Two Artists Tuesday

Design A Single Week

Posted on May 12, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

This image took my breath away when Kerri showed me. And so, we decided to share it.

A brief explanation: many weeks ago, standing amidst the stacks of music, paintings, cartoons, and designs that we’d created, work that populated proposals & submission after submission after submission but had yet to find an audience, we decided to create our own channel to share it. We called the channel “the melange,” a medley, a daily offer of a design, cartoon, painting or piece of music and the thoughts they inspired in us. We launched it 14 weeks ago.

And, because we are artists trying to make a living, we established a product line through society6.com for each day of the melange [if a painting is out of reach perhaps a cool tote bag or fine art print is more accessible]. This morning, as we prepared the multiple sites and completed our writing for the upcoming week’s melange, Kerri showed me a compilation image of all the products she’d designed just THIS WEEK!

Look at this image and multiply what you see by 14 weeks. Breathless. And so much fun.

ROOT IN LOVE product line [chicken marsala monday]

SHINE product line [two artists tuesday]

SO MUCH POSSIBILITY product line [flawed cartoon wednesday]

CLOSELY I WILL HOLD YOU product line [dr thursday]

FISTFUL OF DANDELIONS product line [ks friday]

www.kerrianddavid.com

Filed under: Chicken Marsala Monday, DR Thursday, Flawed Cartoon Wednesday, KS Friday, Two Artists Tuesday, Uncategorized | Tagged: cartoons, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, designs, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, music, paintings, product designs, products, prolific, society6.com, society6.com/chickenmarsala, society6.com/davidrobinson, society6.com/flawedcartoon, society6.com/kerrisherwood, society6.com/twoartists, studio melange, the melange | Leave a comment »

Shine! [it’s Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on May 8, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

a heart bump from studio melange on this Two Artists Tuesday.

Once, many years ago, I participated in my first street painting festival. I drew in chalk on the street a large 8′ x 12′ image. I loved it. The entire day flew by in what seemed like seconds. Roger later told me he loved watching me draw because it was what I was meant to do on this earth and, in doing what I was meant to do, I was shining.

Like Roger, I love watching people do the thing they were meant to do. When Kerri composes, she shines. I often recount the first time she played her piano for me. I was astounded. Something enormous came through. It was blinding.

Everyone shines. Everyone is capable of shining. And, here’s the thing I love the most about shining: it warms other people. Doing what you were meant to do, allowing yourself to shine, is life-giving and shine-inspiring. Shine. Or, if your day is troubled and cloudy, find someone who is shining. Their shine is guaranteed to dissipate your cloud.

SHINE designs, gifts, and cool stuff

read kerri’s blog post on SHINE

www.kerrianddavid.com

shine, shine designs and products ©️ 2016, 2018 kerri sherwood & david robinson

Filed under: Energy, Two Artists Tuesday, Uncategorized | Tagged: david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, gift, inspiration, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, life gift, life giving, purpose, shine, society6.com/twoartists, studio melange, the melange, Two Artists Tuesday | Leave a comment »

Move! [It’s Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on May 1, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

Some simple encouragement from studio melange on Two Artists Tuesday

Here’s one of my few guiding principles: knowing “how” to do something always comes after the fact. No one knows how. Truly. If you wait to start until you know ‘how’ you will wait forever. Just start. Make a choice and move. It’s a great gift to make a choice and let your choice be wrong. To make a mistake and adjust according to what you experience. That’s called learning. Sometimes, it’s true, the best choice is to sit still. Sometimes the best choice is to stop trying to figure it out. Try anything. Move.

From studio mélange on this Two Artists Tuesday, give yourself permission to play. That’s also called learning. Experiment. At the end of the day, after all the experiences and adjustments, after all the movement, we’ll ask you how you did it.

