kerri sherwood itunes | The Direction of Intention

Cycle Forward And Back [David’s blog on Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on December 26, 2023 by davidrobinsoncreative

Last week I saw a suit in a store that was frighteningly similar to the burgundy tuxedo I wore to my junior prom. Fear not, there are photos of a youthful me in my clothing-abomination that you will never see. I refuse to blackmail myself. I generally avoid ridicule unless I’m in the mood to perform a prat-fall.

Beauty is not a fixed idea. Nor is it unique enough to be held in the single eye of any one beholder. Beauty is shared. Communal. And the community is restless. It cycles through contour and color and pattern expectation. Each year a new style born of reaction against the previous styles. When I look at photographic proof of my willing-wearing of a horrific burgundy tux, I shake my head and think, “What was I thinking?” A better question would be, “What were we thinking?” At the time, I thought my tux was cool. My pal, Oz, wore a powder blue tux and strutted his blue-ness all prom-long.

The fashion cycle always returns to itself. The fabrics are improved (less petroleum) but the style is textbook. What’s new is old and what’s old is new. I stood in the store utterly agog at a full rack of wine colored suits. Laughter-tears streamed from my eyes though I can’t be sure I wasn’t reacting to the shock of terrible print patterns on the stacks and stacks of shirts. Terrible to me; beautiful to the other festive and frantic shoppers.

I’ve spent hours staring at our tree. The fragile glass ornaments reach back into the 1940’s and 50’s. They mirror the shape of cars from the era. Appliances, too. Light fixtures. Do you remember the spaceships of Buck Rogers or the marionettes of Space Patrol? The ornaments are Shiny Brites. Massed produced but decorated by hand. They were all the rage in their time. The shapes and story inspire me. That’s how the cycle works.

This year the Shiny Brites are all the rage in our home. Beautiful in our time. What’s old is new. What’s new is old.

read Kerri’s blogpost about SHINY BRITES

like. share. support. comment

buymeacoffee is a blowback to a time when coffee was a thing that people drank from manufactured glass mugs while sharing the stories of their day.

Filed under: Pattern, Random, Two Artists Tuesday | Tagged: artistry, beauty, Buck Rogers, christmas ornaments, color, contour, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, fabric, fashion, glass ornaments, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, Ornaments, pattern, retro, Shiny Brites, Space Patrol, story, studio melange, style, the melange | 1 Comment »

Share and Renew [David’s blog on Merely A Thought Monday]

Posted on December 25, 2023 by davidrobinsoncreative

As additions-to-traditions go, the bauble-on-the-tree is a relatively recent inclusion. People have decorated their dwellings with pine boughs, a symbol of renewal and rebirth (of the light), for many, many centuries. Placing ornaments-on-trees only began in the 1800’s.

We decided this year – for reasons that reach beyond words – to bring out Beaky and Pa’s ornaments. We are minimalists mostly so in the decade of my Wisconsin life these ornaments have lived in a box in the basement. We look at them every year but have never – until now - hung them on a tree. They are glass and fragile so we worked slowly, placing them with care.

Having them with us this season has been more powerful than I imagined. Having them with us this morning is more meaningful than I thought possible. Family is with us. And, isn’t that, after all is said and done, the point of it all? Given family and chosen family. To feast our long line of belonging and celebrate our brief time on this earth together. To honor that we are, as Jean Houston wrote, “…the burning point of the ancestral ship.” To gather, adding to the rich bank of shared memory. We reach back in time with gratitude. We live forward through our children and their children and their children…

This morning we sit quietly, sipping our coffee, sharing stories, hanging out with Beaky and Pa, in our recognition and deep appreciation of this time of life’s Renewal.

read Kerri’s blogpost about BAUBLES

like. share. support. comment.

buymeacoffee is…

Filed under: Gratitude, Merely A Thought Monday | Tagged: ancestry, appreciation, artistry, belonging, celebration, christmas, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, family, feast, Gratitude, Honor, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, memory, Ornaments, rebirth, recognition, renewal, sharing, story, studio melange, symbol, the melange, togetherness | 1 Comment »

Feel The Light [David’s blog on saturday morning smack-dab]

Posted on December 23, 2023 by davidrobinsoncreative

We sit squarely in the center of a community of generosity. At night, when we turn out all the lights except those wrapped around our many holiday trees, we close our eyes and breathe it in. We feel it. The quiet grace. The kindness. The support. The friendship.

Earlier this year, traveling through our metaphoric miles of very rough road. Kerri said, “We should lean into the light more.” That’s why we sit in the twinkling light of the trees, eyes closed. We feel the light.

