The Direction of Intention

Look Closer [David’s blog on Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on December 5, 2023 by davidrobinsoncreative

It is not in my nature to look closely. I more easily jump into the sky and see clearly the lay of the land. It’s why I am drawn to metaphor and appreciate the universal stories. It’s what made me useless as a consultant: no one really wants to know where they are going or what icebergs lurk over the horizon. They particularly resent it when you tell them that the big horse is filled with Greek warriors. Ask Cassandra!

Detail, on the other hand, has been an acquired skill that I am and will be forever acquiring. Kerri is a master teacher. Detail is her forte’.

What I am learning at this phase of my life: the real riches come in tiny packages. The miracle of a snowflake. Holding hands. 20’s laughter. The sound of crunching leaves. A hope held close. Savoring the broth. A gesture of kindness, like a smile or holding open a door. Expressing appreciation to the bus driver or the wait staff. Sitting still inside a poem to fully taste the sound of words.

Paying attention. I know I write about this often. It’s a part of the learning…

Of course, the tiny doors (a closer look) always open on infinite passageways so there remains great worth in jumping into the sky to see how vast is the landscape of the heart. Both/And. Beautiful either way.

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE SNOWFLAKE

like it. support it. share it. comment on it.

buymeacoffee is a snowflake of infinite possibilities if you choose to see it.

Filed under: Metaphor, Seeing, Two Artists Tuesday | Tagged: appreciation, artistry, cassandra, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, detail, focus, focus placement, global, heart, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, kindness, landscape, learning, miracles, overview, pay attention, seeing, senses, story, studio melange, the melange | 1 Comment »

Control The Burn [David’s blog on Merely A Thought Monday]

Posted on December 4, 2023 by davidrobinsoncreative

Controlled burn. A fire set intentionally to maintain the health of the forest. It’s an interesting concept. A useful metaphor: what does a controlled burn look like when you are the forest? What are the invasive species growing uncontrollably in your mind? Your body? Your spirit? What overgrowth is choking out the light?

“Organizations are like people,” the younger version of me was fond of saying. “The path to health for an organization is the same as it is for you and me.” My business partner and I were hired for many reasons: leadership questions, change processes, diversity…but beneath the surface reason was always a deeper question: the health of the organization was awry. There was a dis-ease that looked like leadership issues or my personal favorite organizational illness indicator: change management initiatives.

What is balanced activity? A good diet (eating bad information is akin to gobbling bad food)? What is the value of laughter (holding it all lightly)? Above all, the single magic pill capable of healing every ill: attend to the relationships. Process (kindness) should never take a backseat to productivity. People are not widgets or replaceable bulbs. There will be plenty for all if the essentials are respected.

The hard part, especially when there’s pain, is to admit that the only way forward is to stop, turn around, and take a good honest look at what you are doing and why you are doing it. Politics and profit are great creators of darkness, fabulous justifiers of abuse. An alcoholic has to admit their problem before they can address it. The same is true for an organization (or a nation).

Taking an honest look is akin to starting a controlled burn. Opening space. Welcoming light. The destruction of an illusion is a literal eye-opener.

It’s not so very hard. What is true for individuals is true for organizations is true for nations. It’s simple to talk about. It’s hard to do. I learned this too: no one willingly stops and turns to take a good honest look until the darkness becomes…too dark. Until the only path forward is to pop the illusion. Often that begins by stopping to light a fire – first to see and assess the darkness – and then controlling the burn.

read Kerri’s blogpost about CONTROLLED BURNS

comment? share? support? like? change? burn? see? hide? seek?

buymeacoffee is…

Filed under: Business, Identity, Merely A Thought Monday, Metaphor, Perspective | Tagged: artistry, balance, change, change management, controlled burn, darkness, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, Diversity, essentials, health, illness, intention, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, laughter, leadership, light, open space, organizational health, politics, profit, relationships, story, studio melange, the melange | 1 Comment »

Come Around [David’s blog on saturday morning smack-dab]

Posted on December 2, 2023 by davidrobinsoncreative

Kerri and I walk arm-in-arm. We have since the moment we met, held hands, and skipped out of the airport. While walking in our neighborhood people regularly stop us to say how much they enjoy seeing us walk by. We appreciate their kindness. We do not take for granted the great gift of our second chance in life.

Appreciation takes time. We rarely fast-walk a trail. As a rule, we slow walk so we can see and appreciate what is all around us. Arm-in-arm, we take it in. The color. The smells. The feel. The sounds.The critters. The movement. The changes. We often walk the same trails yet they are never the same.

Filled with so much appreciation for the trees, we can only imagine that the trees feel the same way about us. We believe life is like that. As MoonJuice Hikes likes to say, “What goes around, comes around.”

read Kerri’s blog about THE TREES

like. support. share. comment. we appreciate any and all.

buymeacoffee is a walk of appreciation. nothing more. nothing less.

