seeing | The Direction of Intention

Care To See [on Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on May 14, 2019 by davidrobinsoncreative

ferry copy

Georgia O’Keeffe was a master of the close-up. I imagine she would have loved this digital age, this era of easy photography. Walking the arroyos of New Mexico with her cell phone, snapping hundreds of photographs of the minutiae. Capturing the tiny beauty that we fast movers are too busy to see. I love that, before cameras were ubiquitous, Georgia was in the habit of walking slow. Looking closely. Seeing.

One evening in London my pal Robert took me to meet Jonathan Miller. We wiled away a long evening talking about art and theatre. Jonathan invited me upstairs to see his studio. He was preparing a series of his photographs for an exhibit and book. They were an amazing collection of close-ups, textures of peeling paint, gritty brick, rotting fabric draped on walls. None of it was staged. Away on a directing assignment, he would walk the streets with his camera, looking for beauty in the overlooked everyday things. “It’s all around us,” he said, “we just don’t see it.”

It’s true. It takes a wee-bit of intention to be in this life and not run through it. Looking for beauty. It’s all around if we care to see it. Jonathan Miller’s advice: stand still. It is not necessary to seek it; it’s right here if you care to see it.

read Kerri’s blog post about the FERRY IMAGE

a close up of ‘pax.’ looking closely. make an offer. pax needs a home

pax ©️ 2015 david robinson

Filed under: Art, Creativity, Seeing, Two Artists Tuesday, Uncategorized | Tagged: beauty, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, Georgia O'Keeffe, intention, jonathan miller, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, looking closely, minutiae, seeing, society6.com/davidrobinson | Leave a comment »

Open Your Hand [on Merely A Thought Monday]

Posted on May 6, 2019 by davidrobinsoncreative

magical:painful cropped copy

Asked another way, this question might read, “Why do we hang on so long to the painful stuff and so easily let go of the magical parts?” Or, “Why do we so easily focus on the obstacles and so rarely look for the possibilities?”

Sit in any cafe and eavesdrop and you will mostly hear tales of woe. Any good news editor will tell you that the stories of goodness are a much harder sell than the stories of tragedy. It seems we are attracted like moths to a flame to the struggles, the uphill battles, the pain-full disasters. It is the most human of activities, whipping up and diving into stories of calamity.

In a bygone era, when wearing my consulting cap, I loved doing an exercise with groups that revealed their addiction to blame stories. Blame-stories are like sugar. They are fun to tell. It is yummy to consume handfuls of it’s-not-my-fault or it-happened-to me and once the blame-story gets rolling, it blossoms into an endless dessert buffet. Everyone rolls down the line and loads their plate.

Hanging onto pain. Grasping onto regret. Whipping up conflict. Tug of war. It is so easy. Close the hand and make a fist. Shake it at the sky.

The magical parts? They happen. There’s no need to keep an accounting. Words are woefully inadequate in heart-matters so the story is harder to tell. An open hand is available for the next moment. An open hand is not holding on.

read Kerri’s blog post about MAGICAL/PAINFUL

a work in progress or maybe it is done. i call it ‘face the rain’. what do you think? open hands? magical parts?

face the rain (certainly I will finish it this year…) ©️ 2019 david robinson

Filed under: Merely A Thought Monday, Perspective, Seeing, Story, Uncategorized | Tagged: blame, choice, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, gossip, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, magical moments, pain, possibility, presence, seeing, society6.com/davidrobinson, society6.com/kerrisherwood, story, storying | Leave a comment »

Bend It [on DR Thursday]

Posted on May 2, 2019 by davidrobinsoncreative

county sketch copy

The terminology in art reads like so much poetry. Zero point perspective. Chiaroscuro. Foreshortening. Rococo. Image plane. Vanishing point. Oblique projection. Intaglio. It goes on and on, these tasty and magical words.

They should be poetry. They describe fields of possibility. They attempt to codify the making of illusion or the impulse of an explorer. Bending space. Deconstructing and reconstituting. Perceptual distinctions. The visual language of cultural norms.

There has been for centuries a mathematics of art. Optics and relativity, movements in science that have their conjoined artistic twins. Rebellions. The maintenance of form. Rules and rule breakers.

I sat in on a class taught by a master artist. He was a lover of landscape (another yummy word) and taught his students an earth-shattering lesson: reality, like time, cannot be caught. It’s a fools errand to try. Painting is a conversation. It is an infinite game. Bend space. Move the tree. Color is fluid, moving, never fixed. Be like color. Play. Discover. Transform.

I do not consider myself a landscape painter. And then I remember the master teacher and I remove the word ‘landscape’ from my vernacular. And then, suddenly, there is a universe of movement, color, light, and shapes to bend.

read Kerri’s blog post about a LANDSCAPE SKETCH

newborn. deconstruction. reconstitution.

newborn /landscape sketch ©️ 2019 david robinson

Filed under: Art, Creativity, DR Thursday, Seeing, Uncategorized | Tagged: art history, art terminology, artist, artistry, color, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, design, illusion, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, poetry, reality, seeing, sketchbook, society6.com/davidrobinson, society6.com/kerrisherwood, studio melange, transformation, visual language | Leave a comment »

Re-Member [on DR Thursday]

Posted on March 28, 2019 by davidrobinsoncreative

a morsel of ‘alki beach’

I was surprised. This was the first painting Horatio pulled from my stacks. It’s an older painting, a piece I’d forgotten. “I like this one,” he said, and told me why.

