Art | The Direction of Intention

Ode To Happy Accidents [David’s blog on DR Thursday]

Posted on May 7, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

The famous blue-green tint of the Ball jar is the result of a happy accident. In search of cheaper resources the brothers Ball moved their company from Buffalo, NY to Muncie, IN. The minerals found in the sand in Indiana differed from the minerals in the sand in Buffalo and voila! The glass it produced was blue-green.

The story of penicillin is also the story of a happy accident.

The history of abstract art is the story of visual happy accidents. There is a term for happy-accident-painters that I especially appreciate: intuitive painting. It is the art of self-discovery, the art of process over product. As Quinn would say, it is to cultivate serendipity. Jackson Pollock was an intuitive painter. Helen Frankenthaler was an intuitive painter. Hilma of Klint was an intuitive painter. The late work of Henri Matisse was intuitive.

Happy accidents are trial-without-error because each trial carries a discovery. In this definition, all of science is a happy accident; the accumulated knowledge derived from a mountain of experiments. The same is true in the history of art. “Try it and see what happens” leads to some surprising insights.

What happy-accident-insights can be gleaned from the life-long-experiment asking, “Who am I?” It is never a direct path. It is a circular route with a guide named Intuition who may encourage you to splash paint as a means of self-discovery or might load your bottom line with so much discontent that you move your glass company to Muncie in search of cheaper sand – only to find yourself renowned for a unique shade of blue-green.

The Stuff of Dreams, 24″x 24″, mixed media on a slab of acrylic

read Kerri’s blogpost about BALL JARS

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Filed under: Art, Creativity, DR Thursday, Education | Tagged: artistry, Ball Jar, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, experiment, happy accident, Helen Frankenthaler, Hilma of Klint, insight, intuition, intuitive painting, Jackson Pollock, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, process, story, studio melange, the melange, trial and error | 1 Comment »

Secret Things [David’s blog on KS Friday]

Posted on May 1, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

“I want to be with those who know secret things or else alone.” ~ Rainier Maria Rilke

Cardinals remind us of Kerri’s parents. A pair is nesting nearby and much to our delight they frequent our yard. The brilliant red male was splashing about in the birdbath; it took to flight the moment she snapped the photo. My associations of the image are spiritual.

One of my favorite paintings is a piece that very few people appreciate. I called it Canopy. It features a bird in flight. For me it is a spiritual painting. It is a painting of my desire to know secret things.

I love Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings of flying machines. Humans with wings. He would have looked at Kerri’s photo of the cardinal and asked, “How can I do that?” He didn’t just ponder it, he chased it.

Rilke wrote: “Go into yourself. Find out the reason that commands you to write; see whether it has spread its roots into the very depths of your heart; confess to yourself whether you would have to die if you were forbidden to write.” Most of my life has been a journey into myself to find the reason that commands me to paint and write. Kerri and I often compare notes on the times in our lives that we nearly died when turning our backs on our artistry. We talk of “getting out of our own way” so the muse can come through. It feels like taking flight. It feels like escaping a cage.

“The purpose of life is to be defeated by greater and greater things.” ~ Rainier Maria Rilke

Too many people have attempted to solve my life by suggesting I make a career of painting pet portraits or people portraits. I’ve learned not to roll my eyes. It’s hard to explain. It’s not about the painting or the written word. It’s about the chase of something intangible, unattainable. Among other things, Leonardo chased the spirit of flight. Kerri and I chase secret things, impossible to grasp, things like the flight of spirit.

Kerri’s albums are available on iTunes and streaming on Pandora

read Kerri’s blogpost about FLIGHT

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Filed under: Art, Creativity, Identity, KS Friday | Tagged: artistry, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, flight, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, Leonardo da Vinci, painting, secret things, spirit, spiritual, story, studio melange, take flight, the melange, writing | 1 Comment »

And Then What Happens? [David’s blog on Merely A Thought Monday]

Posted on April 20, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

Once upon a time…

And then what happens?

It was sunny and bright at the beginning of our long drive. Little did we know that a few hours later we’d be stuck on the freeway, standing completely still in an endless construction delay, with tornado warnings blaring on our phone: “Get into the basement or a safe place now!” What do you do when there is no safe place? What happened next?

We have a good chuckle at the expense of Google Maps. It wants to be a soothsayer. It wants to tell us what’s coming, what’s in our future. “There are police ahead.” Or, “There’s road construction ahead.” Usually, GM tells us about the construction when we’re already in it. “There’s a lane closed ahead!” GM warns.

