studio melange | The Direction of Intention

What Were You Thinking? [David’s blog on KS Friday]

Posted on December 5, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

The flakes hitting our faces felt like needles. We’d ventured out to get some photos of the lake-in-the-snow-storm. After snapping a few photos the sideways wind drove us back home. Stepping into the warmth of the house, we agreed, “That was enough!”

A few weeks ago we completely re-visioned the upstairs of our home. We repainted a bedroom. We carried sack-after-sack of discards out of the office and into the trash. We installed a repurposed bookshelf at the top of the stairs. I was amused when Kerri went to my basement archives to pull a new painting to sit atop the bookshelf. She returned with a canvas that I was preparing, an under-painting of broad grey strokes and splashes – not a finished painting. “I love it!” she exclaimed, placing the canvas atop the shelf. “Don’t you love it?”

“But, it’s not a painting yet,” I replied.

“Yes it is!” she chirped, proud of her new acquisition.

“I would have done better in my life as a painter had I not taken myself so seriously,” I said, shaking my head. “I would have saved myself some serious struggle had I learned sooner to stop at the under-painting.” She agreed to add a stroke of white to the…composition…so it would be a piece by both of us, though, to date, the…painting…remains mine-all-mine.

This morning it occurred to me that “the painting” bears an uncanny resemblance to the view of the wet snow raging just outside our sunroom window. The tones are similar. Tip the window on its side and it would be a sister piece to the canvas sitting on top of the shelf. Maybe I should title “the painting” Buh-Buh-Blizzard. Or Opus 25 In Winter Window Tones. Or, perhaps, Kerri’s Choice.

Or maybe I’ll leave it unnamed, a mystery piece for future guests to ponder. They will politely ask (as they always do), “What were you thinking when you painted the piece at the top of the stairs?”

I’ll look at Kerri and smile, saying, “Maybe you should answer this one.”

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

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE STORM

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Filed under: Art, Creativity, KS Friday | Tagged: abstract art, art, artistry, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, painting, paintings, photography, snow, story, studio melange, the melange | 1 Comment »

Take A Turn [David’s blog on DR Thursday]

Posted on December 4, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

W.B. Yeats, the poet, wrote a book called A Vision. I’m re-reading it. One synopsis read, “The work presents an intricate system that connects the human soul, history, and the cosmos through symbolic cycles and archetypes.” The system was transmitted through his wife during three years, 1917 – 20, of automatic writing sessions. I’m not sure why A Vision fell off the shelf and demanded another read. Perhaps, I am, like the rest of the thinking world, trying to find or make sense of the current national senselessness.

Every so often we walk our loop-trail in reverse. It never fails to amaze us how walking in the opposite direction transforms our well-known path into a completely different experience; it feels like an unknown trail. “Weird!” we exclaim each time we choose to travel in the opposite direction. It’s the mirror image of what I feel when I walk backwards through my life. Going forward each day feels like chaos while looking backward through memories seems like prescribed destiny. Weird.

When I was 20 I had a vision for my life. It wasn’t intricate and was absent of any consideration for the many forces – accidental and otherwise – that shape a life. I knew what I wanted to be. My vision at 20 mostly scared me while at this later juncture of the vision it mostly astounds me and fills me with wonder. I know who I am. I have, along the way, imagined my own symbolic cycles and entertained notions of guidance while also believing at times that I am without any form of support or trusty compass. Both/And. I can fill myself with doubt as readily as I fill myself with knowing. As it turns out, neither my doubt or my knowing is of much use.

Perception is a wondrous thing. In the end, staying open to new ideas and experiences, walking in the opposite direction or standing in another’s shoes is infinitely more useful than the comfort of walking through this life in a single-known-groove. If I’ve learned anything, it is to turn around or take a turn the moment I think I know what to expect.

Bubble Chasers, 33.25 x 48IN, mixed media

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE CURVE

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Filed under: DR Thursday, Identity | Tagged: A Vision, artistry, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, destiny, doubt, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, perception, sense making, story, studio melange, the melange, WB Yeats | Leave a comment »

If We Could See It [David’s blog on Not So Flawed Wednesday]

Posted on December 3, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

If we could see our souls I imagine they might look like the feathery phase of Sweet Autumn Clematis. Soft little shimmers that curl and twine so that there’s no way to tell which is yours and which is mine. It wouldn’t matter anyway since the spirals swirl and connect to a center spine that, in turn, winds, entwines and connects to other spines.