This we know: we are rich beyond measure.

read Kerri’s blog post about FEELING IT

like. share. support. comment. close your eyes and make a wish…

buymeacoffee is twinkling light wrapped around a holiday tree…

Filed under: Gratitude, smack-dab | Tagged: aarp, artistry, bloggers, cartoonists, christmas, community, community of support, composer, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, feel the light, friendship, generosity, generosity of spirit, grace, holiday, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, kindness, middle age, middle age cartoon, painter, riches, smack-dab, story, studio melange, support, the melange, two artists | 1 Comment »

Share The Symbols [David’s blog on KS Friday]

Posted on December 22, 2023 by davidrobinsoncreative

When I was a wee-turnip I found a textbook on the shelf from a course my dad took in college. Comparative religions. It’s a big-big book full of many-many comparisons. It now resides on my shelf. This book sparked a life-long fascination for me. The universal nature of myth and story across individual cultures and how these stories and symbols are, over time, pulled and twisted like taffy, co-opted, integrated and sometimes claimed as the private property of religion x or y.

Today, as I write this, we sit squarely on the solstice. I thought a few tidbits of story-symbol might be fun to visit so, together, we might taste the taffy.

In Italian tradition, La Befana is the goddess of the solstice. She rides a broom through the skies leaving candy and presents to the good little boys and girls. As a broom-riding pagan goddess, she predates Saint Nick by more than a few centuries. The Christian tradition snagged her and after a bit of twisting, she became a character in the Magi story. On a cold, cold night she gave shelter to those three wise-men but declined to join them on their quest because she had unfinished chores. After they left she had a change of heart but couldn’t find the manger on her own so she gave the gifts she had in tow to the nice children she met during her manger-search.

On the solstice, the goddess Isis gave birth to her son Horus, the sun god. Leta gave birth to Apollo on the solstice. The Persian god of light, Mithra, was born on the solstice. These births were technically virgin births since the conception in every case was immaculate. Egyptian. Greek. Persian. These stories predate the Christian story by centuries. It’s a ripple across time and culture of the same human impulse: after a long dark season to celebrate the return of the light.

We lose more than we know when we – to borrow a great term from Joseph Campbell – concretize a symbol. The stories and myths are meant to open us to greater unity with each other and the world we share. They are not meant to be taken or understood literally. Holding them literally slams the door on their greater meaning and unifying power. It renders them a possession, a plot point on a map.

On this winter solstice I can imagine no greater gift to this divided world than to recognize we are, through our unique symbols and characters, telling the same story, yearning for the same possibilities, sharing the same ideals whether they soar through the air on a broomstick or in a sleigh, both rides brimming with toys for good girls and boys. We borrow each others best ideas and ideals, rewriting them to fit our unique audience. From Isis and Horus to Mary and Jesus, it’s time once again to celebrate the rich warm return of the light through our myriad forms and cultural traditions, to feel the push and pull of something ancient and deeply human. Together.

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

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE HOME IN THE TREE

like. share. support. comment.

buymeacoffee is a surgically implanted intention, a medicinal tradition stretching back eons to a time when beauty and analytics held hands and shared meals. together.

Filed under: Identity, KS Friday, Metaphor, Story | Tagged: apollo, artistry, christmas, culture, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, history, Horus, integration, Isis, Joseph Campbell, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, La Befana, Leta, Magi, meaning, meaning making, Mithra, myth, mythology, pagan, religion, Saint Nick, Santa, separation, solstice, story, studio melange, symbol, symbolism, the melange, together, togetherness, tradition, unity, virgin birth, winter solstice | 3 Comments »

Tell The Deeper Story [David’s blog on DR Thursday]

Posted on December 21, 2023 by davidrobinsoncreative

Walking on our trail in the middle of December, we rounded a corner and stopped. The dramatic shadows of the trees made long and distinct by the low-to-the-horizon winter sun. “It’s mid-December,” she said, “And the grass is green…” Looking at the photograph I’d guess that it was taken on an early spring day. In the era of climate change, it’s not so hard to see the story behind the story of this green, green grass.

What’s the story behind the story? There’s always a deeper story to tell. Always.

On my easel is a canvas marked with a few charcoal lines. A bare-sketch of two people and a puppy. The story? On a rainy fall day, driving the back county roads, Kerri and I rescued a puppy. It was lost and scared.

The story behind the story? When we saw the puppy we had a long drive ahead of us. We were trying to get to Madison. We spotted it at a crossroads. Turn right and go to the puppy. Turn left and keep our appointment in Madison. We turned left. And then in one swirling circle motion, immediately turned around. The first impulse: we’re late! This is not ours to do. The second impulse: who cares! this is exactly ours to do. The moment the shivering-scared soaked puppy jumped into our arms, nothing else in the world mattered. Nothing. The superficial dropped away and the essential came roaring into focus.

We named him County Rainy Day. Rainy for short. We dried him off and fed him crackers. He didn’t have a collar so we called Jen and asked her what to do. We played and laughed and snuggled with him in the cab of the truck. Finally, after giving our hearts to the puppy, we took Rainy to a shelter. He was reunited with his family.

