DR Thursday

Find The Doorway In [It’s DR Thursday]

Posted on April 12, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

A Doorway In for your Thursday from studio melange.

THISthedoorwayin FRAMED jpeg copy

You learn a lot about yourself combing through old sketchbooks. For instance, I am not a religious person but was gobsmacked to discover that in my life I’ve done hundreds of drawings on the theme of Jacob wrestling with the angel. Why? I had to research the story to have context for the images I’d drawn.

The other theme that populates my sketchbooks is much more conscious. It is… (wait for it…) Polynices and Eteocles. In Greek mythology they are the sons of Oedipus who, rather than share power, kill each other. It is my visual rumination on contemporary politics in America. Here’s the catch. Every time I attempt to translate my drawings of combat into a painting, the process leads me to a loving statement, Shared Fatherhood. I’ve made two runs at it. There are now two versions of my warring brothers turned to adoring parents. What!?

Kerri loves my Shared Fatherhood paintings. She has no idea of their sketchy origin. So, when she chose this week’s morsel from the first Shared Fatherhood painting, exclaiming, “I love this image! I think we should call it The Doorway In!” It jarred me a bit. The Doorway In. She is ever positive.

the first version of Shared Fatherhood, 39.5 x 51IN

I delight in the notion that in my visual meditation, through my hundreds of drawings on warring brothers, I am so incapable of arriving at a painting of mutual annihilation. It is a tired, old story. Rather, my muses, my sketchbooks, lead me to stories of hope for the future and images of quiet adoration. A doorway in.

a second version, Shared Fatherhood, 25.5 x 40.5 IN

THE DOORWAY IN reminders/merchandise

BEACH TOWELS

leggings

gift cards

TRAVEL MUGS

read Kerri’s blog post about THE DOORWAY IN

purchase the original painting

kerrianddavid.com

the doorway in/shared fatherhood 1 & 2 ©️ 2017, 2018 david robinson & kerri sherwood

Filed under: Art, Creativity, DR Thursday, Uncategorized | Tagged: art, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, democrats and republicans, drawings, fatherhood, greek mythology, hope, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, Oedipus, painting, political dysfunction, polynices and eteocles, power mongering, self annihilation, shared power, sketchbooks, society6.com/davidrobinson, the doorway in, the melange | Leave a comment »

Posted on April 5, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

kerri calls this morsel, Layered Meditation. a perfect name as it comes from my painting, Meditation.

I believe that every moment of life is a meditation, conscious or otherwise. Your current meditation may be about the anxiety of having enough money to pay the bills. It may be about the frustration of being stuck in traffic – again. It might be about a perceived injustice; blame meditations dominate most of our inner monologues. Of course, you might also be meditating about what to get at the grocery store or what to plant in the garden this year. You might be meditating about how to make life better for your children. Not all meditations are worrisome. Generally, we dedicate a small sliver of the meditation pie chart to the generative.

And, that’s really the point. We choose where we place our thoughts, we decide where we aim our focus. It is a dedication, not a runaway train.

One of my favorite moments in Carlos Castaneda’s book, The Teachings of Don Juan, happens when the master, Don Juan, refuses to place any value in the continued angst of his student, Carlos. Laughing at Carlos’ dedication to his misery, Don Juan says, “You indulge like a son-of-a-bitch!” Discovering and shedding indulgences is a many layered exploration. Shedding indulgences, like cutting junk food from your diet, comes when you recognize that you choose what you consume, not the other way around. You choose what you think, you choose your meditations, not the other way around.

Meditation, 48 x 48in, mixed media

I am relearning this lesson. Lately, in the studio, I find I am meditating on my personal hall of monsters and past injustices. I’ve been taken aback at my dedication to replaying these tales of woe and unfairness. And then I hear Roger’s voice in my head saying, “What kind of a sissy word is ‘fair!'” And I laugh. Laughter is great for rededicating the thought-train. Laughter loops me back to another favorite Don Juan-ism: “The trick is in what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves happy. The amount of work is the same.”

LAYERED MEDITATION reminder/merchandise

metal wall art

it makes a cool beach towel!

stationary gift cards, mugs, framed art prints, and more.

