Seeing | The Direction of Intention

Catch The Miracle [on Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on November 13, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

Walking through Bristol Woods, Kerri stopped, pulled out her phone, stepped off the path and into the trees. I’ve learned that means she’s seeing a little miracle that I’ve missed and is on a mission to photograph it. She walks through life noticing the details while my view is generally at 30,000 feet. I often miss what is right in front of my nose.

marbled orb-weaver copy She signaled me to join her and I saw it. The aerial acrobatics of a marbled orb-weaver. Bobbing on a single thread that stretched into the sky, climbing back to its egg cocoon. The breeze made the already difficult climb seem impossible.

I was transported back in time. Alaska. Watching salmon struggle up a waterfall. Jumping, exhausted, nearing the end of their quest to return to their source, their spawning ground. They lay their eggs and then die. I followed them upstream, beyond the waterfall to yet another waterfall and beyond. I came to the place, the spot in the river where their lives began and would now end. I was moved to tears by their struggle.

The salmon. The marbled orb-weaver. This thing called life – nature – is gorgeous and profound.

Watching the spider I whispered to Kerri, “How does it do that?”

“Sisu.” she said.

read Kerri’s blog post about SPIDER SISU

spider sisu ©️ 2018 kerri sherwood & david robinson

Filed under: Seeing, Two Artists Tuesday, Uncategorized | Tagged: bristol woods, courage, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, grit, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, marbled orb-weaver, perseverance, sisu, studio melange | Leave a comment »

Choose Your Meditation [on Not-So-Flawed Wednesday]

Posted on November 7, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

peace marbles copy

We found Peace Marbles in a basket at the door of Leap Of Faith, a small shop in Cedarburg. It’s one of our favorite shops for obvious reasons. Many faiths are represented in the shop so translate the accompanying lyrics/prayer/meditation accordingly.

The idea is ancient. What fills your mind-space, your meditation, is what you will create. Meditate on hate and that is what you will see. Focus on lack and that is what you will experience. Although it might not seem like it, what you think, what flows through your noggin on a daily basis, is a choice. It is a placement of focus. It is a prayer. A meditation.

Peace comes when people collectively focus on peace. A community chooses where to place its focus as readily as does an individual. It’s all in the narrative, the stuff flowing through our conversation, our storytelling, on a daily basis. It is a creative act – not something that ‘happens to us.’

A Blue Marble

It seems we could use all the help we can get. And, you never know, a fleet of little blue marbles rolling around in pockets and purses as reminders might be just the thing to help us choose to place our focus on the better things. It certainly couldn’t hurt.

read Kerri’s blog post on BLUE MARBLES

Filed under: Creativity, Flawed Wednesday, Seeing, Uncategorized | Tagged: Blue Marble, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, faith, focus placement, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, meaning making, meditation, parayer, peace, studio melange, the melange, thought | Leave a comment »

See What’s There [on Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on September 25, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

Rogue Snowboard Test copy 2

On this Two Artists Tuesday we give a nod to all the special people who are willing to help – even when it makes no sense. They are everywhere though, because they eschew drama, they remain largely unseen. They put down what they are carrying to open doors for complete strangers. Late for a meeting, they slow their pace and cross the busy intersection, an invisible shield for an elderly crosser. Sometimes, at night, they are servers at restaurants, kind and patient with everyone, even after a long day working their first job. They make soup for hungry people they’ve never met. They leave fifty dollar tips for ten dollar tabs. They step into the street to shield a dog-on-the-loose from oncoming traffic. They walk into the wind and rain to deliver packages and junk mail. They carry a snowboard out to a car to reassure a mother that her daughter’s snowboard will, indeed, fit in the back.

Kindness. Paying attention. Little acts, big ripples. It’s breathtaking. It’s everywhere.

read Kerri’s blog post about THE THINGS PEOPLE DO

www.kerrianddavid.com

Filed under: Heroes, Seeing, Two Artists Tuesday, Uncategorized | Tagged: david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, generosity, Heroes, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, kindness, studio melange, the melange | Leave a comment »

Enjoy The Chase [on Chicken Marsala Monday]

Posted on August 27, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

It’s always an interesting exercise to revisit past work and see it through eyes of the present. It ‘opens’ in ways that were unavailable when the work was first produced. That’s true of my paintings and Kerri’s music. It is also true of our Chicken Nuggets. We created most of these single panel “nuggets” two years ago – along with a full cartoon strip for proposals to syndicates.

My present-day eyes see essences. For instance, this Nugget perfectly encapsulates the the work I do with most of my coaching and consulting clients. The growth happens when the sheer enjoyment of the chase takes precedence over the obsession on the catch. The catch is temporary, passing. The chase is infinite. It’s the chase that matters.

Shift your focus. Said another way: It’s not the achievements. It’s the relationships that matter. It sounds like so much hoo-ha, a Hallmark card philosophy. Yet….