Filed under: smack-dab | Tagged: aarp, appreciation, artistry, cartoon about middle age, composer, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, hikes, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, kind, kindness, middle age romance, moonjuice hikes, musician, painter, presence, second chances, senses, slow walk, story, studio melange, the melange, the woods, two artists | 3 Comments »

Take A Leap [David’s blog on KS Friday]

Posted on December 1, 2023 by davidrobinsoncreative

According to the myth, ancient Hawaiians believed that the souls of the dead leapt into the next plane of existence at Ka’ena Point.

The ancient Greeks believed the souls of the dead gathered at a specific spot on the shore of the river Styx and awaited the boatman to ferry them across to the underworld. The leap to the next plane of existence.

And then there are the leaping places for the living. The next phase of existence. Sometimes it is a move to a new city. Sometimes it is a career change. Sometimes it looks like an opportunity. Sometimes it looks like a loss. Sometimes it looks like a crossroads with no good choices. Or, too many good choices. Sometimes it looks like a dream come true. Destiny. And all that is required is a leap.

“Leap” is another way of saying, “Let go.”

Today, of necessity we cleaned out most of our society6 storefronts. We populated these stores when we began our Melange. It was an attempt to monetize our art work. Paintings, cartoons, graphic designs, music compositions. Despite a titanic effort, our designs, art prints and products never flew off the shelf. Over the years our store sites have remained mostly inert, so much so that we simply stopped promoting them. Society6 recently changed their business model and we were forced to face the reality of a foregone conclusion: it didn’t work.

The cutting down and clearing out was surprisingly disheartening.

Over the years our Melange transformed from a business idea into a place for Kerri and me to write. To write purely. We love it. It feeds our souls and keeps us grounded. So, I was taken aback by how much hope I still harbored that our artistry might someday, some way – in this way – financially support us.

And so, a letting go. An unexpected step onto the platform. Another leap. Cuts made matter-of-factly. The creation of space.

In a long-ago-disheartened moment, a younger me asked an older-and-wiser-artist, Doug, when the leaping stopped. His answer: It never stops. You just become better and better at leaping.

Kerri’s albums are available on iTunes and streaming on Pandora and iHeart Radio

read Kerri’s blogpost about LEAPING.

like. share. comment. support. leap. leap again. and again.

buymeacoffee is….

Filed under: Art, Creativity, Navel Gazing | Tagged: artistry, choices, crossroads, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, disheartened, dreams, existence, heart, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, leap, leaping place, let go, opportunity, society6.com, soul, story, studio melange, the melange, transform | 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 »

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 »

Find Out [David’s blog on Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on November 28, 2023 by davidrobinsoncreative

Google “iridescent tree bark” – or any question variation – and the top hits will be Marigold Carnival Tree Bark Glass. Second place on the list will be rainbow eucalyptus. Both are interesting but neither is helpful in our pursuit. This mystery tree is in a park on the shore of Lake Michigan. The bark on the east facing side is moist and shimmers with green, blue and purple. Why?

Google can be a very strict although paradoxical schoolmarm, often requiring exact language for inquiries yet always returning ranked probabilities. Web crawling in the blink of an eye. The art of the question meets a never ending popularity contest. It works most of the time. Sometimes it produces an amazing clown car of results. Today I learned a smidge about Marigold Carnival Tree Bark Glass. And who knew a eucalyptus tree could produce such vibrant color! I’ll be more mindful the next time I’m tempted to say, “That color does not occur in nature.” It turns out that all colors occur in nature. Even puce, the hands-down-winner for worst name of a color.

I gave up the search but Kerri is a dog-with-a-bone when she has a question. After lengthy sleuthing (“lengthy” in 2023 terms. In 1980, her search would have taken weeks but in 2023 she scored a find in less than 30 minutes) she found (drumroll…): blue-green crust fungus! Amaurodon (I’m tempted to insert crack social commentary into this scintillating post about the ease of information-finding in the age of dedicated information-denying but I’ll exercise extreme restraint and stay on my subject). Now, what exactly was my point?

More than once the glistening color has stopped our walks. We stand close and squint our eyes. We stand back and ponder. We take photographs and discuss outrageous possibilities for the surprising color shimmering on the lake side of the tree. We hold hands and I thank the stars for walking through life with someone who entertains as many unanswered questions as I do. I believe it is why we feel young even though our joints sometimes ache. Unbridled curiosity. Delight at running our fingers through paint. The utterance of a common phrase: I don’t know but let’s find out.

In case you’re wondering: I value the clown car of results almost as much as I do an instant-on-the-spot Google return. “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in [my] philosophy” (Hamlet. Act 1, scene 5). It invites the second-most-common-curiosity-utterance in our household: now what the heck is this?

read Kerri’s blog post about AMAURODON

share if you dare. like if you like. support if you support. comment if you have something to add.

buymeacoffee is an alien life form attempting to hypnotize you into the outrageous assertion that artists have an insatiable thirst for coffee and it is your life mission to quench their thirst.