MOVE gifts & reminders

read Kerri’s blog post about MOVE

www.kerrianddavid.com

move/move designs & products ©️ 2016/2018 kerri sherwood & david robinson

Filed under: Energy, Two Artists Tuesday, Uncategorized | Tagged: adjust, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, experiment, how, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, learning, make mistakes, move, society6.com/twoartists, studio melange, the melange, try | Leave a comment »

Dance [It’s Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on April 24, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

From studio melange a touch of goodness for your Tuesday.

There is wisdom in dancing copy 3

Had you attended our wedding you would have found yourself dancing. Even if you where a committed dance-a-phobe, your limbs would have over ruled your noggin and that deep river of wiggling that flows through us all would have broken through your protective surface layer and you’d have gyrated and twirled. You would have had no choice. The reason is simple. We call her Linda.

Linda is a muse of dance. A maker of enthusiastic merriment. She understands the world through movement. She understands that everything is in constant motion. The earth is moving, dancing. It IS dance and she dances with it. Academics would call her kinesthetic. Invite Linda to even the most stodgy of gatherings and soon everyone will be swaying en route to a raucous Irish folk dance. She knows how to help others dance with earth, too.

okay. i love these new wall murals….

There is wisdom in dancing and it is this: it is only possible to dance WITH others – and deep down everyone wants to dance. And, in the merry motion of common movement comes laughter, surprise, and heaps of generosity. From studio melange on this Two Artists Tuesday, we offer what Linda knows: sometimes wisdom looks a lot like dancing.

THERE IS WISDOM IN DANCING – products we design are sold at society6.com

read Kerri’s blog post about WISDOM IN DANCING

www.kerrianddavid.com

there is wisdom in dancing ©️ 2016 david robinson & kerri sherwood

Filed under: Body, Two Artists Tuesday, Uncategorized | Tagged: dance, dancing, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, earth, earth motion, earth's currents, irish folk dance, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, kinesthetic, motion, movement, society6.com/twoartists, studio melange, the melange, wedding dance, wisdom, wisdom in dancing | Leave a comment »

(Y)Our Earth [It’s Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on April 17, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

Take a moment to take a look around you. A thought to ponder and share from the melange.

Tibetan monks have been in residence this week at a local technical college. They are creating a mandala sand painting. For the monks, creating the mandala is a spiritual practice, a meditation. As they construct the design they contemplate the meaning of the symbols within the design. In other words, they are in a constant state of prayer while they create. They invite the community to enter the prayerful space and contemplate with them; the “space” is, of course, the essential part of their creation. More to the point, the shared space of peace, an intentional communal tranquility, is the creation. And, to make sure we grasp the point, the final step in their creative process is to blow the design away. Nothing is permanent. Beauty is passing and so are you and me. It is, we are, energy in motion. The process, rather than the product, is the meditation.

When Kerri drew this design it immediately reminded me of the Earth’s currents, a perfect sentiment for the coming Earth Day celebrations. The essential convection currents that create our wind, our weather. The currents in the earth moving layers of magma, the transfer of energy in the heating and cooling of the ocean. Motion creates life, tosses up forms and pulls them down again. Motion is life, life is motion. And, in this mandala we call Earth, there is a deeper meditation found within the sand and the impermanence: it’s all connected. We are all connected. Blowing sands. The process, the quality of our participation in impermanence, is the art.

From studio melange, an earth day meditation: this is your/our earth.

THIS IS (Y)OUR EARTH reminders/merchandise

iphone cases

a beach towel!