PURCHASE THE ORIGINAL PAINTING: MEDITATION

read Kerri’s blog post about LAYERED MEDITATION

kerrianddavid.com

layered meditation & meditation ©️ 2018, 2012 david robinson & kerri sherwood

Filed under: Awakening, DR Thursday, Uncategorized | Tagged: carlos castaneda, choice, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, DR Thursday, fairness, indulgence, inner monologue, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, layered mediation, mantra, mediation, prayer, society6.com/davidrobinson, the melange, the teachings of don juan, thought | Leave a comment »

DR Thursday

Posted on March 29, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

There is a lesson for me in this week’s morsel. It is a lesson I’ve learned over and over again. It is a basic, a fundamental and perhaps that is why I am once again revisiting this lesson: Focus (perception) is like a narrow flashlight in the night. Where you point it will determine what you see. And, most important, you choose where you point it. And, even more important, what you see is narrow, what you don’t see is vast.

Kerri chose this morsel. I marvel at what she sees and what she chooses for our melange and how it blows back and impacts what I see. This morsel, she calls it, “held in process,’ is a snippet of a painting-in-process. At Skip’s prompting a few years ago I started taking process shots and nowadays Kerri regularly dashes into the studio to make sure I’m taking my shots (“What do you have for me?” she asks, striding down the stairs). I delight in this particular morsel because, when seen in the greater context of the finished piece, it captures perfectly the lesson. It is like a popcorn trail of perception, an exercise in focus-choosing. Enjoy this morsel from the melange. Follow the trail to the final piece. Have fun shining your light on the morsel, Held in Process and on Earth Interrupted II.

the beginning layer, the under painting.

the second layer

pix#1 pix#2

next layers – my favorite: paper sack!

the finished painting: Earth Interrupted II, mixed media 48×34.5 in

HELD IN PROCESS merchandise

II earth interrupted FRAMED ART PRINT copy

wall art

kerri designs all of our leggings and apparel

okay, so, kerri designs ALL of our products. Cool iphone cases…

…and throw pillows! and more….

read Kerri’s thoughts on Held In Process

kerrianddavid.com

held in process/earth interrupted II ©️ 2018 david robinson, kerri sherwood

Filed under: Art, DR Thursday, Uncategorized | Tagged: artistic iterations, artistry, creative process, creativity, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, design, earth interrupted, earth interrupted II, Held in process, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, morsel, painting morsel, process, product design, society6.com/davidrobinson, society6.com/kerrisherwood, technology, the melange | Leave a comment »

DR Thursday

Posted on March 22, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

a slice of heaven for your DR Thursday melange

This weeks morsel: A Slice Of Heaven

Hans the realtor led me through the house, through small narrow channels that cut a path through the collected debris. Years of old newspapers were bundled and stacked high. In one room, thousands of text books were piled to the ceiling. “You will have to use your imagination to see the space,” Hans said. Windows closed, curtained against the light, I had a hard time breathing as we squeezed our way through the makeshift passageways.

Finally, emerging from the suffocating rooms, we stood on the front lawn. I gasped, “How can anyone live like that?” Hans the realtor, unruffled by our stroll through the hoarder’s house, said, “Everyone has their heaven. This is what their heaven looks like.”

It was a lesson in suspending judgment. Hans the realtor had seen many houses and had glimpses into many lives. Each unique. Some recognizable. Some not. He knew that all we ever get is a glimpse into the world of another person, the smallest keyhole view into their life, and an even smaller peak into their heaven. And, a peak is never the whole picture.

A Slice Of Heaven comes from this original painting titled, They Draw Sunsets In The Sand, 35.5 x 47.5 IN

A SLICE OF HEAVEN merchandise [gift cards, wall art, apparel, and more…]

This weeks morsel: A Slice Of Heaven

gift cards

a “just words” framed wall art

read Kerri’s thoughts on A Slice Of Heaven

kerrianddavid.com

a slice of heaven/they draw sunsets in the sand ©️ 2018, 2017 david robinson & kerri sherwood

Filed under: DR Thursday, Perspective, Uncategorized | Tagged: a slice of heaven, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, heaven, imagination, judgment, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, morsel, painting morsel, snippet, society6.com/davidrobinson, suspension of judgment, the melange, they draw sunsets in the sand | Leave a comment »

DR Thursday

Posted on March 15, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

thoughts from the melange to give lift to your thursday

THISquarterearth interrupted I sharpened copy

this is a morsel of the painting Earth Interrupted I. Kerri calls this morsel Quarter Earth

I’d completely forgotten about this painting. It is so utterly different from everything else I’ve ever done that after I painted it I rolled it and never showed it. In truth, it was an experiment, something I didn’t at all take seriously. At the time, I was discontent with my paintings. I was bored and uninspired. I’ve worked long enough to recognize that my discontent signals an empty tank, a need to rejuvenate. Rest and refill the creative tank.

