Arrive At The Essence [on Two Artists Tuesday]

This past Saturday we passed a milestone. We began writing our Melange on February 12, 2018, four years ago. We’ve published 5 days a week, every week, no matter what chaos or crazy storm blew through our lives.

Our Melange has moved through many phases. Originally, we wanted to regain some control over the publication of our music, paintings, plays, children’s books and cartoons. In our first post I called it our “pile of creative perseverance.” Also, we wanted to make a living from our mountain of work so we set up Society6 storefronts and spent hours each day developing products based on what we published. It was a blast and a total bust.

Eventually, the stores fell off, the daily themes changed, and we arrived at a pure essence: we love to sit together and write. Each day. There’s always a visual prompt, mostly from photos Kerri’s taken during the week. There’s only one rule: we can’t read or know what the other is writing about until we’ve completed our drafts. And then we read to each other, talk about our posts and clean them up. It’s my favorite thing to do. It feeds our hearts, energizes our artistic souls and that is more than enough.

Somedays I feel as if we are writing ourselves into existence. Our Melange is the story we tell each other – and you – of our life together. It’s a continuation of the Roadtrip, the daily emails we wrote to each other before we met. And, if the Roadtrip was a narrative offering of “this is me,” the Melange is a narrative offering of, “this is us.”

We launched the Melange with this Chicken Nugget (below). I wrote, as an introduction in the inaugural post, that this Nugget – and the Melange – was “a quiet reminder that the universe of feelings was – and is – so much bigger than words can possibly contain.” Ironic, yes? Coming from two people who, each and every day, write words as their way of reaching into this vast universe of feelings.

Thank you for reading what we write. We appreciate every step you take with us on our journey.

read Kerri’s blog post about 4 YEARS

chicken marsala © 2016 kerri sherwood & david robinson

the melange © 2018-22 kerri sherwood & david robinson

Laugh At Yourself [on DR Thursday]

Had you come across our website during the era of The Roadtrip, a play that Kerri and I wrote from the several-months-email-conversation we had before we first met face-to-face, you’d have read this phrase: smack-dab in the middle of middle age…a true story of quiet hope and the arrival of life’s second chances.

Smack-dab. In the middle of middle age. We met. We married. We walk the neighborhood arm-in-arm. We write these blog posts each day. She brings her wise-eyes into my studio and I tell her what her music makes me feel and think.

For an intense year or so, we tried-like-crazy to syndicate a cartoon strip called Chicken Marsala, the imaginary child of two people who met smack-dab in the middle of middle age. In the course of writing and drawing Chicken, we also pitched a single-panel cartoon, Flawed, and another called At The Door. Chicken Marsala had several iterations because the syndicate liked it…almost. They asked for improvements though never specified what those improvements might be – in the writing? The art work? In this age of too much information, no answer ever came back to us.

In the face of unspecified and uncertain improvements, this ONE thing is certain: we generated a mountain of material in the hunt for the elusive improvement. Oh, and this, too: we laughed heartily at ourselves. The mountain of material was about us. We were poking fun at the things we do and say each day.

This morning I found Kerri furiously working at her computer guffawing. She’d pulled up the old Chicken file. There was an iteration of the strip that was pre-Chicken, the middle-aged couple prior to the appearance of their imaginary son. We sat this morning and laughed again at ourselves. These things actually happen and how joyful is it to chronicle yourself in-and-as a cartoon?

I suspect we are going back to the drawing board. This time, we’ll not hide behind our imaginary son. This time, we’ll pull the blankets on the source. Smack-dab. In the middle of middle age. Two artists met and got married. What could be a better set-up for ridiculousness?

read Kerri’s blog post introducing SMACK-DAB

*don’t believe a word she writes, she guffaws all of the time.

smack-dab ©️ 2021 david robinson & kerri sherwood

Write The Essential [on Merely A Thought Monday]

button to button copy 2

I’m not sure what stacks up around your house. At our house, the stacks are paintings, cartoons, designs, composition notes, manuscripts, folios, notebooks of ideas, scraps of paper jammed into the notebooks of ideas, lyrics a-go-go, and the supplies necessary to make the other stacks possible. Colored pencils, brushes, too many composition books, canvas, tissue paper, paint, sketchbooks, art books, and the stacks-and-stacks of stuff teetering on the piano and bench that somehow resemble a nest.