(Y)Our Earth Leggings

read kerri’s blog post on (Y)Our Earth

kerrianddavid.com

this is (y)our earth ©️ 2016 kerri sherwood & david robinson

Filed under: Art, Energy, Two Artists Tuesday, Uncategorized | Tagged: #earthday, art, art and spirituality, beauty, communal peace, connected, connection, connectivity, convection current, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, earth day, earth's currents, impermanence, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, mandala, meditation, passing beauty, peace, prayer, process, sand painting, shared peace, society6.com/twoartists, spiritual practice, studio melange, the melange, tibetan monks, tranquility, Two Artists Tuesday | 2 Comments »

Embrace Your Obstacles [It’s Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on April 10, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

A Tuesday thought-spark from studio melange.

obstacles are merely challenges by another name

“Simple” was the single guide-star we followed when we started our Two Artists designs. “They should be very, very simple,” we chanted. With the wall of our dining room a vast fluttering field of post-it note phrases, we jumped in, quickly creating images that might illuminate the phrases. I’m a spontaneous-gesture-drawing guy. Kerri’s designs are swift and potent with color. In simplicity we created an obstacle for ourselves. We created a challenge.

climb that mountain. take this travel mug

Obstacle/challenge creation is what people do! People create obstacles all the time and call them “hobbies.” We humans routinely fabricate wings and run at edges, we aim to solve unsolvable problems and create the unimaginable. Eliminate obstacles and there is no story. Eliminate obstacles and cloudy boredom descends. The absence of obstacles is what makes retirement so daunting for so many. The carefree life is only carefree with a select set of obstacles, a good garden or golf game.

From studio melange on Two Artists Tuesday, we wish for you a healthy selection of happy obstacles.

OBSTACLES MAKE LIFE INTERESTING reminders/merchandise

read Kerri’s blog post about OBSTACLES

kerrianddavid.com

obstacles make life interesting ©️ 2016 david robinson & kerri sherwood

Filed under: Perspective, Story, Two Artists Tuesday, Uncategorized | Tagged: challenge, creativity, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, hobby, imagination, interesting life, invention, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, life, obstacle, obstacles, society6.com/twoartists, story, the melange, Two Artists Tuesday | Leave a comment »

Posted on April 3, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

your thought for Tuesday from studio melange

There are a few consistent thought-practices that cut across most spiritual traditions. ‘Just Shrug’ is our version of one of those universal practices. In some traditions Just Shrug it is called ‘detachment.’ Or, spun another way, it is known as ‘take nothing personally.’ Lilies of the field. Centering, grounding, presence, stepping back, quieting the mind,…, are variations on the theme. Practice not taking the bait of the crisis-of-the-moment. “There are 7 billion people on the planet,” Quinn used to quip, “and none of them are thinking about you.” Just shrug.

I laughed aloud when Kerri dashed off this Two Artists graphic because it looks like an operator’s manual illustration for detachment. The little arrows are diagram-perfect instruction for how to begin the practice. Just shrug.

JUST SHRUG reminder/merchandise [mugs and cards and pillows, oh my!]

read kerri’s thoughts about Just Shrug

kerrianddavid.com

just shrug ©️ 2016 kerri sherwood & david robinson

Filed under: Metaphor, Perspective, Two Artists Tuesday, Uncategorized | Tagged: centering, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, detachment, grounding, inner life, just shrug, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, presence, society6.com/twoartists, spiritual practice, spiritual traditions, take nothing personally, the melange, Two Artists Tuesday | Leave a comment »

Two Artists Tuesday

Posted on March 27, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

A thought for your Tuesday from the melange.

we call these pieces, “just words.” double meaning? perhaps!

If I had to write a how-to book on soul wellness it would be brief and could be summed up with simple phrases like, lighten up, or cease the practice of taking yourself so seriously [or, the inverse, practice not taking yourself so seriously]. Soul wellness and lightheartedness are companions.

Many southwestern native American traditions include a sacred clown. Don’t you love that phrase! Sacred clown. A sacred clown serves many purposes but usually they lob some light into the too-serious-ritual; they shock us out of our attachment to “how things should be” and spin our dials so we can see “how things really are.” Those wacky sacred clowns know that the path to center is more often found with the assistance of light than when stumbling through the heavy dark. Stephen Colbert is a sacred clown. Jimmy Kimmel is, too. John Oliver. There are many great clowns to help us laugh our way to soul wellness.

