Flawed Wednesday | The Direction of Intention

Gaze Inside [David’s blog on Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on January 23, 2024 by davidrobinsoncreative

I suppose most people would first notice the beautiful glaze and transfer pattern on the outside of the cups. We were caught by the beautiful color, the glaze on the inside at the very bottom. Gorgeous. Simple.

The cups were a wedding present from Kerri’s good friend and long-time collaborator, Heidi. Together, they toured the country. Heidi telling the story of her breast cancer journey. Kerri performing her compositions written for the cause of cancer research and celebration of life. I was not in the picture when they were doing their good work but I can hear in their stories the potency, the absolute epicenter of the power of art, their art: inspiring, encouraging, healing, up-lifting spirits.

It is the same spirit that Rachel Stevens, the potter of the cups, imbued in her work. It’s why we were immediately captivated. The free flow of her artistry lifted our spirits. A perfect talisman for our union, a reminder of my favorite day of life – our wedding.

We brought out the cups for our wine. I love the delicate weight and textures, the feel when I hold them in my hand. Before pouring, I gazed again at the inside color and had a minor revelation, the kind that will simmer over the next few months:

I’m sitting in a quiet space with my artistry. The imperative to create remains as strong as it has ever been, but it is the time to journey into the root. Early in my life I created for myself, for the pure pleasure of the presence it provided. The gift of solitude. Another kind of union. Later, the root required a reaching out, a branching relationship with others, to light the dark path, ask the unanswered question, explore the uncharted territory. Yet another kind of union. The cycle is coming back around; I am returning to the pure pleasure of creating. The root. Now, there can be – there is – no other reason.

Simple. Gorgeous.

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE CUPS

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buymeacoffee is a beautiful glaze at the bottom of a delicate pottery cup that, when you hold it, makes you feel good to be alive.

Filed under: Art, Creativity, Flawed Wednesday, Gratitude, Metaphor | Tagged: artistry, breast cancer, cancer research, celebration of life, composition, creating, cycle, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, flow, free flow, glaze, healing, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, life cycle, marriage, performance, pleasure, potterpotter, presence, pure pleasure, Rachel Stevens, root, sanctuary, solitude, story, studio melange, the melange, the power of art, union | 3 Comments »

Look It Up [David’s blog on Not So Flawed Wednesday]

Posted on January 17, 2024 by davidrobinsoncreative

I find that I have a different definition than most people of the word ignorant. In the book of words it is an adjective describing the lack of education or sophistication. I’ve come to understand it as a noun, someone who ignores in order to shore-up their belief. So, in my book of words, someone who ignores information, facts, data, someone who refuses to question, is an ignor-ant.

I’m writing this post a few days ahead. It’s the day of the Iowa caucuses and, if the polls are accurate, most of the caucus-goers are dedicated ignorants. Thought-foundations built upon quicksand. It brings to mind two quotes. The first is from Isaac Asimov:

“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.”

And, isn’t that a proper summation of our times? A democracy can only survive over the long haul with an informed populace. Ignorance, ignorants, will be the death of our democracy. It begs a question that’s ever present and hard to ignore: what are we (they) afraid to learn? That brings me to the second quote that popped into my noggin. This one is from Robert Pirsig:

“You are never dedicated to something you have complete confidence in. No one is fanatically shouting that the sun is going to rise tomorrow. They KNOW it is going to rise tomorrow. When people are fanatically dedicated to political or religious faiths or any other kinds of dogmas or goals, it’s always because these dogmas and goals are in doubt.”

The ostrich buries its head in the sand, the monkey plugs its ears. The fate of the MAGA lemming is the trap of the dedicated ignorant. It makes possible the untenable: angry insistence of being the great defender of democracy while championing a fascist yet being completely incapable of discerning between the two. It requires a wee-bit of knowledge and study to understand the difference between fascism and democracy. Fanatical embrace is the only available path to those who fear facts, information and ideas that might call into question what they already surmise: what they believe, what they think, what they are told might not be true.

Ignorance is never the equal of knowledge. I’d never take my car to be fixed by a someone who calls him/herself a mechanic yet has no knowledge of how an automobile works. It seems basic. I wonder about the Iowans going to the polls (or any republican for that matter), exercising the great power of the vote, yet refusing to exercise the freedom of thought, the expansion of mind, that their democratic privilege affords them.

In my book, that is the definition of an ignorant.

read Kerri’s blogpost about KNOWLEDGE

like or not. share or not. support or not. comment or not. either way, ask questions and seek to know beyond what you think.

buymeacoffee is what you make of it after you investigate what it is and what it is not. try it!

