! And make it espresso so you don’t have to stop a thousand times.” Sage advice for the over 50 traveler. It is our custom with each espresso stop to snap a photo and text it to him, “Cheers from Nashville. Missing you!” Or, “A double shot to get across Kansas! Want a cup?” If we’re ever lost, Unka John will be able to tell the authorities our location based on our last known coffee stop.

On this Two Artists Tuesday, raise a glass (cup) to those special people, your Unka Johns, who have your back, who cover your base, who worry about you, who care for your beloved DogDog and BabyCat, those precious guardians, givers of care.

read Kerri’s blog post about Espresso Cheers!

www.kerrianddavid.com

Filed under: Gratitude, Two Artists Tuesday, Uncategorized | Tagged: 20, BabyCat, caregivers, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, Dog-Dog, espresso, Gratitude, guardians, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, society6.com/twoartists, starbucks coffee, Two Artists Tuesday, unka john | Leave a comment »

See The Stars [on Chicken Marsala Monday]

Posted on July 16, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

One of the reasons I like to travel is that it disrupts the ordinary. It breaks all the patterns that allow me to sleepwalk through my days. I remember standing on a street corner in London watching commuters hustle through the rituals of their day, lost in their ordinary. While, at the same time, their ordinary was a marvel to me. Everything was extraordinary, the sounds, the smells, the rhythms; it was all new and strange to me.

Hard times wake us up. Celebration days help us look at life anew. Pattern disruption. It’s all a miracle, easy to see, when we take off the story-lens of dull and habitual.

One night, just after Chicken popped onto the scene (fully formed like some wacky Greek cartoon god) there was a meteor shower. As we struggled out of bed in the middle of the night I felt like complaining. Sleep beckoned me back to my warm bed. That’s when I heard the thrill-call of my little-live-life-monger, in an enthusiastic sing-song, Chicken hailed, “You can sleep anytime….”

read Kerri’s blog post about STARS SHOOTING ACROSS THE SKY

www.kerrianddavid.com

you can sleep anytime… ©️ 2016 david robinson & kerri sherwood

Filed under: Chicken Marsala Monday, Pattern, Seeing, Uncategorized | Tagged: asleep, awakening, chicken marsala, Chicken Marsala Monday, Chicken nugget, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, dull minded, habitual, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, meteor shower, ordinary, paying attention, presence, ritual, sleep walking, society6.com/chickenmarsala, studio melange, the melange, travel | Leave a comment »

Touch An Angel [on KS Friday]

Posted on July 13, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

Kerri is thready. Important dates are always noticed and honored in our house. She is nearly Balinese in her attention to auspicious dates. Soon we will honor the life and loss of Wayne. Kerri’s brother Wayne passed away many years before I came into her life. I knew immediately about him. She adored him. He is certainly one of her good angels.

Through her stories and those memories warmly told by her family, I feel he is now one of my kindred spirits, too. Every once in a while, when I need a good bit of brotherly advice, I ask him questions – well, one question in particular (“What am I going to do with your sister?!! She’s out of control!”). He has yet to answer me but like all good angels I do hear him howling with laughter at her antics and my utter confusion.

On this KS Friday, reach for your good angels. Let Kerri’s song for Wayne put you on the back of his bike and take a ride into a special place and time with those you’ve loved and lost. Toast them with a good cup of java, as I do Wayne. From what I hear he was nearly as great a coffee lover as I am.

ANGEL YOU ARE on the album AS SURE AS THE SUN available on iTunes & CDBaby

read Kerri’s blog post about ANGEL YOU ARE

www.kerrianddavid.com

angel you are/as sure as the sun ©️ 2002 kerri sherwood

Filed under: Family, KS Friday, Uncategorized | Tagged: angel, angels, brother, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, family, good coffee, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, love, memories, society6.com/kerrisherwood, story, studio melange, the melange | Leave a comment »

Share [on KS Friday]

Posted on July 13, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

kerricloseuparches copy

Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment »

Have Wings [on DR Thursday]

Posted on July 12, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

This painting jumped to the canvas fully formed. It announced itself and I simply opened the door. It was not what I’d intended to paint when I entered the studio. I had a wholly different idea In Mind. I’ve learned that the best work has very little to do with what I have In Mind. The best work comes from the other place, the place available when Mind steps out of the way.

Meditation, prayer, inner reaching….is a theme I loop back to again and again. Lately, I’ve been pondering what happens when we cease searching for peace and instead simply bring it. What if prayer/meditation was not a quest for center, a search for inner peace or quiet mind? What if there was no separation? What if prayer/meditation was a bringing to the surface of the peace that already exists? What if you need not search for it because it is already here? What if, like this painting, that place is available when we stop listening to a Mind that tells us the center is lost, that peace is somewhere over there?

I suspect my pondering produced this painting. Kerri calls it Winged.

Winged, 27 x 20 IN acrylic on canvas

read Kerri’s blog post on WINGED

www.kerrianddavid.com

winged ©️ david robinson & kerri sherwood

Filed under: Art, Creativity, DR Thursday, Uncategorized | Tagged: artistry, balance, center, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, inner peace, intuition, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, meditation, mind, peace, prayer, quiet mind, society6.com/davidrobinson, studio melange, the melange, wings | Leave a comment »

Wiggle Your Toes [on Flawed Cartoon Wednesday]

Posted on July 11, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

I hear Quinn laughing, “No one really knows what they are doing!” That’s cold comfort when being rolled into surgery or sitting with my mouth wide open in the dentist’s chair. I have to admit, his laughter was infectious and I usually find myself laughing when I realize too late (again) the upside AND downside of the seed he planted so long ago in my philosophy.

