society6.com/davidrobinson | The Direction of Intention

Get Ready To Bowl [on DR Thursday]

Posted on June 28, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

Kerri laughed when she made this morsel. “It looks like a bowling ball, doesn’t it?” she giggled. It is a slice from one of her favorite paintings, Joy. “I can’t believe I’m seeing a bowling ball!” her snicker bursting into a full laughter blossom. “Do you hate that I’m seeing a bowling ball?” she asked, struggling to stifle her chortle.

Before I could answer she had already launched into designing products. “Oh my god! It makes a cool pillow!” she turned her computer to show me but before I could see the pillow she spun the computer back around and was already dropping the image into the next design possibility. “This is fantastic!” she declared. “This cracks me up!” Her chuckle was infectious and I began to laugh. “It’s a great tote bag!” she howled.

I love watching her design.

The painting is called Joy. It is one of her favorites. Watching her do this design work is pure joy. It is magic. It is one of my favorites.

Joy, mixed media 50 x 56IN

read Kerri’s blog post on READY TO BOWL

www.kerrianddavid.com

joy ©️ 2014 david robinson

ready to bowl designs/products ©️ 2018 david robinson & kerri sherwood

Filed under: Art, Creativity, DR Thursday, Uncategorized | Tagged: artist, artistry, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, design, joy, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, society6.com/davidrobinson, studio melange, the melange | Leave a comment »

Rise In The East [on DR Thursday]

Posted on June 21, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

When I first began writing this blog I wrote everyday. I did not identify myself as a writer. It seemed an outrageous commitment to write every day and I wondered if I would be able to sustain it. I quickly learned that the opposite was true. I found that I had too much to write about. I found that the act of writing required me to pay attention. There was something to write about everywhere I looked. I was not only learning to write. I was learning to see.

I have always been a painter. Seeing is central to any art form but especially useful in the art of painting. You’d be amazed at the multitude of colors in everything you see that your brain blends into a single color. Yellow. Blue. If you can open your eyes and see beyond the dullness of expectation, the numbing of your mind, you will gasp at the riches of it all. This life is complex, intimate, moving.

I’m working on the seventh painting of my earth interrupted series. Prussian blues and ochre, reds and sienna. I laugh each day that I step into the studio and begin work on this series. “What am I doing?” I silently ask and laugh. The answer is obvious. I am sailing toward the edge. I am trying to find what exists beyond my horizon, my comfort zone.

These morsels, snippets of my paintings, are doing what my blog challenge did for me so many years ago: opening my eyes to new and unexpected possibilities. They are asking me to see something new and unexpected in something known. Or something I thought I knew. Kerri calls this morsel The Sun Rises In The East. It is under-painting, a layer of Earth Interrupted VII, which may or may not ever be completed. Voyages of discovery are like that. We’ll see.

read Kerri’s blog post on THE SUN RISES IN THE EAST

www.kerrianddavid.com

the sun rises in the east/earth interrupted vii ©️ 2018 david robinson & kerri sherwood

Filed under: Art, Creativity, DR Thursday, Uncategorized | Tagged: artistry, color, creativity, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, discovery, earth interrupted, exploration, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, morsel, seeing, society6.com/davidrobinson, studio melange, the melange | Leave a comment »

Share Fatherhood [on DR Thursday]

Posted on June 14, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

MASTERshared fatherhood II close up copy

a morsel of Shared Fatherhood II

This is what I believe:

People write words and books.

People make distinctions, create borders, build walls.

People make rules and laws.

People make judgments and justifications.

People make agendas. People make politics.

People exploit other people.

‘God,’ like ‘love,’ is a word we use to point to something boundless. Love, like all the Gods, is beyond comprehension. That is why the two words, God and Love, are often synonymous. They point to that which cannot be defined, contained or limited.

If you hear that ‘God has written’ or that God has ‘placed boundaries’, like gender distinctions, on ‘love’ then you can be certain of one thing: someone has either confused the writings of people for the unfathomable expression of love or there is an agenda in play. Either way, the limit has nothing to do with Love or God.

read Kerri’s blog post on SHARED FATHERHOOD

www.kerrianddavid.com

Shared Fatherhood II, 25.25 x 40.25IN, mixed media on panel

shared fatherhood II: close ©️ 2018 david robinson and kerri sherwood

shared fatherhood II ©️ 2017 david robinson

Filed under: DR Thursday, Identity, Love, Uncategorized | Tagged: agendas, boundless, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, fatherhood, gods, judgments, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, laws, limits, love, Rules, shared fatherhood, society6.com/davidrobinson, studio melange, the melange | Leave a 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 »

Paint The Sun [on DR Thursday]

Posted on May 31, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

My sketchbooks are peppered with landscapes. I call them my meditation drawings because I do them as a form of meditation – to quiet my mind. I am kinesthetic so quiet comes to me through movement. Drawing is one of my favorite forms of dance.

One day, a few years ago, I decided to experiment and paint one of my meditation drawings. I like it but have no idea what to do with it. I’m not a landscape painter so it exists as the ‘something-different’ in my studio archive. Someday, maybe, I’ll do a few more of them and mount a show of meditation-drawing-inspired-paintings. Until then, it lives as a morsel for this weeks melange. Kerri calls it White Sun.

The moon over Benziger Winery

White Sun. 18 x 48 IN. mixed media on two panels. It’s not listed on the gallery site so contact us if you are interested in purchasing it.