Filed under: Education, Flawed Wednesday, Perspective | Tagged: anti intellectualism, artistry, cult of ignorance, culture, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, democracy, education, fascism, ignorance, ignorant, intellectual, Iowa caucus 2024, Isaac Asimov, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, knowledge, learning, politics, questioning, Robert Pirsig, story, studio melange, the melange, the power of the vote, vote | 2 Comments »

Listen To The Cookie [David’s blog on Not So Flawed Wednesday]

Posted on January 10, 2024 by davidrobinsoncreative

We take our fortune cookies very seriously. I mean, it’s a fortune that arrives through a cookie! Some fortunes arrive through crystal balls, others take shape through the tarot, a roadside medium or a toss of the I Ching. Any bit of advice or prescience that comes through a cookie cannot be ignored.

This particular cookie-delivered-fortune was dubious because it had an advertisement for Jockey Underwear printed on the other side. How can I take seriously the advice to do nothing when the shadow side of the paper tempts me to buy underwear? There’s a bit of an angel/devil game going on in my fortune cookie. I suppose all of our fortunes are now, in one way or another, tied to advertisement. I, for one, understand that I will never achieve full manhood until I have a Porsche in my multi-car garage, a closet filled with Eddie Bauer and am scented by Calvin Klein. Of course, now that I am wrinkling at a rapid rate it may take anti-wrinkle cream and Just For Men hair dye to fulfill my destiny as advertised.

And what if I ignored the advertisement and decided to heed the cookie-advice to do nothing? We’ve all witnessed the power of a small decision or random choice to alter the course of a lifetime. The flip of a coin can alter a destiny. I’ve seen a single step-off-a-curb end a life. My life was forever changed by sending a single email newsletter that at the time seemed tiny.

What if I decided not to fill my day with tasks but instead to smell the roses? Feel the sun? Walk for the sake of walking. Hang out with Dogga? Hold Kerri’s hand? A single day dedicated to appreciation without the need for achievement. One day of rest without the anxiety imperative to do or to be…something.

When viewed through that lens, it’s a momentous and worthy fortune. And, It cannot be ignored because, after all, it came through a cookie.

read Kerri’s blogpost about FORTUNE COOKIES!

share. like. support. comment. many thanks.

*buymeacoffee is a fortune delivered through an electronic cookie to the artists you appreciate.*

Filed under: Flawed Wednesday, Random, Story | Tagged: advertisement, advice, artistry, choice, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, do nothing, fortune, i ching, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, prescience, story, studio melange, tarot, task list, the melange | Leave a comment »

Follow The Lines [David’s blog on Not So Flawed Wednesday]

Posted on January 3, 2024 by davidrobinsoncreative

There was a time when humans didn’t know how to translate three dimensional space into a two dimensional rendering. We either had no capacity for understanding visual perspective or no reason to pursue it. Art was symbolic, purely. And then came Brunelleschi. An architect. Linear perspective, a mathematical construct, became all the artistic rage. The wilds of symbol met the dictates of the representational. Horizon lines and vanishing points, the one-two step of perspective danced into the arts in a crazy time we know as the Renaissance. A painting could pull us into its world. The ghost of the ancient Greeks whispered 15 centuries into the future.

With perspective came a wholly new set of questions. The magic of math. The study of nature. How close can we come to understanding how things work? What are the secrets driving the universe and what we see? What lurks behind and beyond the symbol? What do we not see?

The trees in Kerri’s photo are roughly the same size. The trees retreat into the distance so the furthest tree appears to be smaller, the closest tree taller. It’s an illusion that we take for granted, so steeped are we in the necessities of perspective. The smallest child with a crayon wouldn’t care or perhaps even see the distance. They’d happily scribble the symbol: tree. An older child would put down their crayon and insist that they couldn’t draw because the magic of perspective is intimidating. Trying to “capture” reality in two or three dimensions is a tall order. Trying to place yourself and others inside it is overwhelming.

On this foggy day on the coast of Lake Michigan, I admire the perfect lesson in perspective taught by the trees stretching out in front of me. The fog brings to mind string-theory and the mathematics of multiple realities existing in a single space or Stephen Hawking’s bubble theory, many many universes brushing each other as they pass. What would Brunelleschi think of that? Follow the lines of perspective far enough and it becomes necessary to sail beyond the known horizon. Expressionistic. Conceptual.

Both Picasso and Einstein broke apart our understanding of space and invited an entirely new form of perspective into our conversation. The mystic and the mathematical. Multiverse and many dimensions.