I confess, we’ve returned to the spot where we found him. Just in case. He stole our hearts but more importantly, he brought us to our hearts. There is always a moment of choice. Turn left. Turn right. The list or the life? Behind each act of kindness is a moment of choice. Behind each act – of any kind – is a moment of choice. The story behind the story.

a detail of a sketch. a work barely in-progress. county rainy day

visit my gallery site

read Kerri’s blogpost about GREEN!

like. share. support. comment. your choice and all are appreciated.

buymeacoffee is a choice made at a crossroads. nothing more. nothing less.

Filed under: Art, Creativity, DR Thursday, Seeing, Story | Tagged: actions, artistry, choice, choices, climate change, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, deep story, deeper story, dog, dog rescue, dogs, heart, heart centered, heart choice, holidays, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, kindness, love, painter, painting, priorities, puppies, puppy, story, studio melange, the melange, winter | 3 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 »

Go Curly [David’s blog on Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on December 19, 2023 by davidrobinsoncreative

Left to its natural state, Kerri’s hair is as curly as curly-ribbon or the curling leaves of this winter grass. It’s gorgeous though someone, somewhere, convinced her that her curls were passé. Her mom and I waged a not-so-secret campaign to stop-the-straightening but we had little to no impact. Every so often Kerri lets loose her curls and always receives raves but they somehow bounce off the image-shield of straight hair.

I have an image of myself. Lately, when I look in the mirror, I see something other than the image that I expect. It’s something to play with! I appreciated the early days of acting school because it demanded a constant change of image. More than once I had to cut off all my hair for a role. There is a power in studying character, realizing that who we are is not a noun but a process. Character – personality – is how-you-do-what-you-do and not “who” you present to the world.

Also, as a teenager I had an image of who I would become. I am surprised to report that I’m not the cross between Leonardo da Vinci and Joseph Campbell that I intended. No amount of straightening the road could alter my wandering (curly) path. I realized, none-too-soon, that to achieve my image I would have had to betray my nature. I am – and always have been – the steward of a “beginner’s mind.”

Kerri has a theory that people do not change, they become more of who they really are. The layers of imagined-self drop off. The core is revealed over a life-time of shedding images. Self-discovery a la paring down.

I grew my hair (again) after moving to Wisconsin. When I met Kerri I was still sporting the short-short hair that my clients expected of me. For some reason, my clogs were acceptable as an outsider invited into the hallowed walls of the corporate arena but long hair was too much. Long hair was a bridge too far. So I cut it. Now, the longer it gets, the more Kerri (and 20) tell me that I look more myself. I’m not sure what that means to them but I agree. It fits my image of me. I always use the opportunity to tell Kerri that when she allows her hair to go curly, she looks more herself, too. After all, her mom and I have not given up our campaign. Although Beaky is on the other side of the veil, I feel her poke me. That’s my cue to lobby Kerri to shed the image-of-straight, to become more of who she really is, and sport those gorgeous naturally curly locks.

(The title track of Kerri’s very popular X-Mas album, The Lights. She’s inserting into her post so I wanted to also drop it into mine. Happy Holidays!)

The Lights is available on iTunes

stream The Lights on iHeart Radio

read Kerri’s blogpost about CURLS

like. share. support. comment. curl. find your nature. or not. it’s all good.

buymeacoffee is an internal image of wildly curly hair meant to bring you at long last to your true nature.

Filed under: Identity, Navel Gazing, Two Artists Tuesday | Tagged: acceptance, artistry, beginner's mind, change, curly hair, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, hair, identity, image, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, mirror, self discovery, self image, story, studio melange, the lights, The Lights A Christmas Album, The Lights by Kerri Sherwood, the melange, wanderer | 3 Comments »

Incite Some Deviance [David’s blog on Merely A Thought Monday]

Posted on December 18, 2023 by davidrobinsoncreative

I searched for it but couldn’t find it. A short clip of Carl Sagan placing life on our tiny planet into the perspective of the enormity of the universe. A little sun in a galaxy of suns in a universe of billions and billions of galaxies. Through this lens, it is mind-boggling, the hubris necessary to believe we are the center of it all.

Initially this morning, I wrote a post about grace but cut it. I asked a question about the collision of values: loyalty-to-a-group smacking down telling-the-truth. It’s a uniquely human dilemma. The insistence upon tribe, Us-and-Them, spins some very dark necessities. I tossed it because grace was overshadowed by gloomy.

This is what I intended to write: on this tiny blue ball there is a group of Us defined as “All Humans”. Loyalty to this group is understood as idealistic. How can we possibly reach across so many imagined boundaries? What would we do with a definition of Us that was all inclusive? We would invite grace. Float all boats.

