DR Thursday | The Direction of Intention

Carry The Impression [David’s blog on DR Thursday]

Posted on January 11, 2024 by davidrobinsoncreative

Leigh is an authority on rock art, the pictographs and petroglyphs found in caves and on rock walls around the world. People, for whatever reason, leaving a mark. Leaving their mark. Ritual? Aesthetic? I relished conversations with him as I peppered him with questions, speculating about their reasons.

Brad once said – that when he passes someday – he wants a plaque on a bench so that people will know that he was here. Future bench sitters will read the plaque and wonder who he was and why his name is on the bench.

Recently 20 brought to our house several drawings, conte crayon on newsprint. They are figure studies Duke, his father, did years ago when working with a model. They are gorgeous and free, the drawings of a master. Most are signed. I sign my paintings, too. I want people to know that they are mine, that I created them. Looking at the drawings, now that Duke is gone, I was taken by the power of the marks on the page, his signature, reaching across time to tell me, “This was my work. I was there.”

When BabyCat passed the vet made an impression of his paw for us. A keepsake. A reminder. I doubt BabyCat cared at all but we did. It helps us stay connected. It prompts us to tell stories.

Dogga’s beard is as grey as mine. He sometimes groans when he stands. He snores at night and we smile, knowingly. A few weeks ago, for a day or two, he was in pain, limping for unknown reasons. Although I knew it was not serious, an achy joint or pulled muscle, I was terrified at the depth and scope of what I was feeling. Love is like that. He stepped through the snow and left a print. I stared at it, taken by it, like Duke’s signature or a petroglyph scratched into stone. I watched him prance his circle-of-patrol and was utterly grateful for my terror, for the depth and scope of what I was feeling.

Love is like that. A bottomless impression he has left in me that I will carry to the end of my days.

Nap with DogDog & BabyCat, 36x48IN, mixed

read Kerri’s blogpost about DOGGA PRINT

support. like. share. comment. many thanks.

*buymeacoffee is patronage. an indelible mark. it’s as simple as that.*

Filed under: DR Thursday, Gratitude, Love | Tagged: aging, artistry, BabyCat, cats, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, dogdog, dogga, dogs, Gratitude, impression, keepsake, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, love, make a mark, painter, petroglyph, pets, pictograph, reminder, signature, story, studio melange, the melange, two artists | 1 Comment »

Work Forward And Back [David’s blog on DR Thursday]

Posted on January 4, 2024 by davidrobinsoncreative

Writing the first draft of a play, I’ve just entered the “swimming upstream” step in the process. I’m working my way from back-to-front to make sure all the story dots connect. It’s detail work. It requires looking close-in. I used to hate this part of the process because I’d get lost. I’d forget what I was doing and prematurely rework sections. Painters ruin paintings when working too small too soon. Writers are subject to the same peril. Now, I adore this step. Life is funny.

A few years ago I realized that my change in process-love, my capacity to work in detail without getting lost, came when I stopped trying to race to the end. Now, I am in no hurry to finish. I want a full relationship with my story as it reveals itself to me. It is a child, holding my hand, guiding me to the wonders of the playground.

Working forward. Working backward. Stepping in and then stepping away, like the tides. Big brush washes first, attending to the overall composition. Structure. And then detail. It’s much like building a house. Foundations and then finishes.

I have learned from watching Kerri to use my camera to see detail. To step in and look. Seeing-as-a-relationship. To pay attention to the dew on the small pine, the reason it glistens. And then to step in further. The platitude: a single drop of dew contains an entire world. Beyond the platitude: step in and it’s possible to fall into another world. To experience the surprise available in the enormity of the minute. And bring back to the big, big world of hurry-here-hurry-there the astonishment that is found there.

Forward Back, 18 x 36IN, mixed media on canvas

read Kerri’s blogpost about DEW

like. share. support. comment. thank you.

buymeacoffee is a dew drop in a sea of possibilities, a tiny window into the realities of another reality.

