Creativity | The Direction of Intention

Get Ready To Bowl [on DR Thursday]

Posted on June 28, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

Kerri laughed when she made this morsel. “It looks like a bowling ball, doesn’t it?” she giggled. It is a slice from one of her favorite paintings, Joy. “I can’t believe I’m seeing a bowling ball!” her snicker bursting into a full laughter blossom. “Do you hate that I’m seeing a bowling ball?” she asked, struggling to stifle her chortle.

Before I could answer she had already launched into designing products. “Oh my god! It makes a cool pillow!” she turned her computer to show me but before I could see the pillow she spun the computer back around and was already dropping the image into the next design possibility. “This is fantastic!” she declared. “This cracks me up!” Her chuckle was infectious and I began to laugh. “It’s a great tote bag!” she howled.

I love watching her design.

The painting is called Joy. It is one of her favorites. Watching her do this design work is pure joy. It is magic. It is one of my favorites.

Joy, mixed media 50 x 56IN

read Kerri’s blog post on READY TO BOWL

www.kerrianddavid.com

joy ©️ 2014 david robinson

ready to bowl designs/products ©️ 2018 david robinson & kerri sherwood

Filed under: Art, Creativity, DR Thursday, Uncategorized | Tagged: artist, artistry, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, design, joy, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, society6.com/davidrobinson, studio melange, the melange | Leave a comment »

Rise In The East [on DR Thursday]

Posted on June 21, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

When I first began writing this blog I wrote everyday. I did not identify myself as a writer. It seemed an outrageous commitment to write every day and I wondered if I would be able to sustain it. I quickly learned that the opposite was true. I found that I had too much to write about. I found that the act of writing required me to pay attention. There was something to write about everywhere I looked. I was not only learning to write. I was learning to see.

I have always been a painter. Seeing is central to any art form but especially useful in the art of painting. You’d be amazed at the multitude of colors in everything you see that your brain blends into a single color. Yellow. Blue. If you can open your eyes and see beyond the dullness of expectation, the numbing of your mind, you will gasp at the riches of it all. This life is complex, intimate, moving.

I’m working on the seventh painting of my earth interrupted series. Prussian blues and ochre, reds and sienna. I laugh each day that I step into the studio and begin work on this series. “What am I doing?” I silently ask and laugh. The answer is obvious. I am sailing toward the edge. I am trying to find what exists beyond my horizon, my comfort zone.

These morsels, snippets of my paintings, are doing what my blog challenge did for me so many years ago: opening my eyes to new and unexpected possibilities. They are asking me to see something new and unexpected in something known. Or something I thought I knew. Kerri calls this morsel The Sun Rises In The East. It is under-painting, a layer of Earth Interrupted VII, which may or may not ever be completed. Voyages of discovery are like that. We’ll see.

read Kerri’s blog post on THE SUN RISES IN THE EAST

www.kerrianddavid.com

the sun rises in the east/earth interrupted vii ©️ 2018 david robinson & kerri sherwood

Filed under: Art, Creativity, DR Thursday, Uncategorized | Tagged: artistry, color, creativity, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, discovery, earth interrupted, exploration, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, morsel, seeing, society6.com/davidrobinson, studio melange, the melange | Leave a comment »

Feel More [on KS Friday]

Posted on June 8, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

I’m sure that accountants never sit at their desks and review their accounting of the past 30 years. Lawyers, I suspect, may review a case here and there but I doubt that they ever sit in a room, surrounded by all their cases, and consider them as a body of work. Artists necessarily review their work all the time.

Because of our melange both Kerri and I have been sitting in our studios surrounded by our life’s work, revisiting every era. She listens, pours through old notebooks, tinkers with pieces that never made it to the recording studio. I pull out canvases, flip through old sketchbooks, and portfolios. We compare notes. We share our favorites. We disavow our least favorites (“Someone else painted that and stuck into my stack. That piece is awful!”)

It is much more emotional than you might imagine. Each piece comes thanks to a potent life experience, a funny story, a period of loss, lostness, foundness, utter ful-fill-ment, the vast and empty void. We stare at what we achieved, we face what we aimed for and missed. We stand on the edge of what next calls to be explored.

It is not an intellectual review, a study. It is a feeling pathway, a conscious opening to experience in all its many colors. There is no rational sense to be made in what we do or have done. “Making art” is a dedication to feeling more. It is a love song.

BUT I FEEL MORE on AS SURE AS THE SUN is available on iTunes & CDBaby

PURCHASE THE PHYSICAL CD

read Kerri’s blog post about BUT I FEEL MORE

www.kerrianddavid.com

but I feel more/as sure as the sun ©️ 2002 kerri sherwood

Filed under: Art, Creativity, KS Friday, Uncategorized | Tagged: artistry, creativity, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, feeling path, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, life path, life review, sense making, society6.com/kerrisherwood, studio melange, the melange | Leave a comment »

Make Life Fun [on Chicken Marsala Monday]

Posted on June 4, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

It used to make me profoundly sad when students would look at me in resistance and fear, saying the double-whammy, “I can’t! I don’t know how!” My next question always remained unvoiced: what have we done to you?