Each year, everywhere I wander, I am steeped in songs-of-the-season that appeal to the best of our nature. Peace on earth. Goodwill. Love one another. Perhaps we should listen to the lyrics of these songs. They are written by us for us as an appeal to our idealism, a sentiment central during this season of light’s return. Peace. Peace. Peace. We should “take it to heart.”

Let’s face it, loving one another is deviant if it is all inclusive.

It’s a reach, I know, but it’s really not so hard to imagine Us in the context of this vast universe, on this tiny ball spinning and spinning around our minuscule sun, one of billions and billions and billions. In such a context, the boundaries-in-our-minds dissolve and invite a different set of questions to arise: How can we better share this blue dot together? Conflict makes money yet collaboration creates possibility.

Pouring a little light into so much dedicated tribalism is deviant. It requires a touch of dignity. Pouring light into darkness is called Grace. Grace, in the face of so much division, is deviant.

When I cut my initial post I wondered what it would take to breach the code of tribe, reach beyond the singing platitudes, and incite some deviant behavior like peace-on-earth and all-inclusive love-of-one-another.

read Kerri’s blogpost about DEVIANT BEHAVIOR

like. share. comment. support. lending a hand to anyone is a way to support us. think on it.

buymeacoffee is a force like gravity helping the artists you appreciate keep their feet on the earth.

Filed under: Awakening, Gratitude, Merely A Thought Monday, Metaphor, Transcendence | Tagged: artistry, blue ball, Blue Marble, Carl Sagan, cassidy hutchinson, christmas, collaboration, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, day of ashura, deviance, deviant, dignity, division, galaxy, grace, Hanukkah, hubris, humanity, Idealism, idealist, idealistic, ideals, inclusion, inclusive, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, kwanzaa, love, peace, peace on earth, story, studio melange, the melange, tribalism, tribe, universe, us and them, values | 1 Comment »

Strut Your Flannel [David’s blog on saturday morning smack-dab]

Posted on December 16, 2023 by davidrobinsoncreative

As I’ve written before, we are a scintillating couple riding high on the cutting edge of fashion. Not. Black t-shirts. Black thermals. Jeans. That’s about it. Though (make sure you are seated for this next shocking bit-o-information): I have a few new flannel shirts. Two are green. One is black. Stand back! There’s some green in the house!

In other regions of flannel interest, there are sheets (it’s winter and cotton is an ice-cold-night-time-plunge that I avoid) and, at holiday time, the buffalo-plaid-flannel pjs make an appearance. I’d strut-my-flannel on the way to the coffeemaker in the morning but tis the season to be humble so fa-la-la-la-lah, la-la-la-la!

Truth? I couldn’t strut in the morning no matter what I was wearing. Buffalo-plaid helps hide the shuffle.

read Kerri’s blogpost about FLANNEL

like. share. support. comment. and do it any and all in flannel!

buymeacoffee is a warm flannel heart-wrap capable of inspiring support for the continued work of the shuffling artists that you appreciate.

Filed under: smack-dab | Tagged: aarp, aging, aging together, artistry, buffalo plaid, cartoon, cartoon about middle age, cats meow, clothes, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, flannel, haute couture, holiday wear, humble, jolly, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, middle age, pajamas, shuffle, smack-dab, story, strut, studio melange, the melange, two artists, vogue, winter pjs | 3 Comments »

Trance Dance [David’s blog on KS Friday]

Posted on December 15, 2023 by davidrobinsoncreative

Our son is an artist. He composes EDM – electronic dance music. The proper term is “DJ” but that doesn’t begin to describe the art form. He does more than select tunes and spin discs. He builds layer-upon-layer of sound to create new and uniquely styled pieces. A surprise weave of repetition and pounding rhythm; it is a master class of tension-and-release. Improvisation meeting intention. Storytelling in sound.

His artistry is a pure root reaching into trance traditions, ancient impulse colliding with modern technology. To me, it is an invocation of ecstatic dance, freeing human bodies of their inhibitions so they might give over to the rolling wave of music. It is an invitation to ecstasy. It invites full-body surrender allowing the music to shake free the spirit. Earplugs are the only requirement.

I love the juxtaposition, the music composed by the mother and the music composed by the son. Kerri’s piano compositions are meditative, they turn the eye inward. They slow the pace like a rich memory. She eschews vocal acrobatics preferring a simple line. Craig’s EDM compositions thump every thought from the noggin, assault the senses, accelerate the pace, tossing bodies into the movement of the moment in a fête of complexity. Both mother and son induce a type of trance; one gently, the other with ferocity.

I’ve watched him watch her play. I’ve watched her watch him play. There is wild respect both ways. On the surface it would appear that their artistry – their music – is worlds apart but, like all things, surface impressions miss the greater depth of the human spirit. There is harmony in their appreciation. There is a shared center in their impulse to make music.

I am the lucky bystander. The proud husband and father. I am in awe no matter which way I look.