All of this is to note that we are fantastic generators of content and equally inept marketers of what we generate. Thus, the stacks. It was this realization – and the necessity of making a living – that one year ago gave birth to the melange. Melange means ‘mixture’ or ‘medley.’

The idea was simple: Monday would be dedicated to our cartoon, Chicken Marsala. Tuesday would be dedicated to our Two Artists designs. Wednesday was Flawed Cartoon day. Thursday was for my paintings. Friday was for Kerri’s music. We created a Society6.com store for each day, set about designing 5 product lines a week (oh, god,…more content). Through our blogs we’d write about and publish the day’s selection, he-said/she-said-style. People all over the world would read what we wrote, be captivated by the cartoon, design or composition, and race to the Society6.com store to buy a print or a mug or a laptop sleeve or a greeting card. Content out, income, well…in.

And, it happened. People all over the world read our blogs. And, almost no one raced to the Society6.com stores. We studied a few things, learned a few things, reconfigured, tried a few social-media-marketing variations, bought ad space, waved our hands, jumped up and down, danced silly dances – we pivoted and pivoted again.

More readers. Less-than-no shoppers.

One day, after eight months, we looked at each other and considered pulling the plug and would have pulled the plug except for one small-yet-oh-so-important detail: we love to write together. In the course of a year, the melange managed to boil itself down to its essence. Each day Kerri writes her post. “Don’t look!” she says as I, sitting next to her,  write mine. And then, before posting, we share them. We read to each other. It’s always a surprise (though mine are predictably “heady” and hers are 100% “hearty”).

When I looked back at our first post one year ago I laughed at the irony. Love needs no words. Well, in this case, in our case, love revels in words. There are too many words for the love to contain. And, so, our stacks grow happily higher and higher and higher.

love needs no words jpeg copy

if you'd like to see more CHICKEN... copy

read Kerri’s blog post about A YEAR IN MELANGE

 

chicken and perseverance website box copy

 

chicken marsala ©️ 2016 david robinson & kerri sherwood

Pick A Pillow [on Merely A Thought Monday]

chicken marsala throw pillows copy

Merely A Thought Monday was a progression, an evolution of our single panel cartoon, our imaginary child, Chicken Marsala. Chicken used to show up with simple phrases like Assume Awe or Love Needs No Words. We called them “nuggets.” One day we realized that folks liked the words but were barely conscious of the drawing of Chicken. So, Chicken retired to Maui. His words remain.

Along with Chicken we also developed product designs, lines of merchandise inspired by the day’s cartoon. Prints, tote bags, laptop sleeves,… one for each day of the Melange….a remarkable 80 different designs/lines by the time we realized our product lines were as invisible and/or overwhelming as Chicken. So, we retired them, too.

Last weekend, like an old couple looking at pictures of good times past, we revisited our designs. Shifting in my rocker, pulling my cardigan up on my shoulders, I sighed and said, “Some of those designs were darn good.”

Kerri sighed, adjusted her spectacles and said, “Do you have a pillow for my back? I need a pillow for my back.”

So. That’s how pillow week at the Melange came to be. Nostalgia. And necessity. It’s all we’ve got. It’s the best there is! [just count your blessings that we’re not showing you slides of our trip to the coast]. Follow the link. Get Kerri a pillow. Or, just pick up one for yourself. Or a friend. If you see Chicken, tell him to write.

THE LINK

 

read Kerri’s blog post about THROW PILLOW WISDOM

 

bong trail, wisconsin website box copy

 

chicken designs and products ©️ 2018 david robinson & kerri sherwood

 

rootinlove WITH EYES jpeg copy 2

Be The Storm [on Chicken Marsala Monday]

inspirationisa WITH EYES jpeg copy 2

“It is a sacred art that deals with revelation rather than observation.”~Jamake Highwater, The Language Of Vision

Tom used to say, “A writer writes and a painter paints.” Those are wise words grounded in the mechanics of art. Simply show up. Do the thing. Nuts and bolts. That’s the first step. Show up at the easel, on the dance floor, at the piano, at the writers desk and begin. Tom was a teacher and over his life heard an overabundance of excuses, reasons ‘why not.’ Said another way, he advised his students to stop thinking about it and do it. “Get out of your own way,” he’d counsel. That’s the second step. Horatio calls this step ‘trust-your-work.”

