Art | The Direction of Intention

Slow Motion Rain [On DR Thursday]

Posted on May 3, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

MASTERlarger slowmotionrain copy 3 It seems my life these days is one big meditation on “not forcing” outcomes. I’ve been here before so I suspect this falls in the category of “life lessons.”

The Chinese have a term for this meditation: wu wei. Do nothing. In creative communities it’s known as flow. Athletes train, actors rehearse, but when opening night comes or race day dawns, the advice is always the same. Let go. Trust the work. In other words, cease pushing and get out of your own way.

Working from tension, pushing too hard for outcomes, causes injury. It jams flow.

The final pose at the end of a yoga practice is called savasana, or corpse pose. It is to surrender, not in the sense of giving up but more of giving over. It is a release of tension. My Earth Interrupted paintings have become for me a kind of savasana, a letting go. As Jim used to teach me, you’ll know you are in “that” place of flow when it feels like a dance of giving and receiving and you have no need to distinguish which side of the dance you are on. Both/and. Give/receive.

Kerri calls this morsel “Slow Motion Rain.” It comes from a moment of dance. Or, as we like to say in our house, “Woo Wee!”

SLOW MOTION RAIN gifts and cool products

earth interrupted IV ~ mixed media, 48 x 36IN

read Kerri’s blog Post on SLOW MOTION RAIN

www.kerrianddavid.com

slow motion rain designs and products ©️ 2018 david robinson & kerri sherwood

earth interrupted iv ©️ 2018 david robinson

Filed under: Art, DR Thursday, Uncategorized | Tagged: dance, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, DR Thursday, flow, giving and receiving, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, let go, process, savasana, slow motion rain, society6.com/davidrobinson, studio melange, surrender, the melange, trust, wu wei, yoga | Leave a comment »

Look For The Mountain [On DR Thursday]

Posted on April 26, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

A mountain morsel for this DR Thursday from studio melange.

Mountain In Yellow Sky

Kerri laughed her most devious laugh when I asked, “Where does this morsel come from?” I didn’t recognize it as a slice from any of my paintings. I usually know immediately where the morsel comes from. This one baffled me.

“Guess,” she said, laughing that laugh again. I knew I was in trouble.

Usually, when I hear this particular devious laugh, I look behind me. Or, I check to see if she is clutching cleverly concealed water balloons. DogDog knows this laugh, too. It means he will have to work very hard, go through all of his tricks, probably twice, before getting the cookie that she holds just above his reach. He always looks to me for support and I tell him, “You are on your own, Dogga.” I know better than to redirect her brat impulses on to me.

And so, like DogDog, I guessed. And guessed again. And again. I did tricks. I searched my folio site. With each wrong guess, her pleasure at my bewilderment increased, her laughter goading me on. I looked to DogDog for help. He dropped to the floor and pretended to be sleeping. I was on my own.

Finally, exhausted, beyond begging, she dropped a tiny hint. The painting no longer exists.

Thanks to Skip I’ve made it a practice of taking process shots which means Kerri has made it a practice of mining my process shots. Many of my paintings don’t make it to the finish line. They are either not composed well, are ill conceived from the start, or I overwork them and have to scrub them and start over. Sometimes they serve as rough drafts and i abandon them when I see the better path. This morsel comes from one of those – a painting that did not make it. It was poorly laid out. It broke the rule of thirds (and I didn’t want to cut the canvas to correct the problem).

Kerri’s made Together On The Beach art prints available at society6.com

Kerri jumped up and down with joy when I put it together. She knew that she was going to re-introduce a painting to me. She knew, given the right framing, I’d see the beauty of the unfinished piece. So, the morsel: Mountain in Yellow Sky. And, for my purposes, the beauty in the loose painting that no longer exists: Together On The Beach.

biggercropped on the beach painting jpeg copy 2

This crop of the original is also available as wall art at society6.com

It is potent blow-back to help me see the old anew. When I said, “I think I need to learn to stop painting sooner, to redefine for myself what is a rough draft and what is not.” she laughed that laugh again. The trouble I am in is so much bigger than I understand.