“No kidding,” we respond.

“It’s a 14 minute delay,” she chirps. An hour later, traffic at a standstill, Kerri says, “I don’t like the look of those clouds.” The sky darkens and bubbles. And then what happens?

In the little village we walked by the door of a psychic. The sign read, “Tarot Readings”. I admit that I was tempted to go in. I’m always tempted. Who doesn’t want to have some sense of what is about to happen?

On our long drive we talked about our careers. Artist’s careers are not like plumbers or lawyers. It is possible to be artistically successful and financially unsuccessful. The same cannot be said for accountants or electricians. When I was running theatre companies I regularly reminded hardworking-yet-disheartened actors that, according to the union that represented them, less than 2% of the membership actually made a living acting. The same cannot be said of the machinist’s union or the teamsters. Artistry is not a business, it’s more akin to a service-calling. It’s not for the weak of heart. It’s not for those who worship the idols of stability and consistency. “There’s a silver lining,” she said. “We’re probably better prepared than most people for dealing with uncertainty.”

We managed to get off the freeway before the storm hit. Sitting in the parking lot of a gas station we wondered what to do. We were still hours from our destination. The rain started gently but soon became a downpour, driven by gusts. Buckets of rain with attitude. The truck jolted with each blast. “Well?” she asked, “What now?

“Life’s like a novel with the end ripped out…” Lyric from STAND, sung by Rascal Flatts

read Kerri’s blogpost about UNCERTAINTY

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Filed under: Art, Identity, Merely A Thought Monday, Possibility | Tagged: artistry, calling, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, future, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, Rascal Flatts, service, soothsayer, Stand, story, story archeology, studio melange, the melange, tornado, uncertainty | 1 Comment »

The Original Impulse [David’s blog on DR Thursday]

Posted on April 9, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

To be honest, there was a profit motive driving the Melange when we began our daily writing practice. We had SO many cartoons and paintings and books and compositions and recordings sitting inert in our studios. Why not call attention to what we’d created? Kerri designed products, everything from art prints to leggings, that we offered through Society6 storefronts. Our cartoons and paintings and books and compositions and recordings remain inert in our studios. The storefronts realized anemic sales at best, so we eventually let them lapse. But the daily writing remains. We love it. We write together to write together. There is no other reason.

I’m not sure why I began drawing when I was a wee-lad. I only know that the impulse was pure. I had to draw. There was nothing I’d rather do in all the world than draw and paint. It was a necessity, like breathing.

The arc of an artists life eventually leads to the need to sell (the utility companies do not accept paintings or CD’s as payment. Plus, artists like to eat just like all other professionals). The pure impulse is necessarily mixed with the need to produce something that sells. Along the way there are ongoing conversations and questions with other artists about relevance. The pure impulse gets confused and necessarily questions its worth.

Questions of worth can be a killer if not followed all the way to the source. I know many artists who’ve set down their brushes and locked forever their studio doors. I know a legion of actors who waved the white flag and stopped auditioning. Some channeled their creative energy into other forms. Some did not.

Questions of worth, if pursued, inevitably arrive at questions of Why. The cycle comes around, just as it did for us in our Melange. We thought we were writing to make money but, as it turns out, we were writing because we love to write. Together. The impulse is pure. There’s nothing we’d rather do.

We are arriving at the same epicenter of Why with our other art forms. Why does Kerri compose? Why do I paint? Both of us are reaching back to the original impulse, cleaning out the confusion. In her past there is a young girl who climbed a special tree to write poetry just as in mine there is a young boy who painted through the night on his bedroom wall and was surprised by the sunrise. She stands at the door of her studio and stares at her piano, the young girl stands on the other side of the room staring back. I stand in the center of my studio and stare at my easel, the younger version of me stands beyond my easel. He is patient. He knows I know my Why.

20 brought Kerri tulips for her birthday. Not only has she enjoyed them but she has photographed their life cycle. She walks through life with her camera at the ready. The impulse is pure. She loves it. Nothing more, nothing less. “Lookit!” she exclaims, turning to show me her photos.

“I see prompts for future blogposts,” I say and she smiles. The impulse is pure.

read Kerri’s blogpost about TULIPS

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Filed under: Art, Creativity, DR Thursday | Tagged: art forms, artistry, creative energy, creativity, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, impulse, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, pure, questions, reason why, relevance, story, studio melange, the melange, value, Why, worth | Leave a comment »

After All, Capable [David’s blog on KS Friday]

Posted on March 20, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

Like many of the seemingly random pieces in our home, this wood garland carries a story. It is imbued with specific memories that invoke hope and belonging. This garland lifts our spirits.

