kerrisherwood.com | The Direction of Intention

Add More Layers [David’s blog on KS Friday]

Posted on December 8, 2023 by davidrobinsoncreative

As I write this I have my feet under a blanket. I’m wearing three layers of clothes beneath my favorite Patagonia vest and I can say with all certainty, with deepest conviction, that I am not warm. It’s been trying to snow all day. I want another pair of socks on top of the pair that I’m already wearing. Fear not! This is normal winter behavior for me. I am always cold.

The silver lining in piling on layers and layers of clothing is that I look like a bigger guy. Someone with muscle and heft. Also, my perpetually cold red nose makes me look like I’ve just come from the bar. A passerby might confuse me for someone who is raucous and boisterous instead of the meek introvert that I am. In truth, beneath all of this clothing, I am only exuberant in my writing. Corner me at a party or in the lobby of a theatre and I will almost certainly convince you that I am a nincompoop or in a whisky stupor since you’ll no doubt confuse my red nose as booze-induced. I have no reputation to uphold so I’m good with your misperception either way.

Our favorite neighbor, John, rarely wears a coat. He is in shirt-sleeves even when ice is forming on my eyebrows. I envy his inner warmth though my envy is not green but ice-blue. I consider him the 8th wonder of the world since his capacity to thrive coatless in the subarctic temperatures is a pyramid-sized-wonder. His wife, Michele (also our favorite neighbor), recently texted, “I know it’s cold because John put a coat on.” I ran out to see if it was true. John dons a coat maybe once a century. It was true. He had a coat on so as a preventative measure I ran back inside and quickly added several more layers, then dove beneath a quilt.

Kerri called this photograph, “Snow Burden”. I immediately identified with it. “That’s me!” I thought, my teeth clacking. A skinny stalk bending beneath the weight of the cold, cold snow. Leaves wilted, curling and brittle in the frozen air. Afraid to move for fear of shattering. Dreaming of the sun.

This is no joke. Kerri just had the audacity to ask, “I’m-hot-you-hot?” I said nothing, incredulous that she could look at me shivering (though beefy in my many layers) and somehow miss my crimson-red nose.

“Oh, the weather outside is frightful…”

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

read Kerri’s blogpost about SNOW BURDEN

share. like. support. comment. bundle up. light a fire. all good things.

buymeacoffee is a warm blanket for the artists you value who are possibly at this very moment freezing in the snow.

Filed under: KS Friday, Random | Tagged: artistry, clothing layers, cold, cold nose, cold temperatures, composer, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, inner warmth, introvert, joy - a christmas album, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, layers, misperception, Patagonia vest, snow, snow burden, socks, story, studio melange, the melange, waiting by kerri sherwood, winter | 3 Comments »

Voluntarily Contemplate [David’s blog on DR Thursday]

Posted on December 7, 2023 by davidrobinsoncreative

It’s tempting to say that the snow is white. A second look, a better look, will prove otherwise. Purples and cool blues with some muted green and pink thrown in for good measure. A subtle festival of color. In general the light on the trail painted the snow – not surprisingly – ice blue, so the burnt orange in the leaf made for an eye-popping compliment. Some abstract expressionist might use this bit of natural composition for inspiration. Helen Frankenthaler or Joan Mitchell. Monumental paintings with the power to force contemplation. Well…to force voluntary contemplation.

Forced contemplation! A great phrase, to be sure, and another name for “problem solving.” Take a moment and look around during this busy holiday season: everyone you see elbowing their way through the crowd will be deep in forced contemplation. Rushing to the next. Making a list and checking it twice.

I’m a few pages into my fourth reading of Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. It fell off the shelf and hit me so I took that as a sign that it was time for a revisit of Robert Pirsig’s novel. The subtitle is An Inquiry Into Values. I’ve learned that the books I read are forms of voluntary contemplation. What has value? What does not? And why? I regularly ask myself a question that comes from the title of another favorite-book-of-the-past: How Then Shall We Live. Wayne Muller’s voluntary contemplation on meaning, purpose, and grace. Given what I know – that I shall die – how then shall I live this day of my life?