MOUNTAIN IN YELLOW SKY products we’ve designed are sold at society6.com

read Kerri’s blog post about MOUNTAIN IN YELLOW SKY

www.kerrianddavid.com

mountain in yellow sky/on the beach ©️ 2018 david robinson & kerri sherwood

Filed under: Art, Creativity, DR Thursday, Uncategorized | Tagged: acrylic paintings, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, Dog-Dog, DR Thursday, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, mischief, mountain in yellow sky, paintings, rough drafts, rule of thirds, society6.com/davidrobinson, studio melange, the melange | Leave a comment »

No Words. Just Thanks.

Posted on April 22, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

Filed under: Art, Gratitude, The Direction of Intention, Uncategorized | Tagged: david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, Gratitude, kerrianddavid.com, painting sale, society6.com/davidrobinson, studio melange, the melange | Leave a comment »

Go On A Fool’s Errand

Posted on April 21, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

50% OFF ALL PAINTINGS THROUGH MIDNIGHT APRIL 22nd

Iconic

“I paint the way some people write their autobiography. The paintings, finished or not, are the pages of my journal, and as such are valid. The future will choose the pages it prefers. It is not up to me to make the choice.” ~ Pablo Picasso

The further I walk down this life path, the more I identify with this quote. A younger version of me would have thought it interesting but not much more. A younger version of me wouldn’t have admitted to trying to pre-determine the choice for the future; trying to determine what others see. A forgivable fool’s-errand as I am certain I am not alone in my folly.

The second in my Held In Grace series: Surrender Now

There is a flip side to my fool’s-errand. There are things I see in the paintings that no one on earth will ever see. I am the channel. It is the privilege of being an artist to express from personal experience what cannot be fully expressed, only approximated. And, in the attempt to fully express the personal (another fool’s-errand!), a common ground is created – art is a universal meeting place, a crossroads. It’s a paradox. It is also a truth: individuals create common ground through the experiences they share and the stories they tell about those experiences. Society is a creation just as a painting is a creation. Society is an expression just as a painting is an expression.

The future will choose the pages it prefers because it will choose the pages it relates to, the pages it understands, the pages that inspire, remind, or give pause.

For me, at this point in my autobiography, it is enough to paint without regard to validity or investment in value of my paintings. It is enough to discover yet another facet of my life as an art-fool on errands .

Weeping Man

Filed under: Art, The Direction of Intention, Uncategorized | Tagged: #50%Off, acrylic paintings, autobiography, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, figurative paintings, fool's errand, Iconic, kerrianddavid.com, pablo picasso, painting sale, paintings, society6.com/davidrobinson, studio melange, Surrender Now, the melange, Weeping Man | Leave a comment »

See Art Everywhere

Posted on April 20, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

50% OFF ALL PAINTINGS THROUGH APRIL 22nd

Something old. This is Eve

Together we read the local paper every morning. Yesterday there was an essay from the executive director of a new ‘creative space’ making a case, financial and otherwise, for why the community should value and support the arts. Everything he wrote was true. Everything he wrote has already, as Kerri likes to say, fallen into the moat.

Fifteen years ago I might have written that essay. I am an artist and need no case made for the necessity and essential nature of “the arts.” However…. In a past life I consulted with schools and many times found myself in the position of lobbying the school board to support arts programs. I jumped up and down making a case for the arts and rarely achieved my desired result. Until, one day, a word-angel grabbed my tongue and instead of using that mystical word “arts,” I replaced it with the phrase “experiential learning.” Doors blew opened. Angels sang. Kids made movies, painted paintings, held poetry slams, wrote musicals, made plays…came alive. And learned.

Something new(er). This is New Mother

Our mistake is “to make a case” for the arts. Our mistake is to define it narrowly, relegate it to museums. It is not a separate thing. It is everything. It is everywhere. The design of our cars and blenders is an aesthetic as well as an engineering process. The apps on our phones (the very design of our phones) requires artistic as well as technical skill. Every piece of marketing that clogs our streams requires an artistic sensibility. We live in age of narrative, of artificial intelligence, of imagination run rampant. We story ourselves on Facebook and Instagram and share our pins on Pinterest. Step back and listen to the competing narratives we call The News. Listen not to the content of the question but how it is asked; these things are not accidental, they are designed, targeted to influence and move our imaginations. The “arts” are not lofty nor dusty, they are throbbing, vibrant, and central to every nuance of our lives. Why do we insist on keeping them in such a tiny little box?

