DR Thursday | The Direction of Intention

These Bright Lights [David’s blog on DR Thursday]

Posted on January 22, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” ~ Plato

And aren’t we now witness to a real tragedy. A president and his party desperately afraid of the light of truth. They pretend bravado, they posture as leaders, all the while terrified of shining a light on the Epstein files. Their dance is a dance of distraction. Their abject fear of light shining on their darkness makes them monstrous. They throw shadows on the wall in an attempt to divert attention from the files.

We have “happy lights” strategically placed all over our house. During the dark days of winter these lights lift our spirits much as a campfire might if we were lost in the deep woods. Firelight repels shadow monsters. Happy lights repel sadness monsters. In the dark of early morning, after plugging in the coffee pot, I plug in the happy lights.

Plato wrote an allegory about prisoners’ chained in a cave. They mistake shadow for reality. One of the prisoners escapes and learns that the shadows are not the truth. He returns to the cave excited to share his discovery with the other prisoners and is met with hostile rejection. The others have grown accustomed to their chains and comfortable in their ignorance. It’s an allegory appropriate for MAGA and perfectly describes the propaganda-Fox casting shadow-monsters on the wall.

In Minneapolis and other cities, people of color are afraid to leave their houses. There are real monsters, masked and armed, roaming the streets. Although these monsters are not themselves shadows their minds are awash in them. Comfortable ignorance is a cancer that metastasizes as darkness in the heart. There are other people who do not fear the light, in fact they are bringers of the light, delivering groceries to the people in hiding, blowing whistles to alert the neighborhood of the presence of the monsters. They film the monsters. Their whistles and their cameras are forms of light. The sound is an alarm calling attention to the monsters, calling in the communal light. The cameras serve to lay bare the dark shadowy lies the monsters claim as truth.

I have hope that these bright lights will one day repel the masked monsters roaming the streets, monsters grown comfortable in their chains and ugly in their ignorance. Orks.

These bright lights, gathering together all across Minneapolis, the nation and the world, stoking the bright light of freedom and truth, will one day overwhelm the republican/authoritarian darkness and expose the ugliness that their leaders so desperately fear and work so hard to hide.

Helping Hands, 53.5 x 15.25IN, acrylic on canvas

read Kerri’s blogpost about HAPPY LIGHTS

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Filed under: DR Thursday, Heroes, Perspective | Tagged: artistry, dark, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, Epstein Class, Epstein files, freedom, ignorance, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, light, Minneapolis, Plato's Cave, reality, shadow, story, studio melange, the melange, truth | 1 Comment »

A Little Bit Of Hope [David’s blog on DR Thursday]

Posted on January 15, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

We were gifted a day with sunshine instead of the incessant rain promised by the forecast. We threw on our vests and headed for the trail. We stopped at every sun-soaked curve and drank in the warmth. “This will get us through the next few weeks,” she said. A little bit of sun in a dark, dark time generates a full tank of hope.

The rubber band disintegrated and the ancient roll of tracing paper unraveled. It revealed a crinkled and torn tracing of a painting I completed decades ago. I have no memory of making this tracing. I don’t trace my paintings. I must have wanted to keep a template or record of the lines. I must have been about to send the painting out into the world. In the spirit of experimentation, in a spontaneous moment of play, I adhered the crumpled ripped tracing to an old canvas, retraced the lines with the last bit of charcoal I had in the studio, sprayed it with hairspray in an attempt to fix the charcoal, and slathered it with acrylic medium. It was messy and fun and decidedly un-serious. I had no idea what would happen. It reminded me of how I worked when I was very young. No – not how. Why. It reminded me of why I ran to the edge of every idea and jumped without reservation or plan or parachute: to find out “what if”. Playing with that tracing paper was like the little bit of sun on the trail. I basked in it. It will carry me a long way.

