DR Thursday

Warm Hearts [on DR Thursday]

Posted on December 29, 2022 by davidrobinsoncreative

The past few days in Wisconsin have confirmed my suspicion: the ice age will not be fun. Long underwear is no match for mother nature when she’s giving you the cold shoulder.

It was an uncomfortable coincidence that we watched the movie The Day After Tomorrow a few short hours before the temperatures plummeted. It was almost as uncanny as the night we watched Contagion with Brad and Jen because we heard news stories of a virus in China that might become a pandemic. In both cases, when life mimicked the film, Kerri said, “I feel like I’m living the movie.”

I can only conclude that we need to watch different movies.

While hunkered down and very much appreciating the modern thermostat, heat at the touch of a button, I think Love Actually might be an excellent choice of film-invocation (Hugh Grant voice over: Love actually IS…all around us). The Family Stone is another good option. The complex nature of love. It makes me laugh and warms my heart every time.

Invoking warm hearts on frigid days is a worthy pursuit. Invoking warm hearts on any-old-day is a worthy pursuit but is certainly made more poignant when facing the ice age. Now, if only Dennis Quaid would show up with a helicopter cavalry and whisk us away to warmer climates! A boy can dream.

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE DEEP FREEZE

A Day At The Beach, 38x52IN

Filed under: DR Thursday, Random | Tagged: artistry, cold temperatures, complexity, Contagion, covid, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, Dennis Quaid, DR Thursday, frigid weather, Hugh Grant, ice age, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, love, love actually, Mother Nature, pandemic, story, studio melange, The Day After Tomorrow, The Family Stone, the melange, virus, warm hearts | 1 Comment »

Be In Serenity [on DR Thursday]

Posted on June 7, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

I flipped a page and came across the notes I jotted during my last call with Horatio. I can’t recount the entirety of the conversation – it was vast. But the few notes I captured seem to say it all: Art is about the unity place; it is meant to pop open that place in people, or remind them…. Artistry is the realization of one-ness. It is a walk to the center of compassion. And, it is dangerous. It challenges boundaries. Danger and compassion are linked.

Art is necessarily dangerous. It absolutely challenges boundaries. It asks hard questions. It won’t cotton a lie (propaganda is not art). It points to common ground, shared experience and universal understanding – all things that require border crossing. It brings audiences to shared breath, relationship, the place of compassion. It requires the artist to show up unprotected and the audience to reciprocate in kind. In that space serenity is possible.

read kerri’s blog post about In Serenity

www.kerrianddavid.com

In Serenity, 46x30IN mixed media

www.davidrobinsoncreative.com

in serenity designs/products ©️ 2018 david robinson & kerri sherwood

in serenity ©️ 2018 david robinson

Filed under: Art, DR Thursday, Uncategorized | Tagged: art, artistry, boundary, compassion, danger, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, DR Thursday, in serenity, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, serenity, society6.com/davidrobinson, studio melange, the melange, unity | Leave a comment »

Hold Them Close [it’s DR Thursday]

Posted on May 10, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

a painting morsel for your DR Thursday from studio melange.

For the entire span of my artistic life I have painted mother’s holding their children. I don’t know why . Once, years ago, I set up the many mothers-and-children paintings that lived in my studio and sat for a long time pondering them. I liked them all. As Horatio has said about my work, they were/are motion in stillness. Beyond that, I have no words. Most of the important stuff, I’ve learned, lives beyond language.

Kerri chose this morsel in honor of the coming of Mother’s Day and calls this morsel, “Closely I Will Hold You.” From studio melange, a quiet nod of gratitude to moms everywhere.

I Will Hold You In The Storm, mixed media 29.75 x 39.25IN

CLOSELY I WILL HOLD YOU gifts & products

read kerri’s blog post about I WILL HOLD YOU CLOSE

www.kerrianddavid.com

Closely I Will Hold You – designs & products ©️ 2018 david robinson & kerri sherwood

I Will Hold You In The Storm ©️ 2017 david robinson

Filed under: Art, Creativity, DR Thursday, Uncategorized | Tagged: acrylic paintings, Closely I will hold you, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, DR Thursday, I will hold you in the storm, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, mixed media paintings, mother and child, mother's day, motherhood, mothers, motion in stillness, paintings, parenthood, society6.com/davidrobinson, studio melange, the melange | 2 Comments »

Slow Motion Rain [On DR Thursday]

Posted on May 3, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

A DR Thursday dance from studio melange

MASTERlarger slowmotionrain copy 3 It seems my life these days is one big meditation on “not forcing” outcomes. I’ve been here before so I suspect this falls in the category of “life lessons.”

