studio melange | The Direction of Intention

Complete The Trilogy [on DR Thursday]

Posted on July 5, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

Just before she passed away, Kerri and I rushed to illustrate and publish a trilogy of children’s books that Beaky had written years earlier. Beaky saw the first of her books published, Shayne. We held a release party and author reading of the first book. She was a rock star. Her first sale was to someone in The Netherlands and I teased her about being an international author. Beaky was both thrilled and ever humble. She died 18 days later while we were racing to lay out the pages of the second book in the trilogy. We published it, Shayne & The Yellow Dragon, soon after, for what would have been her 94th birthday.

the author

It’s been three years. Today would have been Beaky’s 97th birthday and we are certain she is tapping her foot wondering what is taking so long. So, we decided that it was time to complete the trilogy. The illustrations and scans are back on the table. In short order, someday very soon, we look forward to announcing the publication of Beaky’s third book, Shayne & The New Baby.

read Kerri’s blog post on Shayne

the creative team

www.kerrianddavid.com

shayne/shayne & the yellow dragon ©️ 2015 david robinson & kerri sherwood

Filed under: Art, Creativity, DR Thursday, Family, Heroes, Love, Possibility, Uncategorized | Tagged: Beaky, Beaky's Books, beakysbooks.com, children's books, dachsund, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, heart projects, illustrations, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, shayne, shayne trilogy, society6.com/davidrobinson, studio melange, the melange | Leave a comment »

Become Inspired [on Chicken Marsala Monday]

Posted on July 2, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

Brad asked a great question. What is it in us that needs to climb the highest mountain, run a faster mile, touch the moon, cure the disease, develop better and better widgets, sail toward the edge?

It is in our nature. Or, better, it IS our nature. Insatiable curiosity, the yearning to know en route to the next unknown. We are storytellers all! What’s next?

Boredom and apathy are learned skills. They are unnatural. It takes years of sitting in a desk to blunt a spirit. It takes 10,000 hours to grow deaf to the call of your soul.

The next time you tell yourself that “you don’t like change” or that “tomorrow will be just like today,” stop. Take a long slow breath and then do the dangerous thing: doubt what you think. It might just happen that you will hear the deeper call, the natural voice, inviting you out to play.

read Kerri’s blog post about Become Inspired

www.kerrianddavid.com

be careful you just might become inspired ©️ 2016 david robinson & kerri sherwood

Filed under: Art, Chicken Marsala Monday, Creativity, Edges, Uncategorized | Tagged: change, chicken marsala, Chicken Marsala Monday, Chicken nugget, creativity, curiosity, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, exploration, human nature, inspiration, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, society6.com/chickenmarsala, studio melange, the melange | Leave a comment »

Hold On. Let Go. [on KS Friday]

Posted on June 29, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

Holding on. Letting go. The creative tension that describes life. Unlike other tensions, tug-of-war tensions, the creative kind is circular, a cycle as winter is to summer. It is a deep, slow moving river capable of carrying you away.

Give yourself a treat. Let go of the task at hand. Step into the river and let Kerri take you away.

HOLDING ON/LETTING GO on the album RIGHT NOW available in iTunes & CDBaby

read Kerri’s post on HOLDING ON/LETTING GO

www.kerrianddavid.com

holding on/letting go – right now ©️ 2010 kerri sherwood

Filed under: Creativity, KS Friday, Uncategorized | Tagged: creative tension, creativity, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, energy, holding on/letting go, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, right now, society6.com/kerrisherwood, studio melange, the melange | Leave a comment »

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 »

Read The Instructions [on Flawed Cartoon Wednesday]

Posted on June 27, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

I am that guy. I like to figure things out. When I fix things I always seem to have spare parts left over, nuts and bits that came out in disassembly but seem to have no place in reassembly. There is a special bucket in the basement for the leftovers – just in case.

I read everything but instructions. I’ll spend an hour with a poem but nary a moment with an assembly guide. If I’d ever had little kids, they’d have found me sleeping by the tree on Christmas morning with oddly assembled gifts (or not assembled gifts) and a bucket of spare parts. Kerri tells me it’s a guy thing.

read Kerri’s blog post about Pulling Ripcords

www.kerrianddavid.com

rip cord instructions ©️ 2016 david robinson & kerri sherwood

Filed under: Flawed Cartoon Wednesday, Identity, Uncategorized | Tagged: david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, flawed cartoon, Flawed Cartoon Wednesday, instructions, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, parachute, ripcord, society6.com/flawedcartoon, spare parts, studio melange, the melange | Leave a comment »

See The World How? [on Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on June 26, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

see the same thing on Kerri’s blog post

www.kerrianddavid.com

random seeing ©️ 2018 kerri sherwood & david robinson

Filed under: Seeing, Two Artists Tuesday, Uncategorized | Tagged: david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, perception, perspective, seeing, society6.com/twoartists, studio melange, the melange, Two Artists Tuesday | Leave a comment »

Forget About Time [on Chicken Marsala Monday]

Posted on June 25, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

Ticking clocks make people uptight. It’s summer. Take off your shoes. Feel the grass between your toes. Throw a Frisbee. Have a water fight. Fall asleep in a hammock. Swim in a lake. Someday, in the fall, you can wonder where time went. Don’t worry, it can take care of itself.

read Kerri’s blog post about FORGET ABOUT TIME

www.kerrianddavid.com

forget about time ©️ 2016 david robinson & kerri sherwood

Filed under: Chicken Marsala Monday, Uncategorized | Tagged: chicken marsala, Chicken Marsala Monday, Chicken nugget, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, forget about time, freedom, Frisbee, hammock, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, play, relax, relaxation, society6.com/chickenmarsala, studio melange, the melange, timeless | Leave a comment »

In The Night [on KS Friday]

Posted on June 22, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

If you’ve ever stretched out in a mountain meadow on a crystal clear night and watched the stars amble across the sky, you will recognize this piece. If you’ve ever, hand in hand, taken a midnight walk on a warm summer night, you will recognize this piece. If you’ve ever walked along the beach at night, the summer moon hanging lazy in the sky, you will recognize this piece.

Take a moment, today, and step into a memory, step in the night.

IN THE NIGHT on THIS PART OF THE JOURNEY available on iTunes & CDBaby

read Kerri’s blog post about IN THE NIGHT

www.kerrianddavid.com

Filed under: KS Friday, Story, Uncategorized | Tagged: beach walk, contentment, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, in the night, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, memory, meteor showers, society6.com/kerrisherwood, solo piano, studio melange, summer nights, the melange, this part of the journey | 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

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 »

Serve Your Customer [on Flawed Cartoon Wednesday]

Posted on June 20, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

This one is for Master Marsh. He said it best: these days customer service is a firewall against serving the customer.

At Flawed Cartoon, we want you to know that your question is important to us. If you’d like to speak to a representative, press one. If you’d like technical assistance, press two. Press three if you want to return to the list of options. For billing, press 4. Please hold for the next available customer service team member. We’re sorry, all our lines are busy. Please call back at a later date. Thank you.