Earlier in my artistic life, these periods of emptiness caused me to panic. What if that’s it? What if I’ve lost my muse? What if my creative well is permanently run dry? In my panic I’d try and force things to happen, which you can imagine, served only to magnify my empty-discontents. There’s nothing like a good panic, a deep investment in creative-lack-theory, to generate a serious case of artist block. It took me a while to learn that I run in cycles, just like the seasons, that my creative spring ebbs and flows. Blocks are not necessary.

Now, when I hit one of ‘winter’ phases, in addition to taking it easy, I’ve learned the best thing to do is play. Experiment. Loosen the grip, spin the dials, re-open the eyes. Leave the studio and pretend I’m Andy Goldsworthy, stack rocks, arrange leaves, take walks and photograph random textures. Make snowmen. Scribble with crayons.

The morsel for today’s melange is an ancient map of my long-ago play. Paper sacks and paint and palette knife scribbles. I usually throw these things away or paint over them. But, this painting, so utterly different, created so many years ago, must have whispered, “Wait. Just put me aside and wait. I have something for a future you.” I’m so glad I listened. At this very moment, drying in the studio, is Earth Interrupted II. Earth Interrupted III is on the easel and already Earth Interrupted IV is calling me.

Earth Interrupted I, mixed media 48″x 53″

QUARTER EARTH MERCHANDISE

read Kerri’s DR Thursday thoughts

purchase the original painting, Earth Interrupted I

kerrianddavid.com

earth interrupted I & quarter earth ©️ 2012, 2018 david robinson & kerri sherwood

Filed under: Art, DR Thursday, Uncategorized | Tagged: Andy Goldsworthy, artist, artist's block, artist's nature, creative energy, creative process, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, earth interrupted I, experiments, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, nature and art, play, scribble, society6.com/davidrobinson | Leave a comment »

DR Thursday

Posted on March 8, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

This is a confession: for these blog posts, for these DR Thursdays, I’m finding the morsels of my paintings – a slice, a small detail – infinitely more interesting than the full painting. It’s not that I don’t love the whole painting, I do. But the morsels are helping me to see the original painting anew. The detail is illuminating the whole. Also, the morsel is spinning my artistic dials. I suspect my visual exploration is about to jump the fence into new pastures.

Kerri calls this morsel Cityscape. It comes from The Bass Player, a painting pulled from the deep recesses of my archive. It comes from a time when I was in love with vibrant color and the work of David Hockney. The Bass Player has lived in galleries, and coffee shops. It hung for many years in a now defunct bar in downtown Seattle. More people have inquired about this painting than any other horse in my stable but it’s never found a forever home. I’m delighted that through this morsel, Cityscape, my colorful Bass Player has found another moment to step into the light. Who doesn’t need some color-pow! on a Thursday in March?

The Bass Player, 24″ x 48″

CITYSCAPE merchanise

THE BASS PLAYER reproductions

Purchase the original painting

read Kerri’s thoughts on Cityscape

kerrianddavid.com

Filed under: Art, DR Thursday, Uncategorized | Tagged: art, artistry, cityscape, david hockney, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, paintings, Seattle, society6.com/davidrobinson, The Bass Player, the melange, vibrant color | Leave a comment »

DR Thursday

Posted on March 1, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

Kerri calls them “morsels”: snapshots of a portion of one of my paintings. May You Be Peace is a morsel. I love watching her take the shots. I delight in how she helps me see my work anew. I appreciate how each morsel is a complete work of art in itself.

Shift the focus. Pull in the frame of reference. We live in a world of cameras and microscopes and telescopes and compartments; what we see and believe is very much determined by where we place our focus. Georgia O’Keeffe knew it; she was a master of the close-up.

A few years ago I began taking photographs of my paintings-in-process. The camera helps me sees aspects of the painting that would otherwise remain invisible. It’s odd. I stand before a canvas stapled to the wall and see one thing. I aim a camera at the canvas stapled to the wall and see a wholly different painting. Just imagine the infinite perceptions and perspectives at play in our world!