Stephen asked me more than once, “Why don’t people value the arts?” He is a prolific painter, brilliant, and exhausted from living on the margins. “They do,” I’d say, “they just don’t know it.”

Kerri and I said goodbye to a few more paintings yesterday. They found their right home and that is more than gratifying. It is the moment of completion of the painting (or the play or the composition…or the car, couch, and coffee mug) when it finds an audience or its home. It’s a life cycle, deeply connected. It is everything. It is everywhere.

And something in between. Kerri calls this Joy.

Filed under: Art, The Direction of Intention, Uncategorized | Tagged: a case for the arts, art, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, design, imagination, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, life cycle, margins, painting sale, paintings, society6.com/davidrobinson, society6.com/kerrisherwood, studio melange, technology, the arts, the melange, value | Leave a comment »

Commune With Color

Posted on April 19, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

50% OFF ALL PAINTINGS THROUGH MIDNIGHT APRIL 22nd

Angels At The Well, 24 x 48 IN, acrylic on two panels

I always loved gallery openings of my work because they served to remind me how deeply personal a relationship with a painting really is. And, isn’t that the point? For instance, when I first showed my painting, Canopy [featured in a post yesterday], it literally stopped a woman in her tracks. She burst into tears and spent the next hour communing with the painting. Literally communing. I love this story because a few moments before the communing woman entered the gallery, a young couple stood before Canopy and said, “Ooh. I don’t like this one.”

As John once said, “Your job is to paint the paintings, not to determine what people see in them.” True enough.

There are two paintings in my stable that have drawn more attention than any others. By far. They were painted at roughly the same time. They are the same size. Both are acrylic on two panels. Both have shown often, always have multiple inquiries, and always return to the stable. They are favorites to be courted but are always left standing alone at the altar.

Once, when taking them down after a showing, a gallery rep. told me she thought they were abandoned yet again because they were too colorful. “Too Colorful?” I questioned. And she said, “You’re right. That’s not possible.”

Bass Player, 24 x 48 IN, acrylic on two panels

Filed under: Art, The Direction of Intention, Uncategorized | Tagged: #50%Off, acrylic, angels, angels at the well, art, art sale, bass player, color, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, kerrianddavid.com, paintings | Leave a comment »

Something Old, Something New

Posted on April 18, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

50% OFF ALL ORIGINAL PAINTINGS THROUGH MIDNIGHT APRIL 22nd

Something old. I call this painting, “Canopy”

Horatio and I just finished one of our famous calls. He, too, is an artist [and film maker] and so I look forward to our all too rare and epic conversations. They are pot-stirring and life-giving. Today, among a host of other things, we talked about the necessity of letting go of the old story in order to move forward into the new.

Non-attachment. It is an artistic imperative (and spiritual practice). It is one of the reasons I love and appreciate Kerri’s total attachment to my paintings; I know my work is loved and in good hands so it frees me to continue stepping forward. I no longer walk this path alone. I have the same attachment to her compositions and trust my embrace of her work opens safe space for her artistic voyage to the edge.

Kerri treats the sale of my paintings more as a placement, a matching of hearts, than as a transaction. She’s helping me tell a new story even in the selling of my work. ” I hope you sell a lot of 50% off paintings,” Horatio said.

“Me, too,” I thought. In my new story that would mean a meeting of many, many hearts.

Earth Interrupted I. This old piece is the spark for the new

Filed under: Art, The Direction of Intention, Uncategorized | Tagged: artistry, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, non attachment, painting sale | Leave a comment »

If You’ve Said, “I Wish…”

Posted on April 17, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

50% OFF ALL PAINTINGS through MIDNIGHT APRIL 22

It is my favorite rituals. Just as I put the last stroke on a new painting I hear Kerri say, “I love it. You can’t sell that one.” I smile because I know she means it. Generally it takes a few days of convincing her before she acquiesces to the inevitable destiny of my paintings and we list it on the site. Letting them go, placing them in the world, is personal.