There are very few answers to the question but there are values that, like a marble sculpture, take shape and emerge over time. The single value that consistently dominates my voluntary contemplation: walk through this day slow enough to see that the snow is not white. Rather, experience the full celebration of color and live inside – rather than rush through – the perfection of this composition.

meditation, 48×48, mixed media on canvas

read Kerri’s blogpost about SNOW AND LEAF

like. share. support. comment. a few ways to let us know that you are out there.

buymeacoffee is a slow walk of appreciation through a world that holds more magic than any single mind can conceive.

Filed under: Art, DR Thursday, Gratitude, Identity, Seeing, Transcendence | Tagged: abstract expressionism, artistry, color, composition, contemplation, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, grace, Helen Frankenthaler, How then shall we live, inquiry, Joan Mitchell, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, meaning, meditation, purpose, Robert Pirsig, slow walk, story, studio melange, the melange, values, Wayne Muller, zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance | 1 Comment »

Gain Some Perspective [David’s blog on Not So Flawed Wednesday]

Posted on December 6, 2023 by davidrobinsoncreative

If you’ve not yet bumped into Piet Mondrian’s paintings of trees, this is your chance. Not only are the paintings beautiful but if you’ve ever scratched your head at his more famous abstract/geometric paintings, you will find the forest through his trees. Things are not always what they seem and, in the era of contemporary art, it is necessary to grok the context in order to fully appreciate the content. Of course, that rule also applies in this age of info-tsunami: content rushing across the screen is regularly embraced whole-cloth – sans context – so truth and lie have equal standing.

In the art world, placing content (an individual painting) into context (the historic era, the long-body-exploration of the artist’s work, the source of the exploration) is called “gaining perspective”. Because things are not always what they seem, it is drilled into every artist to regularly stand back, to clear their eyes, to get perspective on their work-in-progress. It is also (or used to be) drilled-in to offer the same courtesy to the work of other artists. Stand back from snap judgments. Check the sources. Understand the exploration. Grasp the historical context. It is never as simple as “liking” or “not liking”; appreciation opens a vast color palette beyond the numbing mindset of thumbs-up or down.

Gaining perspective and learning are the same thing. The most well-educated people I know are not lawyers or doctors. They are actors, directors, dancers, and painters. Gaining perspective takes a lifelong dedication to questioning and researching and double-checking. It is to peek behind the curtain of popular and not get caught in the current reality spin. It is to know that things are not what they seem. It is to know that reactions are easy answers; questions take time. Gaining perspective takes time.

Sometimes she stops so quickly that it propels me forward a few stumbling steps. While I tumbled forward she knelt at a puddle and aimed her camera at a leaf. Or so I thought. I have learned (daily) that she sees things that I do not. I have learned that my assumptions are almost always wrong. She smiled when she stood up. “Look,” she said.

I gasped. I was terrifically wrong. The leaf was nowhere in sight. The reflection of trees in a puddle on the asphalt trail. A festival of texture. A masterpiece of illusion. Piet Mondrian must have knelt at a puddle reflection just like this! “Trees through an icy window,” I said.

Things are rarely – if ever – what they seem.

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE TREES

share it. like it. support it. comment on it. research it. question it. doubt it. grok it.

buymeacoffee is exactly what you make of it.

Filed under: Art, Creativity, Education, Flawed Wednesday, Metaphor, Seeing | Tagged: abstract art, abstraction, artistry, assumptions, contemporary art, content, context, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, easy answers, education, gain perspective, illusion, information age, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, learning, lie, perspective, Piet Mondrian, Piet Mondrian's trees, questioning, questions, reality, research, seem, seeming, story, studio melange, the melange, trees, truth | Leave a comment »

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.