A few nights ago, when sleep evaded me, having recently exhausted all of the hikers we follow, I stumbled upon someone new. I thought I was about to watch a documentary about a hiker’s journey on a long trail. Instead, I found the story of a man who perseveres. Twenty years ago he was diagnosed with an aggressive terminal cancer and given only a short time to live. His story is an unintentional wake-up call. He reminded me to check my attachments to the transitory.

Recognizing how uplifted I felt after watching the documentary was also a wake-up call, a lesson I learn again and again. I regularly fill myself up with the news of the day and it is, as you know, toxic. It’s like eating too much candy. There’s no spirit-nutritional-value and it always comes with a downer-crash. I decided I need a more balanced diet if I expected myself to be mentally, emotionally, and spiritually healthy.

During the power outage I revived a practice from my boyhood. I thought it would disappear after the lights and heat came back but I’ve continued it because it makes me feel good. I am drawing pictures from books. I sit at the little table beneath the hanging wood garland with my sketchbook and a large coffee table tome from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Thirty Centuries of the Art of Mexico. Right now my sketches are pre-Columbian. Funerary figures and stone reliefs. It is not an accident that I sit beneath the garland. Occasionally I put down my pencils and examine the curious pieces of driftwood stacked and strung together. It reminds me, just as the art in the book, that people are dedicated to making beauty. People are dedicated to connecting to life-beyond-boundaries and they do it as they have always done it by carving figures imbued with magical powers meant to guard the passage of their loved ones through death – or by stringing together bits of driftwood found on a special beach.

People are more capable of invoking hope and belonging than hatred and division. We are not only capable, it is a necessity, an essential, like food and shelter. We can live without hatred but we cannot live without hope.

We are, after all, capable of supporting each other, of recognizing how impossible and precious are these few moments of life we share together. We are capable in dark times of standing in beauty and instilling hope, we are capable of simple-daily-generosity intended to lift each others’ spirits.

Kerri’s albums are available on iTunes and streaming on Pandora

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE GARLAND

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Filed under: Art, Creativity, KS Friday, Possibility | Tagged: art, artistry, beauty, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, healthy, hope, intention, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, story, studio melange, the melange | Leave a comment »

Go Empty [David’s blog on Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on March 10, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

Among my vast archives of good-advice-received is a gem from Karola. I’ve often written about her wisdom: “Let yourself go empty,” she said. She laughed knowing that “going empty” would be a struggle for me. There is nothing more vulnerable or frightening for a young artist than to admit that their well is dry. What if the muse never comes back? “Going empty” at that phase of my life was akin to abandoning my identity. It felt like a step into the void.

As it turns out going empty was among the best things I ever did for myself. It stands among the greatest lessons I’ve ever learned. Spring requires winter. All budding artists eventually learn that artistry is not what you do – it is who you are. Going empty is the path to learning it. Karola knew exactly what I needed to hear and when I needed to hear it.

Have you not, at one time or another, been left in awe at an insight that comes from a confluence of seeming random experiences? Pieces of a puzzle coming together in what might seem arbitrary but is, in fact, a magic key that unlocks the door to deeper understanding? Last week, after wrestling for months with a play, I decided to leave it alone for awhile. In truth, after wrestling for months, I finally wrote a section that had merit – and when I saved the file it simply disappeared. Poof! After several attempts to find and retrieve the file, my computer insisted that the file was corrupted. I took it as a sign. Give it some space. Leave it alone.

Just as I’d decided to let the project go, we received a message from a man who wanted to buy the remains of my rocking chair. This chair has lived in every studio I’ve ever occupied. Except for my easel it is the only piece of furniture I’ve carried through my nomadic life. In our most recent basement flood a pipe burst directly above the chair, blasting the caning and destroyed the seat, damaging the finish and annihilating a hardcover sketchbook resting on the arm. I decided my chair deserved a better place-in-the-world. It deserved to be with someone who could properly restore it and take better care of it. The message from a buyer sent me reeling. I, of course, denied it. Kerri saw my distress and helped me see it. Every single painting I’ve created in my adult life was rocked into existence in that chair. It’s history was my history. We told the buyer that the chair was already spoken for.