We take great delight when my paintings find homes with people who love them.

Soon, Kerri and I will celebrate 5 years together. A wish come true. This morning in the studio, sorting through paintings to select new morsels for the melange, we discussed how fortunate we are, how prolific we’ve been, how fast we are filling up space, how many people have said to us, “I wish I could afford that painting.” We decided that part of our celebration of the first 5 years should be a clearing of space, a nod to wish-giving (or as close as we can come to it), an invitation and welcome to the new.

It’s easy. Go to my site before midnight on April 22nd. Choose your painting – old or recent. Take 50% off the listed price (of course, there’s tax and shipping if we need to ship it to you). Send us an email through the contact page (or text or call us) claiming your painting. If it’s still available, it’s yours (our space-clearing is necessarily first come first served). We’ll contact you with the details.

Oh. And, don’t be surprised if Kerri tries to talk you out of it. She is persistent!

cropped head kiss copy 2

Filed under: Art, The Direction of Intention, Uncategorized | Tagged: #50%Off, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, erom yub, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, painting sale, potlatch | Leave a comment »

(Y)Our Earth [It’s Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on April 17, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

Take a moment to take a look around you. A thought to ponder and share from the melange.

Tibetan monks have been in residence this week at a local technical college. They are creating a mandala sand painting. For the monks, creating the mandala is a spiritual practice, a meditation. As they construct the design they contemplate the meaning of the symbols within the design. In other words, they are in a constant state of prayer while they create. They invite the community to enter the prayerful space and contemplate with them; the “space” is, of course, the essential part of their creation. More to the point, the shared space of peace, an intentional communal tranquility, is the creation. And, to make sure we grasp the point, the final step in their creative process is to blow the design away. Nothing is permanent. Beauty is passing and so are you and me. It is, we are, energy in motion. The process, rather than the product, is the meditation.

When Kerri drew this design it immediately reminded me of the Earth’s currents, a perfect sentiment for the coming Earth Day celebrations. The essential convection currents that create our wind, our weather. The currents in the earth moving layers of magma, the transfer of energy in the heating and cooling of the ocean. Motion creates life, tosses up forms and pulls them down again. Motion is life, life is motion. And, in this mandala we call Earth, there is a deeper meditation found within the sand and the impermanence: it’s all connected. We are all connected. Blowing sands. The process, the quality of our participation in impermanence, is the art.

From studio melange, an earth day meditation: this is your/our earth.

THIS IS (Y)OUR EARTH reminders/merchandise

iphone cases

a beach towel!

(Y)Our Earth Leggings

read kerri’s blog post on (Y)Our Earth

kerrianddavid.com

Filed under: Art, Energy, Two Artists Tuesday, Uncategorized | Tagged: #earthday, art, art and spirituality, beauty, communal peace, connected, connection, connectivity, convection current, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, earth day, earth's currents, impermanence, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, mandala, meditation, passing beauty, peace, prayer, process, sand painting, shared peace, society6.com/twoartists, spiritual practice, studio melange, the melange, tibetan monks, tranquility, Two Artists Tuesday | 2 Comments »

As Sure As The Sun [It’s KS Friday]

Posted on April 13, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

a great logo for the certainty of the sun. this is a metal wall art piece

When you visit our melange page the first thing you read is our intention: brewed from our studio, sometimes fresh and sometimes aged, we offer a daily blend of goodness, thought, laughter, and beauty. Our offer. We offer what we have to give and what we have to give is an abiding artistic impulse expressed through many forms: cartoons, music, paintings, design, and our thoughts. A true medley. We have no lack of content.

One of the first things I learned about Kerri is that her artistic epicenter is a deep-well belief in kindness. She believes her work is a popcorn trail that leads people back to that deep-well. We regularly discuss spirituality and religion and she will often shut down my yawn-inducing-rants with, “If it’s not about joy, it’s not about anything.” From most people that would come off as a platitude but for Kerri it is a conviction.

Joy. Kindness. It is what she has to give. It is her offer. As Sure As The Sun is a song sprung from that well. What could be better on a cold where-is-spring Friday than a song of sunny warmth and the certainty of love. Our offer on this KS Friday from studio melange.