Filed under: Art, Creativity, DR Thursday, Possibility, Seeing | Tagged: achievement, artistry, attention, backward, composition, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, detail, forward, hurry, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, pay attention, playwright, presence, process, relationship, seeing, story, structure, studio melange, the melange, tides, writing | Leave a comment »

Clickbait [David’s blog on DR Thursday]

Posted on December 28, 2023 by davidrobinsoncreative

A full year has passed since the software company closed its doors. It was a great adventure, a kayak ride atop the raging river of information in the whirling world of knowledge management.

As I have entered every organizational “job” in my life, I entered the wild kingdom of software development through an art door. I created a simple cartoon series for the founder – clickbait – each cartoon ending on the phrase, “There must be a better way”. It was a riot of fun. The cartoons would have been used had we reached the point of marketing our creation.

As has always been the case, once in the door, my work morphs into something systemic. I have an eye for “the big picture.” I see how things move, I see pattern, and easily grok the morass of human dynamics. Mostly, I see the lies organizations tell themselves and either help them sort it out or, of necessity, they must sort me out. Sometimes the lie is the glue that holds the rickety ship together.

It creates an interesting paradox to enter as an artist and then be invited to speak to the “serious” machinations of the organization. As an artist, although initially valued for my (in)sight, what I see is most often discounted because…I’m an artist. Until later. Much later. Too late. I’ve had superintendents and CEOs chase me out the door and a year later offer me the key-to-the-kingdom if only I would come back. The rule is to never go back. I did that once, so puffed up and proud with “I told you so.” Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. Organizational lies grow like monsters in the swamp and no Cassandra story every ends well.

And so, my cartoon series remains. It lives in a folder with the many others I’ve developed. I’m fond of this series because Kerri joined in the fun. She took my old-school pen and ink work and added some whacky photoshop elements. She digitized my good work and made the visual story better. “Go away,” she’d insist when I brought her the drawing. I’d return a few hours later and laugh heartily at the transformation. “Do you like it?” she’d ask, surprised. “Really?”

Yes. Really.

The work is not wasted. Though the software company is gone, the good humor, the great collaboration and laughter live on and on.

visit my online gallery here

Read Kerri’s blogpost about SPACESHIPS

like it. love it. share it. support it. comment on it. thanks for any and all of it.

buymeacoffee is…

Filed under: DR Thursday, Pattern, Play, Seeing | Tagged: a better way, artistry, business cartoons, cartoon, cartooning, cassandra, click bait, clickbait, collaboration, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, fantasy, fun, human dynamics, humor, illusion, image link, imagelink, information, information superhighway, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, knowledge management, knowledge worker, laughter, link bait, linkbait, marketing, organizational health, pattern, site traffic, social media, social sharing image, software development, story, studio melange, systems, the melange, transformation, visual story | 3 Comments »

Tell The Deeper Story [David’s blog on DR Thursday]

Posted on December 21, 2023 by davidrobinsoncreative

Walking on our trail in the middle of December, we rounded a corner and stopped. The dramatic shadows of the trees made long and distinct by the low-to-the-horizon winter sun. “It’s mid-December,” she said, “And the grass is green…” Looking at the photograph I’d guess that it was taken on an early spring day. In the era of climate change, it’s not so hard to see the story behind the story of this green, green grass.

What’s the story behind the story? There’s always a deeper story to tell. Always.

On my easel is a canvas marked with a few charcoal lines. A bare-sketch of two people and a puppy. The story? On a rainy fall day, driving the back county roads, Kerri and I rescued a puppy. It was lost and scared.

The story behind the story? When we saw the puppy we had a long drive ahead of us. We were trying to get to Madison. We spotted it at a crossroads. Turn right and go to the puppy. Turn left and keep our appointment in Madison. We turned left. And then in one swirling circle motion, immediately turned around. The first impulse: we’re late! This is not ours to do. The second impulse: who cares! this is exactly ours to do. The moment the shivering-scared soaked puppy jumped into our arms, nothing else in the world mattered. Nothing. The superficial dropped away and the essential came roaring into focus.

We named him County Rainy Day. Rainy for short. We dried him off and fed him crackers. He didn’t have a collar so we called Jen and asked her what to do. We played and laughed and snuggled with him in the cab of the truck. Finally, after giving our hearts to the puppy, we took Rainy to a shelter. He was reunited with his family.