Horatio is a great artist so it was a rare treat to rummage around the studio and talk about my work. I don’t often talk about it, not really. When showing paintings, people ask questions and I usually deflect the question back at them. It’s a rule. Artists often get in the way of the relationship between their painting and an observer. I want people to see what they see, not what I think they should see. There is no right answer or any one way of seeing a painting. That’s the point; they have the power to re-create it for themselves. The magic is on the purity of the relationship. I’m more interested in their re-creation than I am in what I think they should see.

Horatio gave me a great gift. He helped me see ALKI BEACH anew. He helped me remember and in remembering I saw the painting again as if for the first time. It was like meeting an old friend after many years. Since Horatio’s visit I’ve had a chance to chat with ALKI BEACH over coffee. We reminisced about the day, the event that inspired it. I remember how the sun and air felt walking that day so long ago on Alki Beach. I remember sitting in my chair in my studio staring at a blank canvas. I remember the birds, the gulls and crows and eagles. I remember reaching for the charcoal.

I remember my surprise at what emerged on the canvas, the day I stepped back, paint on my face and hands, and saw ALKI BEACH for the first time. I remember thinking, “I like this one.”

alki beach, acrylic, 36 x 36IN

read Kerri’s blog post about ALKI

alki beach ©️ circa 2009, david robinson

Filed under: Art, Creativity, DR Thursday, studio melange, Uncategorized | Tagged: acrylic painting, alki beach, alki beach painting, artistry, beach, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, gulls, Horatio, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, painting, seeing, society6.com/davidrobinson, storying | Leave a comment »

Fly Above The Clouds [on Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on January 8, 2019 by davidrobinsoncreative

in the clouds copy

I was eighteen years old the first time I was above the clouds. It was a revelation. Even then I was in awe that I live in a time that I can see above the clouds. In the history of humanity, that makes me one of the few. One of the fortunate.

Miracles become the new norm and so, routine. Unseen.

Last week I was once again above the clouds. The sun was rising and the colors magnificent. I was propelled back in time to my first flight, my first sight of the thing Leonardo da Vinci could only dream about, what Van Gogh could only touch through imagination. I was revisited by my eighteen year old self and was once again awash in awe.

The cloak of routine drops and the miraculous is revealed. It is merely a matter of seeing it.

As I sat buckled into my seat, I wondered how much of my life I lose to the notion of ‘routine’ and, so, miss the obvious crackling truth: I’ve never lived this day before. I’ve never experienced this moment before. I am flying above the clouds every day. I have no idea what is about to happen, what I am about to see.

read Kerri’s blog post about FLYING ABOVE THE CLOUDS

Filed under: Seeing, Two Artists Tuesday, Uncategorized | Tagged: clouds, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, flight, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, life, miracles, moments, perception, presence, seeing, studio melange | Leave a comment »

Walk To The Other Side [on DR Thursday]

Posted on December 27, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

BlowingWishes Morsel copy

There is a ping-pong table in my studio that is piled high with paintings that are not yet stretched. And, because these paintings are constantly moving, pulled and tacked to the wall to be shown then placed back in the pile, they are stored with no particular order. This process of random stacking and re-stacking allows us to see the pieces from many different points of view; what was top is now bottom. It affords new perspectives, it helps me see again as if for the first time.

Pile It is such a simple thing and yet so hard to do – to let go of what we think is right, allowing a new perspective of something that we think we understand. The word I’ve learned to pay attention to is “think.” The skill of an artist is to see beyond what they “think.” The gift of the artist is to help others see beyond what they think. To pop open new perspectives and make space for new possibilities.

It is easy to confuse thinking (interpretation) with ‘seeing.’ They are not the same thing. It is so easy to believe ‘stuck thinking’ is ‘being right.’ It’s a good practice – a healthy practice – to spin things around a bit. To doubt what you think so you might have a more direct experience. So that you might see. So that you might learn. So that you might experience today as different from yesterday.

Life, as they say, is always found in the direction of not knowing.

Kerri calls this morsel BLOWING WISHES. It’s what you see if walk to the other side of the ping-pong table.

GREET THE DAY, mixed media 48 x 48IN (or bigger)

read Kerri’s blog post about BLOWING WISHES

greet the day/blowing wishes ©️ 2011/2018 david robinson & kerri sherwood

Filed under: Art, Creativity, DR Thursday, Seeing, Uncategorized | Tagged: artist, artistry, blowing wishes, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, doubt, greet the day, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, perception, perspective, seeing, seeking, society6.com/davidrobinson, thinking | Leave a comment »

Catch The Small [on Not So Flawed Wednesday]

Posted on December 19, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

copley place - back bay, boston copy

Chasing Dan and Craig through Copley Place in Boston I was amused by the ENORMOUS holiday ornaments either hanging from the rafters or well placed in the walkways by giant designer hands. We were cutting through the mall to avoid the cold. I felt as if I stepped into the movie,The Incredible Shrinking Man. Either that or Richard Serra had taken over the universe and large-scale was the rule-of-the-day. I became the guy that people avoid, giggling my way through the vigorous sea of shoppers.