Filed under: Language, Random, Two Artists Tuesday | Tagged: amaurodon, artistry, blue green crust fungus, color, color in nature, crawling, curiosity, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, delight, finger paint, Google, Hamlet, inquiry, iridescent tree bark, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, Marigold Carnival Tree Bark Glass, possibilities, puce, questions, rainbow eucalyptus tree, story, studio melange, the melange, tree bark, web crawl | 1 Comment »

Taste The Sky [David’s blog on Merely A Thought Monday]

Posted on November 27, 2023 by davidrobinsoncreative

I remember closing my eyes, face to the sky, to feel the joy in the snowflakes fall. On another day, separated by years, I walked out into the rain and with outstretched arms, I asked the sky to wash my grief away.

On yet another day, a younger version of me, bundled against the midnight cold, lay in a mountain field with friends and watched the stars shoot across the heavens. Oooo-ing and aahhh-ing. Then there was the winter day I stood with my back pressed against the brick wall and drank in the warming sun. My bones and the sun connected.

In answer to his puckered disbelief that I was yet a non-believer, I suggested he find a spot beyond the city lights, and on a clear night peer into the starry sky, and realize what he was seeing. Infinity knows no tribe.

“Clear blue sky always brings my thoughts to Colorado,” I said. “There’s nothing like the Colorado blue.”

One night, amid raging inner turmoil, I looked to the full moon and whispered, “Okay. I will follow where you lead me.”

It is a welcome common occurrence, she stops mid-stride and points, ” Do you see the duck!” or “Doesn’t that look like a crazy Mickey Mouse?” Cloud watchers. A festival of pareidolia ensues.

And who hasn’t looked to the sky and uttered, “Please…” The yearning heart reaches for a vast wordless sky.

read Kerri’s blogpost about SKY

share. like. comment. support. sky watch. we do and love all of it.

buymeacoffee is a call from the sky to support the continued work of the artists you appreciate.

Filed under: Gratitude, Merely A Thought Monday, Metaphor | Tagged: artistry, blue sky, cloud watchers, Colorado, Colorado sky, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, full moon, grief, heart, infinity, joy, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, pareidolia, rain, shooting stars, sky, snow, story, studio melange, the melange, yearning | 1 Comment »

Pile It On [David’s blog on saturday morning smack-dab.]

Posted on November 25, 2023 by davidrobinsoncreative

We’re in agreement about “the news”. Nightmarish. We are in disagreement about the temperature. I go through the winter months adding layers of clothing and piling on the blankets. Kerri is constantly peeling off layers, tossing off blankets. I like the cool night air but draw the line at frostbite. She likes the cool night air but is willing to go all the way to icicles-on-eyelashes. At night we live in an episode of Life Below Zero.

On the bright side, eyes-frozen-shut eliminates any possibility of accidentally glimpsing the nightmarish news. Silver linings sometimes come in surprisingly cold packages.

read Kerri’s blogpost about COLD NIGHTS

like. share. support. comment. bundle up. it’s all good.

buymeacoffee is an uncanny hot flash of cold wind meant to open consideration of supporting the continued work of the artists that freeze your fingertips.

Filed under: smack-dab | Tagged: aarp, artistry, cartoon, cold, composer, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, hot flashes, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, life below zero, middle age, middle age cartoon, middle age romance, news, painter, saturday morning smack-dab, silver lining, smack-dab., story, studio melange, the melange, two artists, winter | 1 Comment »

Mind The Deer [David’s blog on KS Friday]

Posted on November 24, 2023 by davidrobinsoncreative

We don’t always see them but we know they are present. The deer. We note their tracks and have learned where they usually cross the path. They follow careful pathways, game trails that are visible when we are walking slow enough to spot them.

As a symbol, they are heart-centered. They are associated with gentleness and it’s easy to understand why. They are gentle creatures. Even when bounding away, their leap is graceful and quiet, as if they are careful not to disturb the grasses and ground. They are mindful of their impact on the world.

We feel fortunate when we see them. It sometimes feels as if they show themselves to us. They seem to know when our hearts are hurting so reveal themselves, even for a moment, to help fill us with peace. It’s always true that we stop all movement, all thinking, all worry, all despair…when they show themselves. They are like magical makers of space, instantly turning tumult into vast acres of serenity. They look at us with large black eyes to make sure our spirits are calm, our hearts refreshed, and then they disappear as quickly as they appeared. “What were we talking about?”

“I can’t remember.”

The calm stays with us as we become like the deer, filled with their intentional spirit, quiet and innocent. Present, that special place beyond our future worries and past regrets.