The jester, the sacred clown speaks truth to power when no one else can. Power rarely likes to hear truth so most often surrounds itself with sycophants. Power needs a mighty sacred clown to keep it honest. The same rule applies with inner monologues and the runaway stories that plague our minds. A good inner-jester, the practice of not taking yourself so seriously, acts as a mighty dope slap, a necessary reminder that an alternate focus, beyond the insurmountable obstacle or the unsolvable incessant problem or the unshakable attachment to being right, is possible.

Feed well your sacred clown and you will invariably find the path to wellness with your soul.

IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL merchandise/reminders

‘it is well with my soul’ leggings

read Kerri’s thoughts about IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL

kerrianddavid.com

Filed under: Edges, Identity, Two Artists Tuesday, Uncategorized | Tagged: clown, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, it is well with my soul, jester, jimmy kimmel, john oliver, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, meditations, old souls, possibility, power, practices, sacred clown, society6.com/kerrisherwood, society6.com/twoartists, soul, stephen colbert, the melange, Trickster, Two Artists Tuesday, wellness | Leave a comment »

Two Artists Tuesday

Posted on March 20, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

A thought for your Tuesday from studio melange

The dividing line was approximately around the age of 40. It was a figure drawing session and those of us over the age of 40 came to the studio carrying pads of newsprint, drawing boards, pencils, pastels and vine charcoal. The artists under 40 came with a computer and stylus. It was a beautiful collision of the first order, both sides of the divide saying to the other, “I could never do that.” The younger artists referred to us seasoned (covered with charcoal dust) artists as ‘vintage.’

I am vintage. For me, making art is a physical activity, a full body dance. I need paint that splashes, brushes that drag across a surface, the smell and feel of the process. My canvases have always been large simply because I need to move. Art making, for me, is necessarily kinesthetic. It’s like splashing in puddles and playing in mud. The virtual equivalent is not visceral enough.

As vintage I will never be efficient or fast. I’ll never have the variance or range that digital process allows. That’s okay with me. I was born and oriented into the artist’s way looooong before digital wizardry. My parents provided me with a large wall and buckets of paint. That wall was a magic place, the portal to another dimension. Unlike the younger artists in the figure drawing class, I find a stylus and tablet physically limiting. The action is too small. What sets them free feels like a shackle to me. I love the dance, the mess, and the danger of not being able to insta-correct or click back to an earlier version.

To my digital descendants, my dust free successors, I AM the earlier version. We enter our magic place through different doors. And, that’s okay with me.

I AM A VINTAGE TYPE merchandise [leggings, totes, pillows, mugs, gift cards…]

read Kerri’s thoughts on I AM A VINTAGE TYPE

kerrianddavid.com

Filed under: Art, Two Artists Tuesday, Uncategorized | Tagged: art making, artistry, classic, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, digital, earlier version, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, old school, rough draft, society6.com/twoartists, the melange, Two Artists Tuesday, vintage, vintage type | Leave a comment »

Two Artists Tuesday

Posted on March 13, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

Your daily blend of good brew from the melange on this Two Artists Tuesday

I love watching Kerri when she goes into design mode. My normally ADD wife enters a super-hyper-focus. The entire universe collapses into a single action. She creates. Time disappears.

I watched the quick birth of this design. She moved on to the next but I lingered with it for a while. I liked it immediately because, to my eye, it can be read in two ways: Be Relentless or Relentless Be. The first is an ambition. It is to pursue your dreams without end. To honor your yearnings as an imperative. The second is a beautiful yet simple understanding of existence. Your heart beats relentlessly. Your relentless inhale and exhale of breath is the movement of life. It is like the tides. You are like the tides, not “a thing” but a continuous movement, an ongoing expression of life.

Either way, a thought to ponder from studio melange on this Tuesday: be relentless be.

BE RELENTLESS merchandise

society 6 info jpeg copy