WHITE SUN [morsel] gifts and products

throw pillows!

read Kerri’s blog post about WHITE SUN

www.kerrianddavid.com

white sun painting and products ©️ 2016/18 david robinson & kerri sherwood

Filed under: Art, Creativity, DR Thursday, Uncategorized | Tagged: art process, dance, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, drawing, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, mediation, morsel, movement, painting, painting morsel, quiet mind, sketchbook, society6.com/davidrobinson, studio melange, the melange | Leave a comment »

Scatter News [on DR Thursday]

Posted on May 24, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

scattered news product BAR copy

I’m reading a book by Derrick Jensen, A Language Older Than Words. If you google him you will read that he is “hailed as the philosopher poet of the environmental movement.” He is also described as a “radical environmentalist.” He is thoughtful. He is well researched. He asks very big questions. Agree or disagree, he has strong, clear opinions and reasoned beliefs. Step back from his environmentalism and you will find that he speaks directly into the layers of shadow and denial that wrap our national narrative. He isn’t afraid to call a lie a lie. I suspect he is considered radical not because of his beliefs but because of his insistence on bringing into the open what the national narrative would rather keep hidden.

Lately, this word, radical, has become curious to me. Like so many of my friends, I have felt our community is the rope in an angry tug-of-war. We plug into news sources tailored to our political leanings that seem dedicated to reinforcing our divisions. Dedicated to keeping us angry. And, we know it. And we eat it up. We tear ourselves apart, define ourselves too narrowly, and that is not understood as radical.

earth interrupted vi

For example, we do not consider it radical that there have been 22 school shootings this year alone (at this writing). We do not see our utter inability and/or unwillingness to address it as radical. That more American school children have died of gunfire this year than soldiers in combat is astounding. Or should be.

What should be radical is now the new normal.

A few decades ago, Neil Postman wrote that we were in danger of amusing ourselves to death, that we were going down a path that would render us incapable of discerning between what has gravity and what is concocted. More to the point, we would invert the two, investing in the dross at the expense of the substance. It seems that we have arrived at the doorstep of his prediction.

Our acceptance of the radical is radical. And what is the cost?

This is the meditation behind Earth Interrupted VI: News. Worthy. and this week’s morsel, Scattered News.

SCATTERED NEWS gifts & products

mugs & travel mugs

read Kerri’s blog post about SCATTERED NEWS

www.kerrianddavid.com

scattered news design & products ©️ 2018 david robinson & kerri sherwood

earth interrupted vi: news.worthy. ©️ 2018 david robinson

Filed under: DR Thursday, Perspective, Uncategorized | Tagged: A Language Older Than Words, Amusing Ourselves to Death, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, Derrick Jensen, division, earth interrupted, earth interrupted vi, impotence, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, National narrative, Neil Postman, new normal, news, radical, school shootings, society6.com/davidrobinson, studio melange, the melange | Leave a comment »

Prayer [on DR Thursday]

Posted on May 17, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

Naming paintings is problematic for me. I’ve never been good at it. Sometimes I bristle at it. People project their own meanings into the images I paint (as it should be) and sometimes the name I’ve given the piece gets in their way. A favorite quote from a Joseph Campbell lecture: “If the artist doesn’t like you he will tell you what the painting means.” At openings, when people ask me what the painting means, my standard response is, “What does it mean to you?” I like most people though most people dislike my standard response.

Nowadays Kerri helps me find names. I ask her what she sees. We talk about the paintings and usually a phrase or name that I like floats to the top.

This one is simple and obvious. Prayer. One who looks inward and entreats.

PRAYER gifts and cool stuff like wall murals

buy the original painting

read Kerri’s blog post about PRAYER

www.kerrianddavid.com

prayer ©️ 2017 david robinson & kerri sherwood

Filed under: Art, DR Thursday, Uncategorized | Tagged: acrylic painting, art, artistry, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, entreaty, in sight, inner peace, inward looking, Joseph Campbell, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, meaning making, names, naming paintings, prayer, praying, quiet, society6.com/davidrobinson, spiritual, spirituality, studio melange, the melange | Leave a comment »

Design A Single Week

Posted on May 12, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

This image took my breath away when Kerri showed me. And so, we decided to share it.

A brief explanation: many weeks ago, standing amidst the stacks of music, paintings, cartoons, and designs that we’d created, work that populated proposals & submission after submission after submission but had yet to find an audience, we decided to create our own channel to share it. We called the channel “the melange,” a medley, a daily offer of a design, cartoon, painting or piece of music and the thoughts they inspired in us. We launched it 14 weeks ago.

And, because we are artists trying to make a living, we established a product line through society6.com for each day of the melange [if a painting is out of reach perhaps a cool tote bag or fine art print is more accessible]. This morning, as we prepared the multiple sites and completed our writing for the upcoming week’s melange, Kerri showed me a compilation image of all the products she’d designed just THIS WEEK!

Look at this image and multiply what you see by 14 weeks. Breathless. And so much fun.

ROOT IN LOVE product line [chicken marsala monday]

SHINE product line [two artists tuesday]

SO MUCH POSSIBILITY product line [flawed cartoon wednesday]

CLOSELY I WILL HOLD YOU product line [dr thursday]

FISTFUL OF DANDELIONS product line [ks friday]

www.kerrianddavid.com

Filed under: Chicken Marsala Monday, DR Thursday, Flawed Cartoon Wednesday, KS Friday, Two Artists Tuesday, Uncategorized | Tagged: cartoons, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, designs, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, music, paintings, product designs, products, prolific, society6.com, society6.com/chickenmarsala, society6.com/davidrobinson, society6.com/flawedcartoon, society6.com/kerrisherwood, society6.com/twoartists, studio melange, the melange | 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

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