I’ve been thinking about Renee Nicole Good. I am haunted by something in the video made by her executioner. In the last 25 seconds of her life, she told her soon-to-be murderer that she’s not mad at him. As a citizen of the United States, as someone who lived her entire life under First Amendment protections, as someone who believed in the freedom to protest and the rights afforded her in the Constitution, it never occurred to her – not for a moment – that her life was in danger. It never occurred to her that her rights were null and void in the eyes of the regime that employed and empowered the man in the mask. He was there, not to protect her rights, but to make her an example. He was there to strip her (and, therefore, us) of her/our rights. The hope? The people gathering on the streets blowing whistles, the people protecting each other by recording each outrage, the small acts and gestures of everyday people, like Renee Good, who believe in exercising the freedoms and values afforded us in the Constitution…are like that little bit of sun. Renee Good’s unwavering belief, like the people who show up on the streets for their neighbors, like the people marching against this tyranny – around the nation and the world – give me hope. And a little bit of hope in this very dark time can carry us a long way.

read Kerri’s blogpost about WINTER SHADOWS

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Filed under: DR Thursday, Perspective | Tagged: artistry, Constitution, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, First Amendment, freedom, hope, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, protests, Renee Good, rights, story, studio melange, the melange | 1 Comment »

Come See This! [David’s blog on DR Thursday]

Posted on January 8, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

about this week: there is a peril, it seems, to writing ahead these days. we had decided that this week – the first full week of a new year – we wished to use images of light as our prompts, we wished to linger on the possibility of light, of hope, of goodness. though our blogposts might stray from that as we pen them, it was without constant nod to the constant updating of current events – a mass of indefensible, unconscionable acts. we pondered what to do about these blogposts we had written and decided to keep them. we hope that – whether or not any absence of the happenings of the day, whether or not the chance these written words seem somewhat inane at this moment – you might know that those events – of corruption, illegality, immorality – do not distill or distort our intention – to bring light and hope to this new year – the first days of which bring more insanity and unnerving instability. we are still holding space for light.

The theme uniting this week’s Melange photo-prompts is light. My response to the prompts are surprisingly (to me) amalgamated: the illumination discovered through differing points of view. A birds-eye-view versus the view from the ground; inviting the outside furniture inside the house, and vice-versa. We have a chiminea in our sunroom and a piano in our backyard.

What opens our eyes to new possibilities? What opens our eyes to what is unseen and right in front of us?

“You have to come see this!” she exclaimed. We stood on the front porch in the bitter cold and watched the full roll-call of winter sunset colors, from vivid to pastel. Warm-cold.

A new year. A year gone by. What do I hope will happen? What did I learn from what just happened? What do I think I can control that I cannot? What can I control that I do not?

What is important now that Dogga is growing old? What is he helping me to see?

What is important now that I am aging? What do I fundamentally understand about importance that I did not understand even three years ago? Has importance changed or have I? The smallest things now seem the most profound. They call me to life, fill me with light. Not so long ago I overlooked the small things in pursuit of lofty dreams. What a waste!

Can I share what calls me to life? Beyond reporting or narrating? Can I be like the sunset, calling others out of their locked doors to marvel at the roll-call of life’s colors?

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE SUNSET

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Filed under: Awakening, DR Thursday, Identity | Tagged: aging, appreciation, artistry, awe, color, control, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, dogga, dreams, importance, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, light, marvel, story, studio melange, the melange | 1 Comment »

A Symbol of Hope [David’s blog on DR Thursday]

Posted on January 1, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

There is no more appropriate symbol on the first day of the new year than the pine cone. It is an ancient symbol that reaches across cultures and religions. Spiritual awakening, inner vision, new growth, enduring spirit.

When we were married, Joan gave us a box of pine cones. We’ve followed her suggestion and each year commit a cone to fire to release the seeds. New life. The symbology also includes resilience because fire is often required to free the seeds. Fire transforms.

2025 was like a forest fire in these un-United States. It is my hope, our hope, that the hot authoritarian fire of 2025 released the seeds of democracy’s renewal, that we awaken – reawaken – to the enduring spirit of our diverse nation and the promise of equality under the law, the expectation of liberty and justice for all. It is the epicenter, the aspiration-seed planted by our founders and protected by our Constitution.

On this, the first day of this new year, 2026, there is no more appropriate symbol of hope for our future than the pine cone.