Curiosity is human nature. We are born hard-wired to sail toward scary edges, tinker with inventions, and attempt to grasp the un-graspable. It takes a lot of work to blunt a child’s curiosity. It takes a concerted effort to transform vibrant imagination into fear of reprisal/shaming.

The good news is that curiosity might be contained but it never goes away. Chicken is here to remind us to step out of the cage, pick up the brush and splash the paint just to see what happens. His invitation is to to go do it – whatever it is – precisely because you don’t know how. The path to center leads directly through I Don’t Know How.

www.kerrianddavid.com

read Kerri’s blog post about NOT KNOWING HOW

not knowing how ©️ 2016 david robinson & kerri sherwood

Filed under: Chicken Marsala Monday, Creativity, Education, Uncategorized | Tagged: chicken marsala, Chicken Marsala Monday, Chicken nugget, curiosity, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, discovery, experimentation, exploring, human nature, imagination, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, learning, society6.com/chickenmarsala | Leave a comment »

Move Me [on KS Friday]

Posted on June 1, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

Kerri composes on scraps of paper. Her notes are unintelligible to those of us outside of her mind. Lyrics peppered with mysterious hieroglyphic symbols and magical music notation that skips across multiple napkins and old homework assignments. What’s more amazing to me: she can play perfectly beautiful pieces of music as she deciphers her random-note-trail.I’ve accused her of being like John Nash, the character that Russell Crowe plays in A Beautiful Mind. “You’re not a paranoid schizophrenic are you?” I ask, scrutinizing her for clues.

“I don’t know, I’ll ask myself,” she replies. I am out-gunned at every turn.

Recently she pulled out a plastic sleeve stuffed with wrinkled paper, post-it notes, and random scraps of scribbles and jots. “This is the song They Way You Move Me,” she said.

Amazed. On this KS Friday, take a moment, put down your scraps of paper, and follow Kerri through hers. Give over and let her beautiful song, The Way You Move Me, move you.

THE WAY YOU MOVE ME on the album AS SURE AS THE SUN is available on iTunes & CDBaby

THE WAY YOU MOVE ME gifts and products

tote bags!

read Kerri’s blog post about THE WAY YOU MOVE ME

www.kerrianddavid.com

the way you move me/as sure as the sun ©️ 2002 kerri sherwood

the way you move me/raw lyrics designs ©️ 2018 kerri sherwood & david robinson

Filed under: Art, Creativity, KS Friday, Uncategorized | Tagged: as sure as the sun, composition, creative process, creativity, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, KS Friday, society6.com/kerrisherwood, studio melange, the melange, the way you move me | Leave a comment »

Paint The Sun [on DR Thursday]

Posted on May 31, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

My sketchbooks are peppered with landscapes. I call them my meditation drawings because I do them as a form of meditation – to quiet my mind. I am kinesthetic so quiet comes to me through movement. Drawing is one of my favorite forms of dance.

One day, a few years ago, I decided to experiment and paint one of my meditation drawings. I like it but have no idea what to do with it. I’m not a landscape painter so it exists as the ‘something-different’ in my studio archive. Someday, maybe, I’ll do a few more of them and mount a show of meditation-drawing-inspired-paintings. Until then, it lives as a morsel for this weeks melange. Kerri calls it White Sun.

The moon over Benziger Winery

White Sun. 18 x 48 IN. mixed media on two panels. It’s not listed on the gallery site so contact us if you are interested in purchasing it.

WHITE SUN [morsel] gifts and products

throw pillows!

read Kerri’s blog post about WHITE SUN

www.kerrianddavid.com

white sun painting and products ©️ 2016/18 david robinson & kerri sherwood

Filed under: Art, Creativity, DR Thursday, Uncategorized | Tagged: art process, dance, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, drawing, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, mediation, morsel, movement, painting, painting morsel, quiet mind, sketchbook, society6.com/davidrobinson, studio melange, the melange | Leave a comment »

Face The Wind [it’s Chicken Marsala Monday]

Posted on May 28, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

Saul taught me to look beyond the obstacle and, instead, place my focus in the field of possibilities. How I experience my life is largely a matter of where I decide to focus, what I choose to see.

Life, I’ve learned (or finally accepted), never stops throwing new things at me – challenges & opportunities. And, when looking in the rear view mirror of my life , I am generally hard-pressed to distinguish between what was a challenge and what was an opportunity. The challenges became opportunities, the opportunities brought a basket of challenges.

The winds of change blow all the time. As Chicken, like Saul, reminds me on this Chicken Marsala Monday, the winds of change are never an obstacle. They are a constant force (called life) moving you, moving all of us, to learn, to grow. They are an invitation to turn our faces into the wind, look to the horizon and appreciate the ride.