I delight in experiences that shock me into SEEING. Moments that take me out of my monkey mind, that jettison me beyond the veil of my incessant (and ridiculous) inner monologue are priceless. To marvel. To laugh. To see with clarity our investments in all the BIG things that do not really matter and catch the few precious small moments that do matter.

Later on the train out of the city, Kerri and I did not talk about the monster ornaments or the massive decorations and ubiquitous lights adorning everything. Selling the season with such gusto! We talked of the moment that Craig slowed down and put his arm around his mother. Just for a moment. Such a small priceless thing to happen amidst so many monumental lovely displays.

read Kerri’s blog post about BIG ORNAMENTS

Filed under: Flawed Wednesday, Seeing, Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston, children, Copley Place Boston, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, Decorations, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, moments, monkey mind, Ornaments, Priceless moments, Richard Serra, seeing, small things, The incredible Shrinking Man | Leave a comment »

Choose To See Them [on Merely A Thought Monday]

Posted on December 17, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

wondrous things copy

I love my morning ritual. Babycat bumps my legs, guides me to his bowl. DogDog springs from his crate for a brief pet before bounding outside to clear his zone of squirrels. It is the same everyday. It is always new and different. Both/and.

Something happens when the expectation flips, when the wondrous is sought not in the monumental but in the small, day-to-day experiences. I know it reads like a cliche’ but it is no less true. My morning ritual, your commute, the day’s chore, in truth, is never the same. Each day is new even when we brand it with ‘routine.’

The wondrous sparkles in the routine as well as the profound. Doing the dishes today is not the same as doing them yesterday. It seems obvious. This day of life is not the same as yesterday. Another cliche’ with a truthful center: ‘sameness’ is a lens, an expectation worn on the eyes of the mind. It dulls life before life happens. It is the expectation of tedium. Why expect tedium? Why cultivate apathy? The marvelous, the wondrous becomes visible everywhere when we remove the same-old-same-old lens, the been-there-done-that expectation.

Wondrous things are everywhere. All we need do is choose to see them.

read Kerri’s blog post about WONDROUS THINGS

sale ends december 20

Filed under: Awakening, Merely A Thought Monday, Seeing, Uncategorized | Tagged: david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, expectation, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, lenses, marvelous, paradox, ritual, routine, seeing, studio melange, wondrous | Leave a comment »

See The Hands [on DR Thursday]

Posted on November 29, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

morsel of Helping Hands

I just googled the phrase “helping hands.’ Depending upon your world view you may or may not be surprised by the extraordinary number of services that appear. People helping people. Food pantries, home caregivers, support for people with spinal cord injuries, disaster relief, charity donations, hunger relief…. It’s a lengthy list. For a moment, if you can imagine – or better yet, realize – the reality represented by the list, you might get a tiny view into that part of humanity that is not often reported. People helping people everyday. It’s everywhere, all year, everyday.

Feel good stories don’t generate the same size audience as the horror stories so they populate less space in the news cycle. It’s possible to see, if you look away from your many screens, that vastly more people are helping people than are people hurting people. It’s possible to see it.

In my town, there is a woman who feeds the hungry twice a day, winter-spring-summer-fall. She doesn’t stop feeding people after the giving season passes or when the cameras are gone. That is true of most of the people helping people on this earth. They help. There is no limelight. They help because they want to help. They help because they feel compelled to help. She is one of a legion of people in my community living life as helping hands. I am surrounded by givers and helpers. So are you.

Ann used to tell me to find a need and fill it. Sage advice. Deeply human. It is true that you will see what you decide to see. Where you place your focus does truly matter. Hands that help. Hands that hurt. Both are out there. One vastly out-populates the other. Can you see it? Do you want to see it?

Helping Hands 53.5 x 15.25 acrylic on canvas

read Kerri’s blog post on HELPING HANDS

PILLOW WEEK CONTINUES!

Filed under: DR Thursday, Gratitude, Heroes, Seeing, Uncategorized | Tagged: david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, focus, focus placement, giving, god's kitchen, helping hands, humanity, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, people helping people, seeing, service, society6.com/davidrobinson | 4 Comments »

Open, Open, Open [on Chicken Marsala Monday]

Posted on August 20, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

“I found that I could say things with colors and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way – things I had no words for.” ~ Georgia O’Keefe

The first time Jim, one of the most brilliant actor/directors I have known, played the role of King Lear, he told me that he didn’t have enough colors in his paint box to do the role justice. He had more to learn.

It is the common thread and what I love about all the great artists. mentors, and teachers that have had so much impact on my life – they know there is always more to discover. They know that ‘it’ – whatever ‘it’ is – is unachievable. So they look, engage, experiment, play, expand, reach, open, open, open…. Artistry is a life-long practice. It is a relationship with life.

“No one sees a flower – really – it is so small it takes time – we haven’t got time – and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time.” ~ Georgia O’Keefe