The Chinese have a term for this meditation: wu wei. Do nothing. In creative communities it’s known as flow. Athletes train, actors rehearse, but when opening night comes or race day dawns, the advice is always the same. Let go. Trust the work. In other words, cease pushing and get out of your own way.

Working from tension, pushing too hard for outcomes, causes injury. It jams flow.

The final pose at the end of a yoga practice is called savasana, or corpse pose. It is to surrender, not in the sense of giving up but more of giving over. It is a release of tension. My Earth Interrupted paintings have become for me a kind of savasana, a letting go. As Jim used to teach me, you’ll know you are in “that” place of flow when it feels like a dance of giving and receiving and you have no need to distinguish which side of the dance you are on. Both/and. Give/receive.

Kerri calls this morsel “Slow Motion Rain.” It comes from a moment of dance. Or, as we like to say in our house, “Woo Wee!”

SLOW MOTION RAIN gifts and cool products

earth interrupted IV ~ mixed media, 48 x 36IN

read Kerri’s blog Post on SLOW MOTION RAIN

www.kerrianddavid.com

slow motion rain designs and products ©️ 2018 david robinson & kerri sherwood

earth interrupted iv ©️ 2018 david robinson

Filed under: Art, DR Thursday, Uncategorized | Tagged: dance, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, DR Thursday, flow, giving and receiving, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, let go, process, savasana, slow motion rain, society6.com/davidrobinson, studio melange, surrender, the melange, trust, wu wei, yoga | Leave a comment »

Look For The Mountain [On DR Thursday]

Posted on April 26, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

A mountain morsel for this DR Thursday from studio melange.

Mountain In Yellow Sky

Kerri laughed her most devious laugh when I asked, “Where does this morsel come from?” I didn’t recognize it as a slice from any of my paintings. I usually know immediately where the morsel comes from. This one baffled me.

“Guess,” she said, laughing that laugh again. I knew I was in trouble.

Usually, when I hear this particular devious laugh, I look behind me. Or, I check to see if she is clutching cleverly concealed water balloons. DogDog knows this laugh, too. It means he will have to work very hard, go through all of his tricks, probably twice, before getting the cookie that she holds just above his reach. He always looks to me for support and I tell him, “You are on your own, Dogga.” I know better than to redirect her brat impulses on to me.

And so, like DogDog, I guessed. And guessed again. And again. I did tricks. I searched my folio site. With each wrong guess, her pleasure at my bewilderment increased, her laughter goading me on. I looked to DogDog for help. He dropped to the floor and pretended to be sleeping. I was on my own.

Finally, exhausted, beyond begging, she dropped a tiny hint. The painting no longer exists.

Thanks to Skip I’ve made it a practice of taking process shots which means Kerri has made it a practice of mining my process shots. Many of my paintings don’t make it to the finish line. They are either not composed well, are ill conceived from the start, or I overwork them and have to scrub them and start over. Sometimes they serve as rough drafts and i abandon them when I see the better path. This morsel comes from one of those – a painting that did not make it. It was poorly laid out. It broke the rule of thirds (and I didn’t want to cut the canvas to correct the problem).

Kerri’s made Together On The Beach art prints available at society6.com

Kerri jumped up and down with joy when I put it together. She knew that she was going to re-introduce a painting to me. She knew, given the right framing, I’d see the beauty of the unfinished piece. So, the morsel: Mountain in Yellow Sky. And, for my purposes, the beauty in the loose painting that no longer exists: Together On The Beach.

biggercropped on the beach painting jpeg copy 2

This crop of the original is also available as wall art at society6.com

It is potent blow-back to help me see the old anew. When I said, “I think I need to learn to stop painting sooner, to redefine for myself what is a rough draft and what is not.” she laughed that laugh again. The trouble I am in is so much bigger than I understand.

MOUNTAIN IN YELLOW SKY products we’ve designed are sold at society6.com

read Kerri’s blog post about MOUNTAIN IN YELLOW SKY

www.kerrianddavid.com

mountain in yellow sky/on the beach ©️ 2018 david robinson & kerri sherwood

Filed under: Art, Creativity, DR Thursday, Uncategorized | Tagged: acrylic paintings, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, Dog-Dog, DR Thursday, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, mischief, mountain in yellow sky, paintings, rough drafts, rule of thirds, society6.com/davidrobinson, studio melange, 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

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 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 »