I confess, we’ve returned to the spot where we found him. Just in case. He stole our hearts but more importantly, he brought us to our hearts. There is always a moment of choice. Turn left. Turn right. The list or the life? Behind each act of kindness is a moment of choice. Behind each act – of any kind – is a moment of choice. The story behind the story.

a detail of a sketch. a work barely in-progress. county rainy day

visit my gallery site

read Kerri’s blogpost about GREEN!

like. share. support. comment. your choice and all are appreciated.

buymeacoffee is a choice made at a crossroads. nothing more. nothing less.

Filed under: Art, Creativity, DR Thursday, Seeing, Story | Tagged: actions, artistry, choice, choices, climate change, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, deep story, deeper story, dog, dog rescue, dogs, heart, heart centered, heart choice, holidays, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, kindness, love, painter, painting, priorities, puppies, puppy, story, studio melange, the melange, winter | 3 Comments »

Answer The Call [David’s blog on DR Thursday]

Posted on December 14, 2023 by davidrobinsoncreative

As is always true, the color calls me and I stop. You’d think I’d get used to the pop of red vine against the winter grass. You’d think that I’d expect it and, therefore, no longer see it. But that hasn’t happened yet. Or maybe I’m refusing to let it happen. The color calls. I answer.

Sometimes I feel as if it is a requirement to move slow enough in the world to actually absorb it. Move too fast and the extraordinary bounces off. Moving too fast makes us Teflon. Non-stick living. I want to soak it up. I want to feel it, the whole spectrum.

It’s a consumer mind that thinks, “I’ve seen it,” and races fast “to get there,” forever on the freeway gobbling miles and eschewing the backroads. Gobbling achievement while missing the experience. Checking life off the list. I am not the same as I was yesterday. When the red vine calls I might be open to a wholly new conversation. The red vine certainly is not the same as yesterday. I can see it because I “took the time” to see.

Like the red vine, the phrase “take time” called so I answered. I Googled it and, no surprise, most of the synonyms were negative. Culture betrays itself. Dawdle. Dally. Waste time. Fritter away. Goof off. Lolly gag. And, the cherry on the top of the Puritan heap: lose time.

It’s a regular deathbed revelation for people to wish they had not raced through their lives to hang yet another plaque on their wall of respect. If there is a strategy for losing-the-time-of-your-life it is to race-through-to get-to-the-end. Goal achieved. There’s another way. Walk slow enough to hear when the red vine calls. Then, take the time to stop and answer.

Instrument of Peace, 48x91IN, mixed media

read Kerri’s blogpost about RED VINE

take the time to like. support. share. comment. all are appreciated.

buymeacoffee is…

Filed under: Awakening, DR Thursday, Metaphor, Seeing | Tagged: artistry, attention, color, consumer mind, conversation, culture, dally, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, dawdle, dogwood, experience, focus, go slow, instrument of peace, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, painter, peace, presence, red vine, relationship, revelation, slow down, spectrum, story, studio melange, take time, the melange, time | 3 Comments »

Voluntarily Contemplate [David’s blog on DR Thursday]

Posted on December 7, 2023 by davidrobinsoncreative

It’s tempting to say that the snow is white. A second look, a better look, will prove otherwise. Purples and cool blues with some muted green and pink thrown in for good measure. A subtle festival of color. In general the light on the trail painted the snow – not surprisingly – ice blue, so the burnt orange in the leaf made for an eye-popping compliment. Some abstract expressionist might use this bit of natural composition for inspiration. Helen Frankenthaler or Joan Mitchell. Monumental paintings with the power to force contemplation. Well…to force voluntary contemplation.

Forced contemplation! A great phrase, to be sure, and another name for “problem solving.” Take a moment and look around during this busy holiday season: everyone you see elbowing their way through the crowd will be deep in forced contemplation. Rushing to the next. Making a list and checking it twice.

I’m a few pages into my fourth reading of Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. It fell off the shelf and hit me so I took that as a sign that it was time for a revisit of Robert Pirsig’s novel. The subtitle is An Inquiry Into Values. I’ve learned that the books I read are forms of voluntary contemplation. What has value? What does not? And why? I regularly ask myself a question that comes from the title of another favorite-book-of-the-past: How Then Shall We Live. Wayne Muller’s voluntary contemplation on meaning, purpose, and grace. Given what I know – that I shall die – how then shall I live this day of my life?