I sat for several minutes with the remains of my chair. There was no one on earth who could better care for it because there was no one on earth who cared more about it than me.We’ll find someone who does caning. We’ll find an upholsterer who can repair the damage and replace the seat or we’ll do it ourselves.

I turned all my canvases to the wall, turned off the salt lamp and climbed the stairs. I met Kerri in the sunroom where we ate Munchos, drank wine, and debriefed the day. I confessed my revelation: I was going to sell my chair because I did not feel worthy of it – which, of course, is a statement not at all about the chair. It was a jolt akin to the discovery of a secret passageway that leads to a hidden chamber of secrets. A lingering question of worth.

Later it felt like opening the window and bringing fresh air to rush into a long-sealed dark and stale room.

I felt exhausted. I felt relieved. I felt as if I could breathe.

“It’s time to go empty.” I heard Kerri say. I heard Karola laughing. Jump into the void. This time, no timid stepping: jump. Really jump. Clear space for a worthy abundant spring.

read Kerri’s blog about the MUNCHO HEART

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Filed under: Art, Awakening, Creativity, DR Thursday, Heroes, Identity | Tagged: artistry, confluence, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, elders, go empty, Guidance, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, rejuvenation, revelation, story, studio melange, the melange, wisdom, worth | Leave a comment »

Making Meaning Meaning Making [David’s blog on DR Thursday]

Posted on February 26, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

As I was filing my latest painting into the stacks I was suddenly overwhelmed with intense gratitude at having lived an artist’s life. My appreciation was not so much about the growing rolls and stacks of paintings but at the inner imperatives that made me throw caution to the economic wind and chase a my deeper calling. And the truth is that I never felt like I had a choice. Twice I tried to jump off the path and do something more reasonable-and-secure and both times it nearly gutted me.

Horatio reminded me of Ernest Becker’s definition of the work of an artist in his book, The Denial of Death: “The artist takes in the world, but instead of being oppressed by it, he reworks it in his own personality and recreates it in the work of art”.

Making meaning, meaning making through color, sound, movement and word.

There’s so much in this world – in this nation at the moment – that is oppressive and cruel. None of the mean-spirited incompetence or the incessant lies or the blatant exploitation makes sense to me. Why would an entire political party participate in the cover-up of an international pedophile ring, stand solidly behind a convicted felon, a man found liable for sexual assault, an insurrectionist opening grifting the nation and bullying the world? Standing in front of an easel, working on a play or writing a daily blog – is the only way I know of making sense of it all, translating my disgust into something more useful and meaningful.

I have grown enamored of the winter reeds and grasses. On a section of a favorite trail there is an area of distressed drainage. In the summer it is a gathering place for turtles. In the winter the water freezes and the amber grasses sway on a field of blue ice and snow. It never fails to capture our attention. It never fails to bring us back to a quiet center, in touch with an enduring truth. I listen to the whisper-song of the grasses as Kerri photographs the play of colors. Standing in the mud and the cold we marvel at our good fortune.

“People create the reality they need in order to discover themselves.” ~ Ernest Becker

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE GRASSES

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Filed under: Art, Creativity, DR Thursday, Edges | Tagged: artistry, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, Ernest Becker, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, meaning, meaning making, recreate, story, studio melange, The Denial of Death, the melange, truth | Leave a comment »

Conscience Totems [David’s blog on Not So Flawed Wednesday]

Posted on February 25, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

In a roiling stream of consciousness, the limbs at sunset evoked a memory of watching a master of ink and brush, a fluid stroke, a guided hand that for some reason pitched me into Robert Motherwell. I scrolled through selections of his work and was taken by how many of his pieces are direct descendants of Henri Matisse. I was taken by how many times he returned to a theme Elegy To The Spanish Republic. The atrocities of war.

We heard the phrase “conscious avoidance” but thought we heard “conscience avoidance”. The confusion was fantastic! If I someday paint a series of pieces about the un-United States during these authoritarian years I will name the series Conscience Avoidance. Pam Bondi refusing to look at the Epstein survivors. The republican congress emasculating itself, refusing to deal with the obvious truth. The conservative members of the Supreme Court refusing to look at the Constitution. The Constitution stares, mouth agape, at the justices who try not to look at it. My massive canvases will be pocked with oppressive black strokes. Soul holes. Void.

