Creativity | The Direction of Intention

Drop The Veneer [on KS Friday]

Posted on October 28, 2022 by davidrobinsoncreative

It was common during coaching calls, for clients, especially at the beginning, to self-diagnose. Essentially saying, “This is what is wrong with me.” It was an odd start to a process that is about fulfillment of intention or creation of desire. A coaching relationship isn’t therapy and a good coach – one that knows what they are doing – is careful not to let the relationship become about fixing-what-is-wrong. Moving through a creative block or clarifying a fuzzy vision in not an indication of a character flaw. The post-it note on my desk read, “Nothing is broken. Nothing needs to be fixed.”

The self-diagnosis was a veneer. A protective layer, like armor. People have innumerable strategies for hiding their fire, for blunting their passions. Succeeding or creating often implies exposure. Being seen. Stepping into the light can be scary business.

Rather than deal with the diagnosis, a useful and often surprising question to ask is, “What’s beneath that?” What’s beneath the protective layer?

It was also common, after taking the time to take off the armor, after dropping the I’m-broken-veneer, to hear a voice whisper, “You know what I really want? I want to be a writer.” Or a painter. Or a dancer. Stepping into the light is scary business and hearing your voice say what you really want, even in a whisper – especially in a whisper – is powerful stuff!

I loved those moments. Their world spins. The eddy of “fixing” slips into the current and there’s no turning back. Their path forward may be gnarly and steep but that tiny whisper clarifies the picture, releases the desire.

Careful not to be too effusive, I’d say, “Good. Now, what’s the next step?”

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

read Kerri’s blogpost on VENEER

Filed under: Creativity, Identity, KS Friday | Tagged: armor, artistry, coaching, creation, dancer, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, desire, goal, intention, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, life coaching, masks, musician, painter, passion, story, studio melange, the melange, veneer, writer | 1 Comment »

Put It On The Wall [on DR Thursday]

Posted on October 27, 2022 by davidrobinsoncreative

“What you think, you become. What you feel, you attract. What you imagine, you create.” ~ Buddha

I sometimes wonder what the Buddha might think about how words, attributed to him, are now available on Wayfair.com as posters or large decals for every living room wall. Does the ease and ubiquity of the message make it less meaningful? A decoration rather than a wisdom? Or, that we are capable of immersing ourselves in inspiration, a reminder-to-live-well in every room, are we meditating on the messages? Are we incorporating them into our actions and choices?

I’ve read that the only requirement when hanging prayer flags is to hold positive thoughts and intentions in the mind. Intend goodness and goodness will spread. That is, after all, the point of the flag. To spread on the wind goodness, peace, kindness,…

Kerri’s philosophy – her religion – is much the same as Dolly Parton: “You just try to be nice to everybody ’cause you know everybody’s got a dream.” Kerri’s version: “If it’s not about kindness it’s not about anything.” It’s simple.

Minds are powerful things. It’s why stories are so impactful; stories are the stuff that fills-the-minds. What you feel. What you think. What you imagine. It’s not passive. Although a trick of the English language, your thoughts, your feelings, your imaginings, are not really separate from “you.” They are you. The story you tell yourself about yourself in the world.

I suppose that’s why we rub the sentiment onto the living room wall. A desire to be better in the world. To tell a better story. Better about each other. Better for each other. What else?

read Kerri’s blogpost about PRAYER FLAGS

Filed under: Creativity, DR Thursday, Identity, Language, Story | Tagged: actions, artistry, Buddha, choices, creativity, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, Dolly Parton, goodness, heart, imagination, intention, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, kindness, mind, philosphy, prayer, prayer flags, religion, simplicity, story, studio melange, the melange, thought | 1 Comment »

Make Space [on DR Thursday]

Posted on October 20, 2022 by davidrobinsoncreative

I’ve read that a too-busy mind can’t solve problems. To see solutions, beyond quick fixes, requires some open thought space. There’s plenty of research supporting this notion. It’s the reason most epiphanies happen in the shower or while taking a drive. The mind loosens its grip long enough for a new idea to rush in.

Lately, when my brain is in a twist, I take a few moments and visit the switchgrasses in our front yard. They are electric with color. This year, they are showing shades of pink, yellow and orange that they’ve never before revealed. The white plumes dance above the color, moving with the breezes. It not only takes my breath away but I’m finding it impossible to knit my brow and hard-squeeze synapses into sense-making while watching the dance.