Joseph Campbell said that people think they are looking for the meaning of life but in truth they are looking for the experience of life. The experience of life is found in the moment, in the relationship, in the chase. Meaning is always found in the experiences, not the other way around.

On this Chicken Marsala Monday, shift the focus of your eyes. Embrace a simple dose of hoo-ha, enjoy the chase. It is what matters.

read Kerri’s blog post on IT’S NOT THE CATCH, IT’S THE CHASE THAT MATTERS

www.kerrianddavid.com

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it’s not the catch, it’s the chase that matter/products ©️ 2016/18 david robinson & kerri sherwood

Filed under: Art, Business, Chicken Marsala Monday, Seeing, Uncategorized | Tagged: chicken marsala, Chicken Marsala Monday, Chicken nugget, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, experiences, finite and infinite games, focus placement, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, life review, meaning making, relationship, society6.com/chickenmarsala, the chase | Leave a comment »

Be Kind [on Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on August 21, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

Guitar Jim told me that he doesn’t trust this world littered with aphorisms. Words are so easy to say. Papering the walls with happy sentiments of love, kindness, community, teamwork,…, can mask the absence of those qualities. I translated his adamant adage-doubt into a pithy phrase (just to torture him): actions speak louder than words. His point: if we tell ourselves often enough that it takes a village to raise a child we might just believe this village actually cares for its children. All of its children. Despite abundant evidence to the contrary.

He has a point. Adages are everywhere, placed in stores, office walls, kitchen shelves. Begin anywhere. This life is not a dress rehearsal. Life is short, break the rules. For fun, first take a quick scroll through Facebook. It is an immersion into Gandhi, Maya Angelou, Martin Luther King. We’re all in this together. Then, open your news app. Fall from grace. Try your best to be a saint and see how far you’ll fall.

There is another side of this bleak coin. We live in the age of the sound byte. The short attention span. The eCommunity. Sometimes while rushing to the next thing I stop for no apparent reason and stand still on the street. Something divine intervenes and asks me to step out of the play and, for a moment, breathe and simply be the audience. Every time I step out I see more kindness than aggression. I hear more laughter than shouting. I see people wanting a different world but armored against the threat of the moment, the fear of the day. Lost in a story of division. And, so, on the walls and in the subways they (we) post aspirations. Yearnings for more experience of our better nature. Hopw wishes. Possibility mantras.

Beaky’s parting words were always, “Be kind to one another.” It was her maxim and she meant it. This powerhouse woman would look you in the eyes and send this phrase-arrow to the center of your being, “Be kind.” To one another. An action, not an empty sentiment.

“Yes, ma’am.”

this link will take you to the BE KIND large print t-shirt options. scroll down to see the entire line of good stuff.

read Kerri’s blog post on BE KIND

www.kerrianddavid.com

be kind product line ©️ 2018 david robinson & kerri sherwood

Filed under: Possibility, Seeing, Two Artists Tuesday, Uncategorized | Tagged: adage, aphorism, be kind, Beaky, beakysbooks.com, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, maxim, society6.com/kerrisherwood, society6.com/twoartists, studio melange, the melange, Two Artists Tuesday | Leave a comment »

Look Close-In [on DR Thursday]

Posted on August 2, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

Georgia O’Keeffe was a master painter of paradox. Her paintings open the expansive universe by focusing close in, approaching the mystical, the sensual through the minute. She expressed so much through minimal strokes. I suspect her paintings are an expression of how she lived. Standing still in the arroyo, listening. Moving inward to reach the outer spaces.

I am a artist of a by-gone century. While I appreciate the digital world (you would not be reading this without it), I love the visceral, the deep inner driver, the instinctual. I am tactile. I am fed by the feel of the brush moving across the canvas, the smell and splash of the paint, the dance. A world of possibilities and paths open when mistakes are not easily erased. Kerri calls this analog.

This is a morsel, a close-in crop of my painting, Earth Interrupted VII. Look closely and you will see the meeting ground of the methodical and the spontaneous, the controlled and the improvisational. I am learning from looking close-in. I see forces merged that used to be at odds, now good dance partners. Compliments. I, too, am learning to stand still, not in the arroyo but on the shores of Lake Michigan. Visceral. Listening. Moving inward in the hope of reaching the outer spaces.

earth interrupted VII

read Kerri’s post about this MORSEL

www.kerrianddavid.com

earth interrupted VII/morsel ©️ 2018 david robinson & kerri sherwood

Filed under: Art, Creativity, DR Thursday, Seeing, Uncategorized | Tagged: analog, artist, artistry, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, detail, earth interrupted, energy, forces, Georgia O'Keeffe, instinct, instinctual, intuitive, inward looking, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, listening, morsel, mystical, sensual, society6.com/davidrobinson, studio melange, tactile, the melange | Leave a comment »

See The Stars [on Chicken Marsala Monday]

Posted on July 16, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

One of the reasons I like to travel is that it disrupts the ordinary. It breaks all the patterns that allow me to sleepwalk through my days. I remember standing on a street corner in London watching commuters hustle through the rituals of their day, lost in their ordinary. While, at the same time, their ordinary was a marvel to me. Everything was extraordinary, the sounds, the smells, the rhythms; it was all new and strange to me.