Standing in the park, fingers cold, swallowed by the dense fog, I am a lucky child with a crayon knowing that all I can manage to do is scribble.

read Kerri’s blogpost on PERSPECTIVE

like. share. support. comment. many thanks.

buymeacoffee is a an impression left by a crayon meant to let others know that someone is out there and paying attention to the lines of perspective.

Filed under: Art, Creativity, Flawed Wednesday, Language, Metaphor, Perspective | Tagged: 2-D, 3-D, artistry, Brunelleschi, conceptual, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, dimensional space, dimensions, Einstein, expressionistic, horizon, horizon line, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, linear perspective, math, multiverse, nature, perspective, Picasso, renaissance, secrets, space, Stephen Hawking, story, string theory, studio melange, symbol, the melange | 2 Comments »

Honor The Error [David’s blog on Not So Flawed Wednesday]

Posted on December 27, 2023 by davidrobinsoncreative

“Art is human. Error is human. Art is error.” ~ David Bayles & Ted Orland, Art & Fear

I adore all three parts of this syllogism. Just don’t ask me if the reasoning is inductive or deductive since the three characters in the play are suspiciously unreasonable: Art, Humans, and Error. Applying reason to the unreasonable seems dubious for the get-go. In a world of rationalizing the irrational, who cares if the path is general to specific or vice-versa?

We made Christmas dinner at Craig’s house last night. Since he is nose-to-the-grindstone trying to make a career from his music, we talked about what he is experiencing. What he is learning. “It’s hard,” he said. Kerri smiled, knowingly. Yes. The music industry is Hard. Art-making is a joy. Making a viable career of art-making is akin to pushing a rock up a steep hill and never reaching the top. Sisyphus. No joy. Despite common stereotypes, no one works harder than artists-with-a-passion. “Talent and hard work is no guarantee that you’ll make it,” he said, sharing a recent revelation.

Trial and error. I’m currently writing a play and each day I remind myself of John Guare’s famous observation: you have to write ten bad pages to arrive at one good page. In other words, error making is the path. Any master craftsperson can tell you that. Make enough errors and you’ll eventually develop a wee-bit-of-discernment. What works. What does not. Discernment does not stop the error-making, it embraces it. It uses it.

I asked Craig if his definition of “good” had changed in the many months that he’s been producing and performing music. What is good work now relative to good work last year? His answer tickled me. His observation is ubiquitous to all creative pursuits. What seemed good last year often looks like doggerel this year. “I can’t believe I released that track,” he said. It’s a very good sign. He’s stacking his errors. He’s developing discernment. That, too, is a life-long pursuit, a steep climb with no top. Van Gogh looked back at his early work and wrinkled his nose.

So hope-full. The courage to follow an inner imperative. Honoring an undeniable impulse makes no sense. Intuition-listening. Eschewing illusions like “perfection” for a more gritty heart-filled error-strewn path. A more realistic human path, riddled with blunders and happy accidents. Now, isn’t that a lovely paradox! So honest. So art-full.

Kerri asked, “What does this post have to do with the pink ornament?” My answer: “These are the very pink thoughts I hang every day on my thought-tree.”;-)

read Kerri’s blogpost about PINK ORNAMENT

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buymeacoffee is an error filled path that leads to appreciation of the very flawed artists you appreciate.

Filed under: Art, Creativity, Flawed Wednesday, Intuition, Language | Tagged: art, Art and fear, artistry, blunder, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, deductive, discernment, error, happy accident, heart, hope, human, inductive, joy, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, music industry, paradox, perfection, reasoning, sisyphus, story, studio melange, syllogism, the melange, trial and error, unreasonable | 4 Comments »

Remember Heaven [David’s blog on Not So Flawed Wednesday]

Posted on December 20, 2023 by davidrobinsoncreative

A lifetime ago my live-work space was above a movie theatre. It was once an office space but somewhere along the way it was converted it into a quirky living space. The largest room had 16ft ceilings and an expanse of wall where I could staple canvas. I loved it. I painted up a storm in that space.

It had been vacant for a long time. I imagine most people took one look and ran away screaming. It needed a serious cleaning. It needed some attention and a few fixes. It needed someone with imagination to see the possibilities. Mostly, it needed some life and energy infused into it.

I put candles everywhere. At that time I painted at night, after the city went to sleep. I had a ritual to begin my work: turn off the light in every room but the studio, light the candles, choose my music, sit far away from my canvas for a few moments until I heard the call, and then begin. Usually I blew out the candles after sunrise, the work session ended with the awakening of the day.

Working after the world went to bed was my pattern for years. It started when I was a child. The house grew quiet. After my parents, brothers and sister tucked into sleep, I’d light a candle, turn on the light, and paint on the wall. There was nothing more comforting or inspiring to me than the quiet of the night, a candle or two for company, and a blank canvas calling me out to play.