Instrument of Peace, 48″x91″, mixed media

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE PINECONE

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Filed under: DR Thursday, Metaphor, Possibility | Tagged: artistry, aspiration, awakening, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, Diversity, hope, inner vision, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, pine cone, renewal, resilience, spirit, story, studio melange, symbol, the melange | Leave a comment »

If We So Choose [David’s blog on DR Thursday]

Posted on December 25, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

We had a debate about the painting on my easel that was so passionate, so intense, that Dogga thought we were having an argument and fled to the his safe-spot in the bathroom. We were startled out of our vehemence, laughed at ourselves and loved on him, reassuring him that all was right in the world.

We celebrate the return of the light. Depending upon the tradition, the celebration-of-light’s-return takes many forms and expresses through beautiful and unique rituals and symbols. The lighting of candles. The exchange of gifts. The sharing of a meal. If you think about it, each of these rituals, across all of the various traditions, are meant to bring us together. Light’s return is a symbol of hope, an annual call to the possibility of unity. Many paths, one mountain.

It is the time of year that we are for a moment capable of acknowledging the impact of our vehemence and actions upon others. It is the time of year that we at least pretend to desire peace on earth; it is the time that we sing songs of goodwill toward others. We ask it of our gods but know deep down that it is a wish that only we can grant if we so choose.

We first must choose it.

Our choices on this day? We will walk a snowy trail and revel in the quiet. We will come home, laugh at ourselves, share a meal and love on our Dogga, his unconditional love reassures us each-and-every-day that all is right in the world. Grateful, we will light our happy-lights, and crawl under a blanket.

recently untitled work in progress (detail)

read Kerri’s blogpost about BLANKETS AND SOCKS

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Filed under: DR Thursday, Gratitude | Tagged: artistry, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, goodwill, holiday, hope, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, peace, possibility, solstice, story, studio melange, symbol, the melange, tradition, unity | Leave a comment »

Incessant Musing [David’s blog on DR Thursday]

Posted on December 18, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

grasses. winter. snow. root. energy. fallow. aging. relevance.

I am ever so slowly working on a painting. In my mind it is a political statement which is why my movement is glacial. I sit in my rocking chair staring at the work-in-progress and wonder if what I want to say needs to be said. I wonder why I need to say it. I wonder if paintings that “say it” are worth painting at all. My teachers and mentors, all of them, taught me that great art happens when you “say it without saying it”.

Dogga stands in the middle of the snowy yard and barks. These are test-barks. Nothing is happening in the neighborhood and he wants something to bark about. In the absence of a meaningful bark objective, in the absence of other dogs barking in the neighborhood or the neighbor starting his car, he barks, “Is anyone out there?” Is my painting akin to Dogga barking?

Tom told me that when my beard was grey I would have a crisis of relevance. My age-peers would read my rough drafts and consider my work viable but the younger artist in my life would not. I have found that to be true. When Tom was in his middle 60’s he was arguably at the peak of his abilities yet the many, many artists whose careers he’d informed and shaped simply stopped responding to his calls. So he simply stopped trying. That was his last and perhaps greatest lesson to me: do not place your relevance in the hands of others. Follow the muse until your legs will no longer carry you. Bark and see what comes back at you.

Michelangelo sculpted his most prescient work in the last chapter of his 88 year life though he kept them under wraps since his patrons would have thought them to be irrelevant. It took the world 450 years to catch up to his Mannerist pieces.

And then there is this timeless bit of advice from a younger version of Tom: A writer writes. A painter paints. The rest is not really relevant. It’s always at this re-membrance that I stand up from my chair, put down my incessant musing, and grab my brush. A painter paints.

relevance. aging. fallow. energy. root. snow. winter. grasses.

a work in progress: Polynices & Eteocles

read Kerri’s blogpost about WINTER GRASSES

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Filed under: Art, Creativity, DR Thursday, Navel Gazing | Tagged: artistry, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, energy, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, lessons, life lessons, Michelangelo, muse, painting, relevance, story, studio melange, the melange | 1 Comment »

The Principle Applies [David’s blog on DR Thursday]

Posted on December 11, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

Steve-across-the-street said that we’ve already had more snow than all of last year. “It’s not even the middle of December!” he exclaimed. I haven’t researched snow totals but it certainly feels like we’ve had more snow. I barely touched the snow shovel last year or, for that matter, the year before. This year the shovel and I are getting daily workouts. It’s possible that I could be snow-buff by the end of this season. It’s also possible that I could be snow-broken.