Hard times wake us up. Celebration days help us look at life anew. Pattern disruption. It’s all a miracle, easy to see, when we take off the story-lens of dull and habitual.

One night, just after Chicken popped onto the scene (fully formed like some wacky Greek cartoon god) there was a meteor shower. As we struggled out of bed in the middle of the night I felt like complaining. Sleep beckoned me back to my warm bed. That’s when I heard the thrill-call of my little-live-life-monger, in an enthusiastic sing-song, Chicken hailed, “You can sleep anytime….”

read Kerri’s blog post about STARS SHOOTING ACROSS THE SKY

www.kerrianddavid.com

you can sleep anytime… ©️ 2016 david robinson & kerri sherwood

Filed under: Chicken Marsala Monday, Pattern, Seeing, Uncategorized | Tagged: asleep, awakening, chicken marsala, Chicken Marsala Monday, Chicken nugget, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, dull minded, habitual, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, meteor shower, ordinary, paying attention, presence, ritual, sleep walking, society6.com/chickenmarsala, studio melange, the melange, travel | Leave a comment »

See The World How? [on Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on June 26, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

see the same thing on Kerri’s blog post

www.kerrianddavid.com

Filed under: Seeing, Two Artists Tuesday, Uncategorized | Tagged: david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, perception, perspective, seeing, society6.com/twoartists, studio melange, the melange, Two Artists Tuesday | Leave a comment »

Chicken Marsala Monday

Posted on April 2, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

Once, during a particularly dreadful and seemingly eternal period of lost-ness in my life, fully indulging in my panic of not knowing what to do or which direction to go, Rob gave me some world-class advice. He said, “When you are lost in the woods the best thing to do is stop and sit still.” In other words, the first thing to do is to stop doing anything at all. Just stop. The first step in finding where you are is simply to stop trying to be somewhere else. I laughed out loud.

Be here. Now, you know where you are! The problem of lost-ness is solved. Breathe a bit. Take in the unknown sights and listen. Direction and/or clarity are more likely to become available after a good still-sit.

SOMETIMES WHEN YOU ARE LOST… merchandise/still-sit reminders

stop. sit still LEGGINGS

gift cards

read Kerri’s thought’s on lostness and sitting still

kerrianddavid.com

Filed under: Chicken Marsala Monday, Metaphor, Seeing, Uncategorized | Tagged: be here, chicken marsala, Chicken nugget, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, direction, found, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, lost, lost in the woods, panic, presence, society6.com/chickenmarsala, still-sit, the melange | Leave a comment »

Chicken Marsala Monday

Posted on March 19, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

A Chicken Nugget from the melange to help you start the week

I appreciate the Chicken Nuggets – especially today’s – because I know the back story. Without knowing where these drawings with words came from or why we took the time to develop them, they could be tossed off as so much fluff. A nice sentiment. But.

What is it to stand in another person’s shoes? To understand the feelings of another? An other. Not me. Nice sentiments are rarely easy when put into practice.

There is a direction in Empathy. It is a reach toward an other. To reach out. To reach across a boundary, seen or unseen. To try. The direction is important to grock. ‘To understand’ is a fundamentally different thing, a radically different direction and intention than ‘trying to be understood.’ It suggests an openness to possibility, a willingness to consider. A shedding of the armor. It unlocks the magic of “what if….”

There is a big drum banging the opposite narrative – closed doors, closed ears, closed eyes. It is easy to believe that we-the-people are incapable of listening, that we are unwilling to consider and are only adept at shouting each other down. Putting each other down. Closing off. Closing down. But.

Take a walk today. Count the moments of generosity that you see. Count the times that others reach. Count the times that you reach. You might be surprised how different your actual experience is from the prevailing narrative. Human beings are, for lack of a better analogy, a pack animal. We run together. We die when we close-off. We wither when we turn in. No human being, if we are honest with each other, knows who they are absent of relationship with others. We know each other together. Reaching is what we most naturally do. We reach when we see others hurting. We open doors. We run into burning buildings, not for ourselves, but for the sake of others. It is infinitely more common to reach than to withdraw. Fear may demand a narrative of opposition, of irreconcilable difference, of standing alone in singularly righteous shoes. But, to believe it, you’ll have to close your eyes. You’ll have to disappear in the corridors of your busy, busy mind.

Today, do what is most natural. Open your eyes. Reach out. See what they see.

TRY TO SEE WHAT THEY SEE merchandise like gift cards, wall art, apparel,…