Show up. Do the thing. Get out of your own way. Trust your work.

And, what happens with trust? When the artist can get out of his/her own way, the sacred art, the art of revelation becomes possible. It’s a beautiful paradox. Show up and get out of the way. And, between those two actions, those crackling oppositions, a greater force, inspiration, gathers and releases like a storm.

if you'd like to see more CHICKEN... copy

FALL50%OFFSALE copySeptember 1 – 16

read Kerri’s blog post about INSPIRATION IS A GATHERING STORM

 

www.kerrianddavid.com

facebook logo copy 2

inspiration is a gathering storm ©️ 2016/18 david robinson & kerri sherwood

 

Believe In The Impossible [on Chicken Marsala Monday]

inspirationmakespeopledocrazythings WITH EYES jpeg copy

All of my life I’ve been surrounded by people who believed in the impossible. At a school for developmentally disabled children, there were therapists who believed against all odds that they could help a child catch a ball. And, one day, after ten thousand tries, extraordinary therapies on frozen muscles, endless encouragement for the child and for each other, those little hands closed around the ball at just the right moment. A catch. Cheers, celebration dances and tears erupted, this feat greater than winning a Super Bowl. The impossible became possible. And then, as if there was not a moment to waste, the next impossibility was named: ball catching could become routine!

Artists, who go day after day to the studio or the stage, their lives an impossibility of economic headwinds and community disinterest. They create. They find a way. They keep the doors of deep humanity open, mythology alive. In this age of dedicated differences and echo-chamber-information, they reinvigorate the experience of a shared story. The impossible becomes possible, even if only for a moment. And the next day, they do it all over again, refreshed with inspiration and improbability.

Teachers who walk into classrooms every single day, their budgets cut, their student load swelling, their hands tied with standardized-testing-madness, and yet they reach. They try. They inspire. Like icebreakers, they cut new paths through impossibly frozen circumstances to locate and nourish the minds and hearts of their students. To free them from disbelief. To embrace the challenge of an obstacle. To encourage discovery of self and other. The impossible becomes possible. And, the next day, they do it all over again.

Inspiration. It’s all around us. It makes people do crazy things.

 

if you'd like to see more CHICKEN... copy

FALL50%OFFSALE copy

www.kerrianddavid.com

 

facebook logo copy 2like us on facebook

 

inspiration makes people do crazy things ©️ 2016/18 david robinson & kerri sherwood

Enjoy The Chase [on Chicken Marsala Monday]

itsnotthecatch WITH EYES jpeg copy 2

It’s always an interesting exercise to revisit past work and see it through eyes of the present. It ‘opens’ in ways that were unavailable when the work was first produced. That’s true of my paintings and Kerri’s music. It is also true of our Chicken Nuggets. We created most of these single panel “nuggets” two years ago – along with a full cartoon strip for proposals to syndicates.

My present-day eyes see essences. For instance, this Nugget perfectly encapsulates the the work I do with most of my coaching and consulting clients. The growth happens when the sheer enjoyment of the chase takes precedence over the obsession on the catch. The catch is temporary, passing. The chase is infinite. It’s the chase that matters.

Shift your focus. Said another way: It’s not the achievements. It’s the relationships that matter. It sounds like so much hoo-ha, a Hallmark card philosophy. Yet….

Joseph Campbell said that people think they are looking for the meaning of life but in truth they are looking for the experience of life. The experience of life is found in the moment, in the relationship, in the chase. Meaning is always found in the experiences, not the other way around.

On this Chicken Marsala Monday, shift the focus of your eyes. Embrace a simple dose of hoo-ha, enjoy the chase. It is what matters.

 

if you'd like to see more CHICKEN... copy

read Kerri’s blog post on IT’S NOT THE CATCH, IT’S THE CHASE THAT MATTERS

 

www.kerrianddavid.com

 

facebook logo copy 2like us on facebook

 

 

it’s not the catch, it’s the chase that matter/products ©️ 2016/18 david robinson & kerri sherwood

Open, Open, Open [on Chicken Marsala Monday]

therearen'tenoughcrayons WITH EYES jpeg copy 2

“I found that I could say things with colors and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way – things I had no words for.” ~ Georgia O’Keefe

The first time Jim, one of the most brilliant actor/directors I have known, played the role of King Lear, he told me that he didn’t have enough colors in his paint box to do the role justice. He had more to learn.