My photo-painting-practice is a constant reminder that my perspective, my perception is mine alone. You are most certainly looking through a different set of lenses.

Peace, I think, has nothing to do with sameness and everything to do with the celebration of difference, the capacity to help each other see our lives anew.

MAY YOU BE PEACE merchandise

read Kerri’s thoughts on MAY YOU BE PEACE

May You, 55″ x 36″

kerrianddavid.com

Filed under: DR Thursday, Seeing, Uncategorized | Tagged: art, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, difference, focus, Georgia O'Keeffe, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, may you, may you be peace, painting, peace, perception, perspective, seeing, society6.com/davidrobinson, the melange | 1 Comment »

DR Thursday

Posted on February 22, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

Nap on the Beach, mixed media, 22.25″ x 55.5″

“I paint the way some people write an autobiography. The paintings, finished or not, are the pages from my diary.” Pablo Picasso

I’ve been selling my paintings from my studio, un-stretched and unframed. When potential buyers come to my studio they view the raw canvas tacked on the wall or spread on the floor. Many of my pieces are big. It’s how I like to paint: big canvas stretched and tacked to the wall. These days when I ship paintings to another state, when I ship paintings to those courageous people who take the leap of faith and buy an expensive (and very personal) painting based on an image from the internet, I roll them. They receive the piece in a tender unembellished state.

There are practical reasons for my seeming-shoddy showmanship. It saves my customers money to stretch and frame the canvases themselves. The cost of shipping a large framed canvas is breathtaking! If I stretch or frame it myself, if I sell a painting through any gallery, online or brick-n-mortar, the cost is easily inflated by 70%.

But, that’s not why I show the unfinished edges. Before moving from my Seattle studio I had studio open houses. People inevitably drifted to the paintings stapled to the wall. They touched the edges. They asked me about the drips and marveled over the charcoal lines. They gently brushed the bumps of paint. They entered the story and became a part of it, they took on a role greater than witness. Instead of approaching art – my art – as an untouchable abstract thing, they engaged with it, questioned it, touched it. I loved it. Art is supposed to be accessible. It is supposed to open and say, “Follow me.”

Recently a client slid this painting, Nap on the Beach, from the pile of paintings stacked on the ping pong table, touched its complex surface, and, with Kerri, he held it by the corners saying, “Oh, this canvas is heavy! This one makes me yearn for summer!” And then he asked, “Did you take a nap on the beach? Is this about something you did?”

Yes. And yes again.

On DR Thursday, on your visit to the melange, I hope this painting inspires you to embrace the raw edges, the drips and bumps, and perhaps give over to a quiet mid-winter yearning for sun and sand and a spontaneous nap.

A NAP ON THE BEACH reproductions

framed art prints

canvas prints

A NAP ON THE BEACH original

read Kerri’s thoughts on DR Thursday

kerrianddavid.com

Filed under: Art, DR Thursday, Uncategorized | Tagged: art prints, artistry, artists, autobiography, beach, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, kerrianddavid.com, nap on the beach, pablo picasso, raw edges, society6.com/davidrobinson, story, the melange, unframed | Leave a comment »

DR Thursday

Posted on February 15, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

[Held In Grace: Embraced Now, mixed media on canvas, 48″ x 36″]

Beaky showed me a photograph taken of Kerri and me early in our relationship. She said, “I like this one because your strong arms are holding my daughter.” I took her comment as a kind of blessing. It was her way of telling me, ‘This is right and good. In this embrace you two have found all that you will ever need.’

In the studio melange, Thursdays are for my paintings. I chose this painting as the first in our melange offerings because it came from Beaky’s sentiment. During this Valentine’s week, let this painting, Embraced Now, from my Held In Grace series, remind you, as it does me, that all is right and good. In this embrace you will find all that you will ever need. It’s not a shabby thought to help navigate through a Thursday!

HELD IN GRACE: EMBRACED NOW [art prints]

HELD IN GRACE: EMBRACED NOW [purchase the original]

kerrianddavid.com

Filed under: Art, DR Thursday, Uncategorized | Tagged: artist, Beaky, beakysbooks.com, comfort, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, DR Thursday, Embrace, embraced now, held in grace, held in grace series, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, love, melange, nurturing, painting, relationship, society6.com/davidrobinson, studio, valentine, Valentines Day | Leave a comment »