Hans told me that “Everyone has their heaven.” Last night, deep into the night, as I lay in bed and listened to the chimes make sweet music of the howling wind, I was suddenly thrust back in time to my movie-theatre-studio, to a particular era in my life, I could feel the candles and the quiet of the night, a brush in my hand…my perfect heaven.

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE CANDLE

like. support. share. comment. all are appreciated

buymeacoffee is a warm studio late at night, alight with candles, and a clear reason for being.

Filed under: Art, Creativity, Flawed Wednesday | Tagged: artistry, artists studio, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, energy, heaven, imagination, inspiration, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, life, live/work space, purpose, quiet, story, studio, studio melange, the melange | 1 Comment »

Welcome Jacob [David’s blog on Not So Flawed Wednesday]

Posted on December 13, 2023 by davidrobinsoncreative

For reasons that I cannot explain – even to myself, these Honeysuckle berries bring Jacob Marley to mind. Ebenezer Scrooge’s deceased business partner, “…doomed to wander without rest or peace, incessant torture and remorse!” Jacob’s ghost visits Ebenezer in the dark of night to issue a warning. “BUSINESS?” Mankind was my business!” (sound effect: irate ghost rattling chains)

We know the rest of A Christmas Carol story. After a long night of life review and literal soul-searching, Ebenezer changes his miserly ways.

This season is rife with ghosts of the past. It’s the brilliance of Dicken’s Carol. We sat at the table and told stories of Christmas past which made us yearn for those loved ones we’ve lost along the way. We revisited childhood. Kerri told me of being a young parent and planning the magic of the season for her children (now our grown children).

We talked with 20 who said, “I’m becoming my dad!” More and more jaded by the rampant commercialism, he’s finding it hard, like Ebenezer – like his father, to reach into the deeper meaning of solstice, return of the light and the hope of renewal. I understand. I’ve spent more than one holiday season repulsed by the Walmart stampede. My revulsion has always driven me to quiet walks in nature. A deeper appreciation of dinner with my friends.

If I could give one gift to the world this season, it would be a visit from Jacob Marley. “Stop messing around!” he’d rattle his chains and roar, “YOU’RE FOCUSING ON THE WRONG STUFF!” Humankind is our business.

This year, I’m especially moved and delighted by the ghosts that are visiting. For the first time we’ve hung Beaky and Pa’s ornaments on our living room branch. They are here. I can hear Columbus’ laughter. My heart aches for old friends, just as it should. Most nights, to finish the day, we turn off the all the lights except the “happy lights” on our many branches and e.e., our holiday tree. We sit in silence and appreciation, welcoming the ghosts to visit. It’s a moment to cherish the abundance of holidays-past and enliven this season, a quiet nightly invitation to the ghost of holiday-present.

read Kerri’s blogpost about HONEYSUCKLE

like. support. share. comment. welcome jacob

buymeacoffee is a welcome site for visiting ghosts meant to offer appreciation for their wise-less insights and the musicality of their rattling chains

Filed under: Family, Flawed Wednesday, Gratitude, Metaphor | Tagged: A Christmas Carol, abundance, appreciation, artistry, Charles Dickens, cherish, christmas, commercialization, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, Ebenezer Scrooge, future, Ghosts, holiday, honeysuckle, humankind, Jacob Marley, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, miser, miserly, past, present, story, studio melange, the melange, yearning | 1 Comment »

Gain Some Perspective [David’s blog on Not So Flawed Wednesday]

Posted on December 6, 2023 by davidrobinsoncreative

If you’ve not yet bumped into Piet Mondrian’s paintings of trees, this is your chance. Not only are the paintings beautiful but if you’ve ever scratched your head at his more famous abstract/geometric paintings, you will find the forest through his trees. Things are not always what they seem and, in the era of contemporary art, it is necessary to grok the context in order to fully appreciate the content. Of course, that rule also applies in this age of info-tsunami: content rushing across the screen is regularly embraced whole-cloth – sans context – so truth and lie have equal standing.

In the art world, placing content (an individual painting) into context (the historic era, the long-body-exploration of the artist’s work, the source of the exploration) is called “gaining perspective”. Because things are not always what they seem, it is drilled into every artist to regularly stand back, to clear their eyes, to get perspective on their work-in-progress. It is also (or used to be) drilled-in to offer the same courtesy to the work of other artists. Stand back from snap judgments. Check the sources. Understand the exploration. Grasp the historical context. It is never as simple as “liking” or “not liking”; appreciation opens a vast color palette beyond the numbing mindset of thumbs-up or down.