I’ve cleared the boxes and bags from my studio. There are still multiple canvases stacked willy-nilly against the wall, it needs a good sweeping, but I can already feel the space breathing. I can feel myself breathing. As it turns out my studio has been a reflection of my too full mind. Clutter keeps the juices in check.

Last night we watched a movie. The main character, an equestrian, was having a hard time returning to competition. She was trying too hard. She was trying to be perfect and her mind and heart were locked up, in opposition. The horse felt her discord and could not move freely. “Forget about winning,” her dad told her. “Go have fun and remember why you loved to ride in the first place.” Sage advice when a good heart is being drowned out by a noisy mind.

An open studio. The grasses tickling my mind into chuckling relaxation. Space. Who knows what new idea is waiting to rush in!

read Kerri’s blogpost about GRASSES

flawed cartoon © david robinson, kerri sherwood, john kruse

Filed under: Creativity, DR Thursday | Tagged: artistry, autumn, busy mind, clutter, color, creative space, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, innovation, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, play, space, story, studio, studio melange, switchgrasses, the melange | 1 Comment »

Stumble Forward [on KS Friday]

Posted on October 7, 2022 by davidrobinsoncreative

I stared at the print in our Airbnb. It made me smile. A happy sloth sitting for a portrait. My children’s book-story-imagination ran amok with the possibilities. This sloth might be pals with Pooh.

The image is by Simon Te Tai. He’s a photographer and manipulates his images using other technologies. He alters the personality. He sometimes adds human characteristics.

I’m paying attention to the uproar in the art community over text-to-image software, like Dall-e. Type a simple phrase into the generator and it will produce an image. “It’s the end!” frightened artists cry!

It’s curious to me. A camera is a technology that, when first introduced, produced the same cry from artists. “It’s the end.” And then artists worked with it. The world would not have a Van Gogh or a Matisse without the camera. The camera freed artists from the necessities of realism. It opened paths to other vibrant explorations.

I remember the first time I saw Photoshop. “The end of truth as we know it,” I thought. A photograph was no longer proof that something happened. It was a shock. Disorienting. Now, I sit next to Kerri everyday as she manipulates our cartoons, produces our blog-boxes, and tweaks photos. It is common, everyday. Liberating.

There isn’t an art form that hasn’t been fundamentally altered by technology. Amplification of sound made it possible for us to attend a concert in a stadium of people. The swirling lights, the moving images playing behind Elton John were sophisticated and an integral part of the experience.

Our language is being altered by technology. The text. The tweet. The emoji. The pendulum is swinging back toward the image, the symbol, and away from the written word. Pictographs on screens rather than chipped into the walls of pyramids.

It’s a push-me-pull-you, this dance we do with technology. Something is rendered obsolete while something gained is not-quite-understood. Change is like that, especially the rapid changes introduced by technology. We stumble forward like a drunken sailor, never quite knowing where we’re going because we understand ourselves by where we’ve been.

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

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE SLOTH

Filed under: Art, Creativity, Emergence, KS Friday | Tagged: art and technology, artistry, Bridge on AS IT IS, camera, composer, Dall-e, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, image, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, musician, Photoshop, Simon Te Tai, story, studio melange, symbol, technology, the melange, two artists | 1 Comment »

Renew [on Not So Flawed Wednesday]

Posted on October 5, 2022 by davidrobinsoncreative

I’m not sure why it hit me with such force. It’s a simple thing. It happens every day. A business fails. This business has been, for years, the place where I catalogued my paintings. Artmoi.com. It is the platform I use to publish my art website. The email notification suggested we export our work. It came with suggestions for other cataloguing options and sites. Generous in their exit. Responsible to their customers. It’s why I signed on in the first place.

I felt it as the end of an era. I wondered if it was the end. It would be a good time to pull it down. Let it go.

For a few years I’ve been writing about my struggles as a visual artist. The time of pandemic has also been the epic of water in our basement, my studio. The subsequent shuffling and reshuffling of boxes and crates and books and clothes and furniture has left my studio filled with our life-stuff. No where to stand. My easel sits above the high water mark.

The disruption came at a good time. I was becoming bored with my paintings. I was becoming disgruntled with the growing stack of paintings. Showing on the web has not proven very useful. I was primed for some productive disarray. And, when it came, it came with a vengeance. Pandemic. Broken wrists. Job loss. Economic free-fall. A curious series of water events; water falling from the ceiling, water rising from the floors, water line breaking through the walls. Water, water, everywhere. Full stop.

I sit on the stairs and look at the easel standing tall above the boxes and bags. There’s a canvas clamped in, ready. Waiting. It looks like an art installation entitled “Wreckage or Relegation?”