(note: Kerri tells me to “be careful” each time I lace on my boots and put on my gloves to go shovel. That is a relatively new development. During my last teeth cleaning the dental hygienist spoke to me in an extra loud voice; my greying beard led her to believe that I was hard of hearing. I admit that every time I look in the mirror I ask myself, “Who the hell are you and what have you done with my face?” But I don’t shout my question since I’m not having problems hearing my inner voice).

The excess of snow is producing an abundance of icicles. They are magical if you remember to appreciate them from a safe distance and not stand in awe beneath them. They are beautiful if you refuse to consider what they are capable of doing to your house. We have a special collection growing just outside our backdoor. I’ve learned not to smack them away as they will take the awning and any vinyl siding with them. Dan loaned us his heat gun and I am looking forward to melting them away between bouts of snow shoveling. Melting them is not a solution since I know that they will inevitably come back in a few days but I consider it akin to mowing the grass: I do not expect my mowing to be one-and-done since grass-grows and the same principle applies to the icicles. Plus, they are fun to melt.

Even at my age.

read Kerri’s blogpost about ICICLES

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Filed under: DR Thursday, Identity, Navel Gazing | Tagged: aging, artistry, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, December, icicles, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, musing, snow, story, studio melange, the melange, weather | 1 Comment »

Take A Turn [David’s blog on DR Thursday]

Posted on December 4, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

W.B. Yeats, the poet, wrote a book called A Vision. I’m re-reading it. One synopsis read, “The work presents an intricate system that connects the human soul, history, and the cosmos through symbolic cycles and archetypes.” The system was transmitted through his wife during three years, 1917 – 20, of automatic writing sessions. I’m not sure why A Vision fell off the shelf and demanded another read. Perhaps, I am, like the rest of the thinking world, trying to find or make sense of the current national senselessness.

Every so often we walk our loop-trail in reverse. It never fails to amaze us how walking in the opposite direction transforms our well-known path into a completely different experience; it feels like an unknown trail. “Weird!” we exclaim each time we choose to travel in the opposite direction. It’s the mirror image of what I feel when I walk backwards through my life. Going forward each day feels like chaos while looking backward through memories seems like prescribed destiny. Weird.

When I was 20 I had a vision for my life. It wasn’t intricate and was absent of any consideration for the many forces – accidental and otherwise – that shape a life. I knew what I wanted to be. My vision at 20 mostly scared me while at this later juncture of the vision it mostly astounds me and fills me with wonder. I know who I am. I have, along the way, imagined my own symbolic cycles and entertained notions of guidance while also believing at times that I am without any form of support or trusty compass. Both/And. I can fill myself with doubt as readily as I fill myself with knowing. As it turns out, neither my doubt or my knowing is of much use.

Perception is a wondrous thing. In the end, staying open to new ideas and experiences, walking in the opposite direction or standing in another’s shoes is infinitely more useful than the comfort of walking through this life in a single-known-groove. If I’ve learned anything, it is to turn around or take a turn the moment I think I know what to expect.

Bubble Chasers, 33.25 x 48IN, mixed media

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE CURVE

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Filed under: DR Thursday, Identity | Tagged: A Vision, artistry, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, destiny, doubt, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, perception, sense making, story, studio melange, the melange, WB Yeats | Leave a comment »

Shared [David’s blog on DR Thursday]

Posted on November 27, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

The waning sunflower stands vigil outside of the library, towering above us, perhaps nine or ten feet tall. Only a few short months ago it was vibrant, ablaze with yellow and viridian. Just as we had done in the summer, we stopped to say hello on our way into the building to check out a book. “It’s just as beautiful in decline,” she said, “only different.”