There are very few answers to the question but there are values that, like a marble sculpture, take shape and emerge over time. The single value that consistently dominates my voluntary contemplation: walk through this day slow enough to see that the snow is not white. Rather, experience the full celebration of color and live inside – rather than rush through – the perfection of this composition.

meditation, 48×48, mixed media on canvas

read Kerri’s blogpost about SNOW AND LEAF

like. share. support. comment. a few ways to let us know that you are out there.

buymeacoffee is a slow walk of appreciation through a world that holds more magic than any single mind can conceive.

Filed under: Art, DR Thursday, Gratitude, Identity, Seeing, Transcendence | Tagged: abstract expressionism, artistry, color, composition, contemplation, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, grace, Helen Frankenthaler, How then shall we live, inquiry, Joan Mitchell, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, meaning, meditation, purpose, Robert Pirsig, slow walk, story, studio melange, the melange, values, Wayne Muller, zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance | 1 Comment »

Breathe Again [David’s blog on DR Thursday]

Posted on November 30, 2023 by davidrobinsoncreative

To say I sobbed is a bit of an overstatement. I’d been raking leaves all morning. It was clear and crisp. I’d just finished stuffing the last green bio-bag in the front yard and hauled it to the curb for pick-up. All that remained was to collect the bags from the backyard and move them to the curb. That’s when I heard her playing the piano. I couldn’t believe it! I slipped beneath her studio window and listened. This was no small moment.

She played after she fell and broke both her wrists. She couldn’t open a doorknob or button her shirt but, somehow, she found a way to play. She had to. The pandemic had already taken one of our jobs. Her bosses could not find the heart or moral compass to afford her time off to heal. One hand in a cast. One hand in a splint. Nine useful fingers and an immobilized thumb. She played. Nine months later, nearing complete healing, she fell again. A wet floor. No signs. This time, the injury was debilitating. The depression that followed was a deep dark crevasse. She stopped playing altogether. She sometimes stood at the door of her studio but rarely entered.

These past few years I can count on one hand – well, two fingers – the times she played. When Rob visited I asked her to play for him. She chose a few pieces. Rob was moved to tears. I could tell it hurt her. She was asked by an old friend to play for a transgender memorial service. With her brace she was able to play the two 15 minute sections.

Sitting beneath her studio window, listening, the pain and loss, the weight of the past few years flowed out of my eyes. A flood of relief. She was playing. For herself. For no other reason than to feel the muse. It was a step forward. A step toward. A step back into the light. A moment of possibility.

I felt as if I’d been holding my breath these many years. Now, perhaps, on this crisp fall day, it was time to breathe again.

read Kerri’s blogpost about LEAVES

like. share. support. comment. sit beneath the window, sigh and smile.

buymeacoffee is a moment of possibility, a sigh of relief at the continued creation of the artists you value.

Filed under: Art, Body, Creativity, DR Thursday, Gratitude, Love, Possibility | Tagged: artistry, autumn, breath, breathe, breathe again, broken wrists, courage, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, depression, despair, fortitude, heart, injury, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, muse, new day, perseverance, pianist, possibility, raking leaves, relief, renewal, solo piano, stamina, story, studio melange, the melange | 3 Comments »

Consider The Landscape [David’s blog on DR Thursday]

Posted on November 23, 2023 by davidrobinsoncreative

“We are a landscape of all we have seen.” Isamu Noguchi

In my landscape of life, there is a mountaintop at sunrise. There is a nurse shark hiding in the coral. There is a boat with orca whales breaking on all sides. There is leap of faith after leap of faith after leap of faith. There are betrayals and loyalty. Lightning strikes and earthquakes. There are stages and audiences. Two times living under martial law. Revelations and reckonings. Leaves rustling. A white dog and a black dog with amber eyes. Fresh baked bread and hot coffee. Visits to the past. Fingers stinging with cold so near to frost bite. Shame and embarrassment. Triumph and encouragement. Near starvation and too-much-food. Friends suddenly appearing from nowhere and friends suddenly disappearing into the same nowhere. There is unbridled hope. There is a wasteland of despair. There is cursing the heavens and genuine thanksgiving. So many empty attempts at being clever. So much reinforcement of the fullness of my ordinary. There are so many yesterdays that blur and wash together, a raging river.