It’s snowing today so the world outside is quiet. We are waiting for the snow to get deeper before we tie on our boots and go for a walk-about. Dogga just came inside and was so snow-covered that he looked like an amber-eyed Samoyed. The quiet has me thinking about souls and time.

When I was a boy my siblings and I were outside having a snowball fight with my dad. He threw an errant snowball that widely missed its mark and shattered a window. We ran crazy uncontrollable loops in the snow not knowing if dad was in big trouble and wondering if dad’s-big-trouble would catch us, too. It’s a memory that makes me smile. I imagine our crazy-excited-running-in-the-snow is exactly how a soul moves – if we could see it.

We just watched a very moving video of late poet Andrea Gibson performing their piece, MAGA HAT IN THE CHEMO ROOM. Andrea recently died from cancer. When a soul wants us to know what matters and what does not, it looks for a poet. Souls know words are powerful magic that people mostly take for granted. Poets use words to reach-in-and-touch the essence of life so souls are careful when selecting the deliverer of their essential messages. Andrea Gibson was an awe-inspiring choice. Their words are like crazy kids running in the snow, the way a soul moves, swirling and winding and connecting and, in Andrea’s performance, soul shines so bright that we can see it.

read Kerri’s blogpost about SWEET AUTUMN CLEMATIS

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Filed under: Art, Flawed Wednesday, Gratitude, Metaphor | Tagged: Andrea Gibson, artistry, awe, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, essence, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, mattering, poet, shimmer, soul, story, studio melange, Sweet Autumn Clematis, the melange | 1 Comment »

Hold Space [David’s blog on Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on December 2, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

“We are not the sum total of the tiny constituent parts that compose us — we are only ever-shifting and regenerating parts operating under the illusion of a sum we call a self.” Maria Popova, The Marginalian, November 26, 2025

We moved the big tree-sized branch from our living room to the deck outside. It had been a fixture in our house, covered with lights all year – with decorations added during the holidays, since 2021. It is now affixed to the deck and is once again wrapped in lights, set to a timer to pop on at sunset. The branch comes from the tree out front, the tree our children climbed when they were kids. It was snapped off the tree by the giant backhoe ripping up our yard to fix the water main when it burst. Kerri ran into the devastation and rescued the branch from certain destruction, keeping safe this small memory thread to the past.

Over the years the branch grew brittle as the memory thread strengthened and grew secure inside of Kerri. It was time to open up the space in our house and allow “the new” to enter.

I smiled when, after moving the tree-sized-branch onto the deck, she found and brought in a small pine branch. “Doesn’t it remind you of Ditch?” she asked? Ditch was a tiny pine-tree-sprout that we rescued and brought home from Colorado. Ditch traveled in a little cup and lasted a single season in the house but did not survive the transplanting into our backyard. It came from a significant trail, a place of profound experiences and life-changing conversations, that we hike when in Colorado: the Ditch Trail. Ditch, like the big branch, was a memory thread.

The little branch stands tall in a glass vase, sitting on the cafe table in our sun room. We sit there everyday, usually at sunset. It’s the place where we pause and review the happenings of each day. We are in a period of time that the Wander Women aptly named, “a wait-and-see” phase. Things are changing while we are still. We are like the newly opened space in the living room, we are inviting “the new” to enter. Even though we have no idea what that means, what it looks like, or even what we want to fill the available space, we know enough to make the space and to sit in it.

This little branch is also a thread to the future. It’s the invitation, the reminder of a recognition we once had on the Ditch Trail. Do not race through this moment, no matter how nebulous it seems. It’s like being lost in the woods and, rather than panic, sit down and enjoy the experience of being lost, knowing that it will pass. Hold space for what is precious, right here and now.

read Kerri’s blogpost about the BRANCH

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Filed under: Possibility, Story, Two Artists Tuesday | Tagged: artistry, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, future, here and now, hold space, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, memory, presence, story, studio melange, the melange, The Wander Women, wait and see | 1 Comment »

After All [David’s blog on Merely A Thought Monday]

Posted on December 1, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

We spent some time hanging out with Frank over the holiday. He is 93 and doing a stint in rehab. Frank is filled to the brim with great stories told with the laughing good humor of a man who has made a friend of folly. On our way out the door he said, “After all, isn’t that what’s most important in life, what life is about? Good friends. The relationships we enjoy. The time we spend together” We nodded and he added, “It seems like we have nothing to complain about.”