There will, of course, be a parallel series. Conscience Totems. An homage to the people who take to the streets. Keepers of the promise and the light. Bright swaths of vibrant color evoking guide stars and torches and courage. The fluid strokes mimicking a master of ink and brush, a hand guided by something grander than self-serving-money-lust or personal-political-gain. The living branches of a tree reaching one to the other, interlaced and interconnected, reflective of their roots, drinking deeply from the earth so it might touch the sky. A celebration of those unafraid to look power in the eye and ask, “What happened to you?”

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE TREE SILHOUETTE

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Filed under: Art, Awakening, Flawed Wednesday, Heroes, Identity, Two Artists Tuesday | Tagged: artistry, conscience, conscious, conscious avoidance, Constitution, courage, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, Epstein files, Henri Matisse, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, republican congress, Robert Motherwell, story, studio melange, The Constitution of The United States, the melange | 1 Comment »

Hitched To Everything [David’s blog on DR Thursday]

Posted on February 19, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

If you are not paying attention you could walk right by them and never know that they are there. They are experts of stillness. They are masters of vanishing.

“Keep close to Nature’s heart… and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.” ~ John Muir

We quietly hoped we’d see them. It was a special day and we desired an affirmation of all things good. The trail was both muddy and icy, hard to navigate. We were on the verge of turning back but decided to go just a bit further. Had we turned back we would not have seen them.

Our messengers from another world did not disappoint. They leapt, white tails flashing in the sun, making certain we did not miss them. And then they were still. Watching us watching them.

“I understood at a very early age that in nature, I felt everything I should feel in church but never did. Walking in the woods, I felt in touch with the universe and with the spirit of the universe.” ~ Alice Walker

They are teachers of presence. It is no wonder that they have come to symbolize spiritual renewal. In my stillness, in my presence, all the roiling troubles of the troubled-human-world dropped away. I think it is what John Muir meant: my spirit was washed clean.

“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.” ~ John Muir

After they delivered their message and leapt toward the river, I recognized that what is accessible in the woods is also available in my studio. Presence. My brushes hitch me to everything else in the Universe. It is one reason why I am so extraordinarily lucky. If I do not go to nature to wash clean my spirit, nature comes to find me in my work.

read Kerri’s blogpost about DEER

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Filed under: Art, Awakening, Creativity, DR Thursday | Tagged: Alice Walker, artistry, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, John Muir, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, nature, rejuvenation, renewal, spirit, spiritual, stillness, story, studio melange, symbol, the melange | 1 Comment »

A Greater Truth [David’s blog on KS Friday]

Posted on February 6, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

“Politics is downstream of culture.” ~ Brian Tyler Cohen

Societies disappear but their art remains. The art serves to carry forward through time the essence, the beliefs, the customs, the inner space and outer limits of a culture. Culture is a force greater than politics. Artists carry in their work the flame of culture; they serve a greater truth. The same cannot be said of politicians or captains of industry.

Like it or not, the artists at the Grammy awards spoke directly to the current horrors of our politics. They know the reach and power of their words and their artistry to inspire action. Bruce Springsteen’s song, The Streets of Minneapolis has become an anthem celebrating the courageous people who refuse to hide from the bully. It is a call to the essence of the American spirit while also calling out the lies of division and brutality of ICE and those who’ve created this mindless monster.

On the National Mall a sculpture appeared of the authoritarian-wannabe holding hands with Epstein. It’s entitled “Best Friends Forever”. A second installation, a ten foot replica of The Wannabe’s Birthday Card to Epstein, has shown up. The work of Banksy and those who emulate him are showing up on walls all across the world. A picture is worth a thousand words.

Anselm Kiefer, among the greatest visual artists of our times, has spent his life working “…themes of German history and the horrors of the Holocaust”. His work speaks directly to the fascist moment we now face in the USA.

Art inspires action because it reaches beyond words to touch souls. It simplifies the complex. It clarifies the chaos.

To say we live in complex times is an understatement. An old world order is collapsing. The gap between the haves and the have-nots is ever-widening, our politicians sell our future to the corporate dollar and create oligarchs, who, in turn, would have us believe that the people are incapable of governing themselves.

In our lifetime there has never been a greater need for the artist’s voice. We are daily served an avalanche of lies meant to keep us confused and off-center. Consider this: every person on the streets blowing a whistle or recording the brutality of ICE is an artist. They are calling our attention to the truth. They actively pierce the ugly rhetoric to expose the stark reality. They challenge the lies. They support us in knowing with absolute clarity who we are so that we might come together as a community and say to this administration, “You do not represent us. We are better than this.”

To all the republican politicians out there: be certain that culture is coming for you.