There is one today. A single now.

Certainly there is landscape enough to fill a thousand canvases with childlike play. There is enough to fill a million million pages with wonder. Cicadas and sunsets. The smell of fresh basil. To sculpt with words ideas that may or may not help others see the fullness of their unique landscape and how infinitely conjoined it is with mine.

pax, 24x24IN, mixed media on panel

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE BOWL

like. share. support. comment. happy thanksgiving.

buymeacoffee is a landscape of opportunities to support the work of the artists you appreciate.

Filed under: DR Thursday, Gratitude, Identity | Tagged: artistry, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, experiences, fullness, hope, ideas, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, life path, Noguchi, ordinary, pax, peace, presence, shape, story, studio melange, Thanksgiving, the melange, yearning | Leave a comment »

Embrace The Contrast [David’s blog on DR Thursday]

Posted on November 16, 2023 by davidrobinsoncreative

In art it’s called the contrast principle. The pairing of elements that are opposite from one another. Or somehow different. Man made next to nature made. Fabric next to steel. Autumn color next to grey and white.

Contrast principle is a fundamental, not only in art but in perception. We only know ourselves through relationship with others. I am a son, a husband, a friend. These designations are also examples of the contrast principle. I know myself, I perform myself, based on the others that I am with.

Contrast need not be oppositional. It can be a complement. Red and green. Blue and orange. Relationships that change the individual colors. Together they are bold. Lively in their contrast.

A single color on a canvas, a single idea in a brainstorm, a single party in a congress, is static. Bland. Lifeless. Ellsworth Kelly placed his wall-size blue canvas next to a wall size yellow next to a wall size red. Primaries in contrast capable of snapping your head back when first you see them. Dynamic. Alive.

A community with contrast, a community of color and varied ideas, a community that embraces the value and power of the contrast principle, is capable of anything. The illumination of each other. The best kind of harmony.

read Kerri’s blogpost about LEAF AND PILLOW

like. share. support. comment. contrast. compare. any and all are much appreciated.

buymeacoffee is a study in contrasts that affords you the opportunity to support the work of the artists you may or may not appreciate.

Filed under: Art, Creativity, DR Thursday, Identity, Metaphor | Tagged: artistry, community, complement, contrast, contrast principle, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, dynamic, ellsworth kelly, harmony, illumination, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, perception, primary color, relationship, secondary color, story, studio melange, the melange, togetherness, variance, variation | 2 Comments »

Fill Your Paintbox [David’s blog on DR Thursday]

Posted on November 9, 2023 by davidrobinsoncreative

I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine:
There sleeps Titania sometime of the night…

[A Midsummer NIght’s Dream by William Shakespeare. Act 2, scene 1]

I played Oberon for the Walden Theatre Company at the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts when I was way too young to play the role. I said the words and, although I did my research, I only had an abstract grasp of wild thyme and luscious woodbine. I had no depth of understanding of relationship and the mischief it invokes.

Now, those things are visceral. I know them to my core.

Luscious woodbine climbs and covers the fence beside our driveway. The leaves turn to fire in the fall, and when they drop, they reveal the blue berries, toxic to humans but delicious to birds. In a few days, the berries disappear. Woodbine symbolizes the bond of love since it entwines and embraces trees and other plants. And fences. The locals call it Virginia Creeper.

I was witness to the great actor, Jim Edmondson, play Lear for the first time. He was astonishing. After the performance, he said, “I don’t have enough colors in my paint box yet to play this role.” I sometimes wonder, as he aged, if he found the colors he felt he lacked. The intimate depth of understanding of growing old, of losing power, of being shelved. Loss upon loss. Leaves turn to fire and fall. All that remains is the vine.

I’m growing to understand the paradox of life: none of us has enough colors in our paint box when we are young and moving through the complexity. The colors are cumulative. How many times have I said, “Man, if I only knew then what I know now.”

“I know a bank where the wild thyme blows…” Yes. I do. At last.