Yesterday’s Two Artists post was about trust. Today’s Flawed Cartoon is a mirthful reminder of what happens when you don’t listen to that inner voice that says, “Don’t get into that box!”

read Kerri’s blog post about MAGIC IS NOT AN EXACT SCIENCE

www.kerrianddavid.com

magic is not an exact science ©️ 2016 david robinson & kerri sherwood

Filed under: Edges, Flawed Cartoon Wednesday, Uncategorized | Tagged: david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, flawed cartoon, Flawed Cartoon Wednesday, gut, inner voice, intuition, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, magic, magician, society6.com/flawedcartoon, studio melange, the melange, trust | Leave a comment »

Trust [on Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on July 10, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

When Kerri spontaneously smacked out this design, it was a case of process/design alignment. She simply trusted where she was going. “Hmmm,” she said, and moved on.

In improvisational theatre, it’s called ‘yes, and.’ Say yes to what you are given. Deal with what is there, not what you’ve decided should be there. Spontaneity, the freedom of movement and expression, is born of the kind of trust that ‘yes, and’ engenders. In trust, just as in ‘yes, and,’ there is no resistance. Artistry is pure relationship and requires giving up the illusions of control.

The word trust always brings me to the caterpillar (metaphors permeate my noggin). In cocooning, going to mush to be reborn as something utterly brilliant and unrecognizable, there is inevitability. In emerging from the cocoon, discovering wings, stepping to the edge of the branch, and leaping for the first time, there is trust.

read Kerri’s blog post about TRUST WHERE YOU’RE GOING

www.kerrianddavid.com

trust where you’re going ©️ 2016 kerri sherwood & david robinson

Filed under: Art, Creativity, Two Artists Tuesday, Uncategorized | Tagged: artistry, butterfly, caterpillar, control, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, improv, improvisational theatre, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, metaphor, non resitance, rebirth, society6.com/twoartists, spontaneity, studio melange, the melange, trust, Two Artists Tuesday, yes and | Leave a comment »

Make Time For Clouds [on Chicken Marsala Monday]

Posted on July 9, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

It seems almost too obvious: in clouds possibilities can be found. Castles take shape, cartoon characters roll into horses racing, dragons and dinosaurs. Loved ones whisper. Memories shimmer. Imagination beckons, intuition taps at the door. Ideas take shape.

Some might say that making time for clouds is a waste of time. Most likely those are people blind to the necessity of clouds. They are caught in a steely net, believing they have to make all the trains run on time. They believe wholeheartedly that they don’t have enough time to get it all done. Don’t tell them, but time is not concerned with train schedules or daily achievements. Time passes with no investment in our loss or gain. Time requires no management, middle, upper, or otherwise. Time is made of soft stuff, fluffy and relational, modifying according to the needs of its audience.

Time given to clouds makes Chicken wax poetic. It refreshes him. It quiets him. It reminds him that he, too, is as temporary as a cloud, ever moving, shape shifting through his passage, tickled when someone makes time to notice all the possibilities he inspires.

read Kerri’s blog post about MAKING TIME FOR CLOUDS

www.kerrianddavid.com

Filed under: Chicken Marsala Monday, Creativity, Uncategorized | Tagged: chicken marsala, Chicken Marsala Monday, Chicken nugget, cloud watching, clouds, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, daydream, ideas, imagination, intuition, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, life, life lessons, life purpose, Life time, memory, possibilities, society6.com/chickenmarsala, time, timeless | Leave a comment »

Split A Second [on KS Friday]

Posted on July 6, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

Earlier this week I wrote about our visit to Arches National Park and the paradox of presence: it is only when we recognize how very small we are that we are capable of standing in the immensity of this moment, the present. I called it a joining. In her song, In A Split Second, Kerri calls it, “walking that thin line.”

It is possible to put down the list of to-dos. It is possible to stop dragging along that big bag of the past. It is possible to be here, where you are, in the immensity of this moment of life. Give yourself a gift, be where you are, and let Kerri help you walk that thin line.

IN A SPLIT SECOND on the album AS SURE AS THE SUN, available in iTunes & CDBaby

read Kerri’s blog post about IN A SPLIT SECOND

www.kerrianddavid.com

Filed under: Awakening, Possibility, Uncategorized | Tagged: arches national park, artistry, as sure as the sun, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, future, in a split second, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, paradox, past, presence, society6.com/kerrisherwood, studio melange, the melange | Leave a comment »

Complete The Trilogy [on DR Thursday]

Posted on July 5, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

Just before she passed away, Kerri and I rushed to illustrate and publish a trilogy of children’s books that Beaky had written years earlier. Beaky saw the first of her books published, Shayne. We held a release party and author reading of the first book. She was a rock star. Her first sale was to someone in The Netherlands and I teased her about being an international author. Beaky was both thrilled and ever humble. She died 18 days later while we were racing to lay out the pages of the second book in the trilogy. We published it, Shayne & The Yellow Dragon, soon after, for what would have been her 94th birthday.

the author

It’s been three years. Today would have been Beaky’s 97th birthday and we are certain she is tapping her foot wondering what is taking so long. So, we decided that it was time to complete the trilogy. The illustrations and scans are back on the table. In short order, someday very soon, we look forward to announcing the publication of Beaky’s third book, Shayne & The New Baby.