Gaining perspective and learning are the same thing. The most well-educated people I know are not lawyers or doctors. They are actors, directors, dancers, and painters. Gaining perspective takes a lifelong dedication to questioning and researching and double-checking. It is to peek behind the curtain of popular and not get caught in the current reality spin. It is to know that things are not what they seem. It is to know that reactions are easy answers; questions take time. Gaining perspective takes time.

Sometimes she stops so quickly that it propels me forward a few stumbling steps. While I tumbled forward she knelt at a puddle and aimed her camera at a leaf. Or so I thought. I have learned (daily) that she sees things that I do not. I have learned that my assumptions are almost always wrong. She smiled when she stood up. “Look,” she said.

I gasped. I was terrifically wrong. The leaf was nowhere in sight. The reflection of trees in a puddle on the asphalt trail. A festival of texture. A masterpiece of illusion. Piet Mondrian must have knelt at a puddle reflection just like this! “Trees through an icy window,” I said.

Things are rarely – if ever – what they seem.

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE TREES

share it. like it. support it. comment on it. research it. question it. doubt it. grok it.

buymeacoffee is exactly what you make of it.

Filed under: Art, Creativity, Education, Flawed Wednesday, Metaphor, Seeing | Tagged: abstract art, abstraction, artistry, assumptions, contemporary art, content, context, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, easy answers, education, gain perspective, illusion, information age, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, learning, lie, perspective, Piet Mondrian, Piet Mondrian's trees, questioning, questions, reality, research, seem, seeming, story, studio melange, the melange, trees, truth | Leave a comment »

Hope Is Like That [David’s blog on Not So Flawed Wednesday]

Posted on November 29, 2023 by davidrobinsoncreative

A project has me spending some quality time inside Thornton Wilder’s play, Our Town. Grover’s Corners. Emily, after her death, takes the opportunity to revisit a day in her life. It’s not what she expects. Returning to her grave on the hillside she says of the living to Mother Gibbs, “They don’t understand, do they?”

“No, dear. They don’t understand.”

She learns, as another character in the graveyard, Simon Stimson, says, “Now you know! That’s what it was to be alive. To move about in a cloud of ignorance; to go up and down trampling on the feelings of those…of those about you. To spend and waste time as though you had a million years. To be always at the mercy of one self-centered passion, or another.”

I thought about Emily and Simon Stimson as we walked with Dogga along my favorite stretch of the DesPlaines River Trail. It’s an eight mile out-and-back section. Deer. Heron. Sandhill cranes. Hawks. It passes through meadow and grove, the river snaking close and moving away.

The day was brisk and clear. When we came to the small land bridge, Dogga’s delight filled me with delight. We always stop at the bridge to look for turtles and frogs. This late in the year it is unlikely to find them but we stop anyway. Hope is like that.

And, just for a moment, I stepped out of my cloud of ignorance. Kerri, holding Dogga’s leash, peering with great expectation into the trickling stream. “Do you see anything?” she asked. So overwhelmed at the beauty of it all, I could say nothing.

Had I been able to speak I would have said, “I can see everything.”

For a fleeting moment…

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE CREEK

like. share. comment. support. all are helpful. all are appreciated.

buymeacoffee is a moment in time begging you not to miss it. that’s all. that’s enough.

Filed under: Flawed Wednesday, Gratitude, Love, Seeing, Transcendence | Tagged: appreciation, artistry, beauty, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, delight, des plaines river trail, dogga, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, life, moments, our town, presence, seeing, story, studio melange, the melange, Thornton Wilder | 4 Comments »

Follow The Marker [David’s blog on Not So Flawed Wednesday]

Posted on November 22, 2023 by davidrobinsoncreative

An ode to markers on the trail:

Popcorn is for a safe return. Remembrance. Home is this way.

Cairns are a gift to those who come next. Courtesy. This is the way through.

Blazes are systemic. Reassurance. You are on the correct path.

Signs are for sorting. Guidance. This is a crossroad of choices.

Companions are for amity. Togetherness. A living marker. The journey is best when shared.

“We’ve sorted a lot of life on this trail,” she said.

It’s a loop. We usually walk it twice around. Sometimes we’ll reverse direction and make a third pass. Loops are good for untangling knotty questions. We rarely come to certain conclusions, almost never leave with answers. We metaphorically set markers on our life trail so we know if we are in unknown territory or have been this way before. “Do you remember when…”

Remembrance. Courtesy. Reassurance. Guidance. Togetherness.

“What do you think we should do?”

“I don’t know. Let’s walk another loop.”

read Kerri’s blogpost about MARKERS

comment. if you want to. or share it. or like it. or not. support it. or not. all are appreciated. by us.