SUPERHEROES gifts and products

bags and more

read Kerri’s blog post on The Wind Never Stops Blowing You

www.kerrianddavid.com

the wind never stops blowing you/designs ©️ 2016/2018 david robinson & kerri sherwood

Filed under: Chicken Marsala Monday, Creativity, Uncategorized | Tagged: chicken marsala, Chicken Marsala Monday, Chicken nugget, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, growing, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, learning, life, life force, obstacle, opportunity, possibility, relationship, resistance, society6.com/chickenmarsala, tai chi, we-space | Leave a comment »

Choose Your Way [on Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on May 22, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

One of the ideas behind the melange was to invite you into our studio, to offer a peek behind the curtain into the messy art piles and chaotic processes that spark and give fuel to our creative lives.

We make it a practice to walk through life noticing things, appreciating moments. It is a muscle we consciously exercise. It is the reason we write. It is the reason we take photographs of the food arranged on our plates or the evening sunlight topping the trees or the funny sign posts on the paths we walk. Kerri recently said – and I think it is true – we are inspiring ourselves and perhaps, through our art, words, and designs, helping others live appreciative lives.

In a past incarnation, when working with teachers or corporate types or artists, I said again and again, “See what is there, not what you think is there.” Try and see beyond what you think. A full spectrum of beauty bubbles brightly right in front of our noses but largely goes unnoticed through the mind chatter that dulls our perceptions. It renders us sense-blind.

On this Two Artists Tuesday, a not-so-subtle reminder to slow down, choose a piece of quiet, open your eyes and appreciate your moment. Take a stab at seeing what is bubbling out there just beyond your oh-so-important-thinking. It just might take your breath away. Or, more to the point, it might bring you a deep creative breath. It just might give fuel to your creative life.

WHICH WAY gifts and cool products

laptop sleeves

read Kerri’s blog post about WHICH WAY

www.kerrianddavid.com

Filed under: Art, Awakening, Creativity, Two Artists Tuesday, Uncategorized | Tagged: awareness, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, horizontal, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, monkey mind, see beyond thinking, seeing, society6.com/twoartists, studio melange, the melange, thinking, Two Artists Tuesday, vertical, which way | Leave a comment »

In Beauty I Walk [it’s Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on May 15, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

flower experiment jpeg copy 3

“I am only so beautiful as the character of my relationships, only so rich as I enrich those around me, only so alive as I enliven those I greet.” ~ Derrick Jensen

I know many many artists who do what they do for love; their motivation is intrinsic. Their work is beautiful. I don’t mean their finished pieces (although they, too, are beautiful). I’m referencing their relationship to their work. It is lively, mysterious, expansive and generous. And, in order to stay healthy, they’ve long ago abandoned the notion that they might make a living through their artwork. Some do. Most do not.

I know many many artists who no longer do what they used to love to do. In the absence of an extrinsic reward (money), they began to see their love-work as worthless. They reduced themselves to a monetary equation and found themselves lacking. Considering their love without value, their well went dry. Their muse withered.

In our confused times it is the fortunate person who understands value as something greater than dollars and cents. Love, beauty, joy, family, generosity, learning, community, surprise, mystery…all words of relationship, all valuable beyond measure. All defy easy quantification.

From studio melange on Two Artists Tuesday, a gentle reminder to look to the space between, to value the process of living, the right-now-relationships where beauty is always to be found. Walk there.

IN BEAUTY I WALK gifts and cool stuff

read Kerri’s blog post about IN BEAUTY I WALK

www.kerrianddavid.com

Filed under: Art, Creativity, Two Artists Tuesday, Uncategorized | Tagged: art, artistic life, beauty, community, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, family, generosity, health, in beauty i walk, intrinsic value, joy, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, love, meaning making, mystery, process, relationship, society6.com/twoartists, Two Artists Tuesday, value, worth | Leave a comment »

Find Your Poetry Tree [on Chicken Marsala Monday]

Posted on May 14, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

I stood before a school board and found myself defending daydreaming. I’d piloted an experiential learning program in the district and the board wanted to ensure my students would be “nose-to-the-grindstone” every moment of every day.

Learning (a creative process) has nothing to do with grindstones. Constant activity, rote exercises and busy-work-for-the-sake-of-busy-work may give the appearance of learning but that’s about it. People learn when in the pursuit of something real and my students were making movies, writing plays or starting businesses. Staring out of the window, I explained, was not only valuable but necessary. I wasn’t making excuses. I had brain science and learning theory to back me up.

There are very good reasons that most “aha moments” happen in the shower, while driving, or, like my students, staring out a window. Inner-space and quiet are necessary ingredients for insight. A good gaze out the window is, in actuality, an inward look, it’s a mental walkabout, a mind-stroll that allows a noisy brain to take a breath and let the logjam of thoughts to relax and flow.

Quinn used to tell me to cultivate my serendipity. He meant that I should open myself to insight, to make myself available to surprises and possibilities, to the utter magic of “where did that idea come from?” Opening yourself requires a good window or, like Chicken, a special poetry tree. On this Chicken Marsala Monday, get your nose off the grindstone, find your poetry tree, and allow the insights to find you.

POETRY TREE gifts and reminders