In the meantime, I’m drawing cartoons. We write every day. My work remains a thrilling creative challenge and requires full engagement of both sides of my brain. I’m lightly rehearsing for a performance in May. There’s no shortage of creative energy expenditure in our house.

On the trail yesterday, surrounded by flowers at the end of their season, I recognized that the end of Artmoi will become the beginning of renewal. An opportunity for a new site, a next-identity, is an opportunity for new eyes. A new approach. One that is much more appropriate to this chapter of my artist’s life, this season.

read Kerri’s blogpost about HIGHER GROUND

Filed under: Art, Creativity, Flawed Wednesday, Uncategorized | Tagged: artistry, artmoi.com, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, KnowNow, opportunity, painter, portland chamber orchestra, renewal, seasons, story, studio melange, the melange, transformation, transition | 1 Comment »

Stop And Rest [on KS Friday]

Posted on September 30, 2022 by davidrobinsoncreative

At the height of the pandemic she recorded music on her phone and posted it for the community. It was a warm blanket, a comfort sent to people separated by the virus. Yesterday, she stumbled upon the recordings. There are hundreds. She played one for me. Pressing pause, she looked surprised and said, “These were good.”

I appreciated her honesty. I smiled at her surprise. Having been taught that it’s not nice to brag, she rarely acknowledges the scope and depth of her gift. Her pat response when I genuinely gush about her latest composition: “It’s okay.” It is good medicine for a gifted artist to say to herself, “My work is good.”

Also yesterday, she had a “talk” with me. She advised that I be less hard on myself. “Hold yourself softly,” she said. She was spot on. She can see it in me because she can see it in herself. She was telling me that, like her, my work is good. I swallowed my immediate response, “It’s okay.”

“Okay” is a hard word. It comes from a long road of vulnerability and a dedication to getting better and better. Minimizing is both armor and a practice. The path of artistic passion runs through, “Love what you do.” Yes, love it, but don’t get lost in it.

A life of mastery is built upon a mountain-range of mistakes and a dedication to never arriving. Keep walking. Keep growing and opening. Keep discovering ways to say more with less. Every once in awhile, it’s nourishing for the artistic soul to stop for a rest and crawl under the warm generous blanket of, “My work is good.”

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

read Kerri’s blogpost about QUILTS

Filed under: Art, Creativity, KS Friday | Tagged: and goodnight...a lullaby album, art, artistry, composer, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, dedication, generosity, growth, humble, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, mastery, mistakes, musician, open heart, passion, quilts, rest, story, studio melange, the melange, vulnerability, vulnerable | 1 Comment »

See Beyond [on DR Thursday]

Posted on September 29, 2022 by davidrobinsoncreative

I am amazed by nature. We learned in our visit to the botanical gardens that plants in tropical climates are a study in waterproofing. Waxy leaves prevent excess water from accumulating. Holes allow water and sunlight to pass through. It’s a masterclass in protection from algae. Adaptation, not resistance. Working with rather than fighting against.

My adult life has been a meditation on whole systems – which is quite simply a study of perception. It takes a human mind to separate the leaf from the branch from the trunk from the root. Separation and categorization is how we make sense of things. Analysis requires breaking-it-down. It’s easy to forget that those distinctions are in our minds and not in the world we observe. There is no separation of leaf from rain, not really. There is movement. Concert. Equilibrium.

Understanding requires reassembly.

To live creatively is to discover rather than invent. Thank goodness for the scientists teasing apart, deconstructing, uncovering, analyzing. I would not be alive today without their passionate pursuit.

And, while the scientist dissects, the artist reassembles. The reach for wholeness, the pull toward universal experience that cuts across division…I thank goodness each day for eyes that see beyond the separations, the capacity for utter delight and awe – standing in a garden – staring at a leaf made colander over eons of time.

read Kerri’s blogpost about HOLES IN LEAVES

Filed under: Art, Creativity, DR Thursday, Seeing | Tagged: analysis, artistry, categorization, Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, discovery, division, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, observation, perception, science, separation, story, studio melange, the melange, understanding, unity, universal, whole systems, wholeness | 1 Comment »

Imagine The Shadow [on KS Friday]

Posted on September 23, 2022 by davidrobinsoncreative

“I look out the window sometimes to seek the color of the shadows and the different greens in the trees, but when I get ready to paint I just close my eyes and imagine a scene.” ~ Grandma Moses

Among the many reasons I love autumn is the color of the light. Looking out of the kitchen window this morning I was bowled over by plants resplendent in orange and pink. I was so taken by the color that I forgot I was cooking and nearly burned breakfast.