It is the day in these un-United States that we pause and give thanks. Although our tradition is based mostly on a myth, there are a few elements of the tale that are true. A horrible winter in which many of the settlers died was followed by a successful harvest made possible with the help of a native man named Tisquantum. “It is true that both the English settlers and Wampanoag people ate together…”

A successful harvest, shared.

Annie Dillard wrote, “Buddhism notes that it is always a mistake to think your soul can go it alone.” I have made that mistake in the past which is why, on this day, I am most grateful for my capacity to learn from my mistakes. I can trace my joy to the brilliant soul at my side and all the amazing souls who walk this walk with me. With us.

We celebrated early Thanksgiving with our children. We recently had dinner with our treasured Up-North-Gang. We regularly make dinner with 20. In recent times we’ve shared a meal with Dwight, with Arnie and Shelly, Kate and Jerry, Jen and Brad, Kelly…each a meal of thanks-giving.

It is a mistake on every level to think we can go it alone. Conservatives need progressives just as progress needs to be deeply rooted in tradition. Our tradition and our progress are the product – the abundant harvest – of ineradicable diversity. We are – as we have always been – a vibrant melange; people of various traditions learning how to eat together. We live in a global economy and are re-learning the hard way that there is no such thing as going it alone.

A successful harvest not only needs to be shared but is also made possible with the help and support of others.

Perhaps on this day we can be thankful for our capacity to learn from our mistakes. Perhaps we can, once and for all, drop the myth of rugged individualism and, as we prepare and enjoy our meals together, meals made possible by farmers and ranchers and truckers and bakers and grocers and inspectors…recognize that no one goes-it-alone. Gratitude shared.

read Kerri’s blog on this THANKSGIVING

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Filed under: DR Thursday, Gratitude | Tagged: Annie Dillard, artistry, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, Diversity, global, Gratitude, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, melange, progress, story, studio melange, thanks, Thanksgiving, the melange, tradition | 1 Comment »

Shine The Light [David’s blog on DR Thursday]

Posted on November 20, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

Impressions in the moment:

It’s a miserable day with freezing rain so bitter that Dogga does not want to go outside. He would leap with glee into a blizzard so it’s a potent statement that he, our snow-dog, chooses to stay warm and dry inside.

We are writing this post in the space between the press conference with the Epstein survivors and the House vote. By the time you read this the vote will have been taken. If I was a better writer, I’d narrate this story of this limbo moment, or perhaps the liminal space in our nation’s history, in which it became crystal clear how hard the patriarchy, the powerful male elite, will fight to maintain their privilege, their protected position above the law. This vote will pass the House. What comes next will reveal whether we are we witness to a tipping point or yet another act of avoidance facilitated by a system that grants immunity to the male gentry at the exclusion of the rights of women. What new obstacle will arise to prevent the release of the files and fail to expose the rot in the halls of power? What information will be scrubbed?

I watched the Epstein survivors holding photographs of themselves, taken at the age of their abuse. Children. I saw a picture of Kerri taken at the age when she was sexually assaulted. She looked barely a teenager. I couldn’t speak for several moments after looking at the photograph.

In Seattle I was summoned to jury duty. My pool of 50 citizens was called into voir dire, jury selection, for a case about sexual assault. It was unusual because we were the third group of 50 called before the judge. In the courtroom, the judge made a simple request: Raise your hands if you have been the victim of sexual abuse or if you know anyone who has been sexually abused? Every person in the pool raised their hands. The judge sighed, exasperated. He said, “I’ve now asked this question of three groups. That’s 150 people. Every single person has raised their hands. I believe I could go on like this all day and not find 12 people to seat a jury who have not been impacted by sexual abuse. What’s going on here?”

Indeed. What’s going on here.

She knelt on the trail to get a picture of the dandelion. The sun, low in the sky, made it luminous, gorgeous. This dandelion was scrappy, still hanging on even in the November cold. “I wouldn’t have seen it at all if the light hadn’t been just right,” she said, showing me the photo. “It’s amazing what you see, what emerges, when something finds its way into the light.”