It is the common thread and what I love about all the great artists. mentors, and teachers that have had so much impact on my life – they know there is always more to discover. They know that ‘it’ – whatever ‘it’ is – is unachievable. So they look, engage, experiment, play, expand, reach, open, open, open…. Artistry is a life-long practice. It is a relationship with life.

“No one sees a flower – really – it is so small it takes time – we haven’t got time – and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time.” ~ Georgia O’Keefe

 

if you'd like to see more CHICKEN... copy

read Kerri’s blog post about THERE AREN’T ENOUGH CRAYONS IN THE WORLD

 

www.kerrianddavid.com

facebook logo copy 2like us on facebook

there aren’t enough crayons in the world ©️ 2016/18 david robinson & kerri sherwood

Play Like There’s No Tomorrow [on Chicken Marsala Monday]

playlikethere'snotomorrow WITH EYES jpeg copy

DogDog is a terrible fetch dog. Throw a stick, a ball,  or a frisbee and he’ll look at you and yawn. However, if you pick up the stick and run it is GAME-ON! He loves to give chase and I have no illusion that my role in that moment is “the sheep.” There is no greater delight in my day than playing with DogDog.

Sometimes, sitting on the deck, I watch him run back and forth between fences, barking in the hope that some dog somewhere will bark back. A return bark is met by a glee-explosion that involves racing laps around the yard and Rin-Tin-Tin fantasies.

And, here’s the thing about play that I have learned from DogDog: even taking out the garbage has become an outrageous amount of fun. It is one of my favorite games. I can’t wait for the kitchen trash to be in need of emptying. The moment I pull on the plastic strings to cinch the bag, DogDog is at the back door, jumping vertically because his little body cannot contain his excitement. I open the back door and he explodes into the yard, clearing the zone of all marauding squirrels and dangerous birds. He looks back when it is safe for me to make a break for the can. Everything is an opportunity for play. Extreme play. Everything.

if you'd like to see more CHICKEN... copy

 

read Kerri’s blog post about PLAYING LIKE THERE’S NO TOMORROW

 

www. kerrianddavid.com

 

play like there’s no tomorrow ©️ 2016 david robinson & kerri sherwood

 

Unleash Your Crayon [on Chicken Marsala Monday]

unleashthepower WITH EYES jpeg copy“…art is a staple of humankind – never a by product of leisure or elitism – and so urgent, so utterly linked with the pulse of feeling that it becomes the singular sign of life when every other aspect of civilization fails.” ~ Jamake Highwater, The Language of Vision

Many years ago I was excited to move into a new studio. Many people in my circle responded to my news in the same way: “Oh God! That’s too much pressure! Now you’ll have to use it!”

I wish I could say that I was dumbfounded by the common response but I wasn’t. As a coach, I wish I could count the number of clients I had who spent many hours and huge dedication of resources to fulfill their dream of having a studio – only to fear walking into it. They thought the lack of a studio was the obstacle and discovered that the real challenge was the banishment of their imagination, the leash they’d placed on their full expression.

Taking off the leash is a daunting affair. It means facing the reasons the leash seemed necessary in the first place. An imagination placed on a leash does not go away, it turns to dark imaginings. It eats itself. It separates. It isolates.

Art is not something that can be approached through reason. It is much more essential, much more primal than intellect alone can reach.  It is accessed through the heart door. The intuitive knowing. Yoda would call it the force.

So, thankfully, the leash cannot be taken off by thinking about it. Experience. Express. Follow. Listen. Feel. Breathe. Reach. Do. And, feel some more. In feeling, in an unbridled imagination, there is connection. There is possibility. There is expansion of spirit and capacity. There is – and this is the power of art – the force that creates community.

if you'd like to see more CHICKEN... copy

read Kerri’s blog post about UNLEASHING THE POWER OF YOUR CRAYON

 

www.kerrianddavid.com

 

unleash the poser of your crayon ©️ 2016 david robinson & kerri sherwood