We hiked yesterday. The trail was steep and rocky but, thankfully, the trail wound under the canopy of the forest. It was a hot day and the shade made our path bearable. We stopped often to breathe and enjoy the remarkable shadows cast by the trees. The leaves glowed and waved, backlit by the sun.

Imagination. The capacity to make images in the mind. It is the most basic of human capacities. We spend our lives imaging ourselves in tragedy and in triumph. Yearning and fear are both shades of imagination. “What if…?” is a question borne of imagination.

“Wait!” Kerri suddenly instructs, stopping me in my tracks. When the sun is low in the sky and our shadows make us skinny giants, she likes to capture our distortion. Shadows do not resist the curvature of the earth. They do not try-to-be. They simply conform to the circumstance and, inevitably, moving through a festival of color changes, blend into the purple dusk.

While she focuses her camera on our shadow, I appreciate the glow of the negative spaces, the yellow-autumn warmth heightened by our grey-blue silhouette. I giggle imagining we are as skinny-tall as the shadows we cast. “Hold still,” she whispers, not realizing my giggle is making the shot impossible. While stilling my shadow, in my mind, we reach and pluck the reddest of leaves from the tippy top of the maple tree.

Waiting (from Joy)

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

read Kerri’s blogpost about SHADOWS

Filed under: Art, Creativity, KS Friday, Seeing, Uncategorized | Tagged: artistry, autumn, autumn light, color, composer, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, fear, Grandma Moses, imagination, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, musician, shadows, solo piano, story, studio melange, the melange, waiting by kerri sherwood, yearning | 1 Comment »

Heed The Call [on Not So Flawed Wednesday]

Posted on September 21, 2022 by davidrobinsoncreative

“There must be more to life than having everything.” ~ Maurice Sendak

They are sent to bed without supper and sail to islands with monsters. On the island, they conquer their fear and return home to a hot supper.

They push through the wardrobe to discover magical worlds. Before returning home, they save the world.

They journey to where the sidewalk ends. They enter the 100 Aker Woods to find kindness and Pooh.

They are us. Telling our children tales of magical lands, adventure, and hope triumphant. They are us giving full reign to the imagination.

Peter lost his shadow and Wendy wakes. She helps Pan reattach it. Her gift of story garners an invitation to adventures in Never-Never-Land.

The call comes from the shadows. The pull of imagination lives in the image-shapes cast upon the wall.

I’ve heard countless people insist that they are not creative. I ask them if they’ve ever told their baby-child a story? I ask them, as a child, did they alert their parents to the scary monster scratching around the closet or hiding beneath the bed?

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE WEST WALL

Filed under: Creativity, Flawed Wednesday | Tagged: A.A. Milne, artistry, c.s. Lewis, children's books, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, imagination, J.M. Barrie, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, Maurice Sendak, monsters, Peter Pan, Pooh, shadows, Shel Silverstein, stories, story, storytelling, studio melange, The Chronicles of Narnia, the melange, Where the Wild Things Are | 1 Comment »

Speak Back To It [on Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on September 20, 2022 by davidrobinsoncreative

Noguchi might have designed this unintentional sculpture. A massive stone made delicate, the smaller carrying the weight of the greater. The shapes are not precise; they tend. As a final touch, the piece is set at water’s edge. Elemental commentary, a sculpture exposing the meeting of forces.

My favorite part: no one intended it. Yet, had Noguchi or Andy Goldsworthy walked by, they would have made flowing sketches, taken photographs, and rushed away to make it their own. Nature inspires. A happy accident. I suspect all great art comes into being this way.

Kerri often talks about placing her piano on a seashore or atop a mountain. Composing by responding to what nature presents. The sound of wind through trees, the pull of water rushing away from the beach. Once, she sat at her piano with a stack of image-phrases. She pulled one from the stack, closed her eyes, and played. I was a most happy witness to the wonders of creation.

Yesterday, for the first time in months, I pulled out my sketchbook and drew. The previous day, we visited the Botanic Gardens and I took dozens of photographs. The patterns and shapes of leaves. Startling color. I drew the shapes. I sketched the patterns. No expectation save the movement of hand and pencil. I felt as if I was blowing the dust out of my system. The patterns moved me.

The best news for any artist? We will never match the power and majesty that we find in nature as we reach to discover and express our own nature. The best we can do is draw from it, play in it, speak back to it, simply saying, “Thank you for the inspiration.”

read Kerri’s blogpost about ROCKS