Frank is among my role-models for how to age well. Stay wide-open to new experiences. Believe in the goodness of people. Dance the twist at every opportunity. Laugh at yourself. Cultivate your mischief. Stand firmly planted in gratitude.

A few years ago I read about a comic whose performances and life blossomed when he realized that his job was not to make people laugh, rather, it was to bring them to their laughter. It’s subtle but profound: focus on what you bring to others, not on what you get from them. Later, as we prepared our Guinness Irish stew and mashed potatoes, I realized this simple message was Frank’s superpower, the reason why I admire him: even at 93 years old in rehab, even while facing an impossible mountain to climb, his focus was on what he could bring to us. There was not a hint of self-pity. There was no mention of his aches, pains or growing list of obstacles. He told fishing stories and regaled us with adventures from his youth. We laughed and bantered and left feeling full to the brim with great stories and good humor.

“After all, isn’t that what’s most important in life, what life is about? Good friends. The relationships we enjoy. The time we spend together” We nodded and Frank added, “It seems like we have nothing to complain about.”

read Kerri’s blogpost about GATHERING

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Filed under: Gratitude, Heroes, Merely A Thought Monday | Tagged: aging, artistry, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, gather, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, laughter, mischief, relationship, story, studio melange, Thanksgiving, the melange, togetherness | Leave a comment »

An Evolutionary Line [David’s blog on KS Friday]

Posted on November 28, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

“Whenever men take the law into their own hands, the loser is the law. And when the law loses, freedom languishes.” Robert Kennedy (clearly not Jr.)

This handle is well worn. It comes from a time before electricity relieved muscle and hands of much of their day-to-day duties. As artists from-another-era, we are drawn to things worn smooth by human hands. I love my brushes precisely because they are well-worn; they fit my hand because my hand, unique in all the world, has worn-its-way into the handles. My brushes carry the record of my life’s work.

Because of a play that I’m writing I’ve been reading and rereading The Oresteia, a trilogy of plays by Aeschylus. “The trilogy explores the transition from personal vengeance to a more civilized, legal system of justice.” (A-I) The cycle of plays is a celebration of human evolution, progressing from the chaos of revenge and retribution to a society with a system of laws that maintain order. Aeschylus wrote the Oresteia because a society based on law was a relatively new idea, an evolutionary line drawn in the sand marking the transition from animal to human nature, from impulse-driven to rationality guided by complex moral systems. The law is the foundation stone of democracy and of our freedoms.

Currently, we are witnessing an all-out assault on the law. From a justice department driven by the retribution-fantasy of a single man to a Supreme Court undermining the Constitution it is sworn to protect, those in power would rather us devolve, step back across the line into animal revenge. They are literally taking the law into their own hands. Their revenge-imperative threatens our moral order. Our freedoms are in peril.

This is not the first time our foundation stone has been under assault, it is not the first time a privileged few deluded themselves into believing that they-and-they-alone ought to rule. The path to autocracy always begins by undermining the law, by twisting it, weaponizing it to serve the opposite of its intention.

Our system of laws is like that well-worn handle. It is our heritage, our inheritance. It fits in our hands because our hands have left our imprint upon the law and the law has left its imprint on us. We’ve worked for it, fought for it, died for it. It’s why we take to the streets. It’s why we boycott businesses that bow to authoritarianism. It’s why we run from our homes to blow whistles and record the abuses of ICE. It gives me hope.

In the final play of the cycle, the goddess Athena – yes, a goddess – establishes law and order, a legal system – better than bloody revenge – to resolve conflicts. Her new system ends a dark curse that reached back generations, a curse that had been plaguing humanity. With her system of laws and courts, her invention of a jury by peers, she opened the door for humanity to progress from primitive retribution to civil society. She laid the foundation stone for a new idea – democracy – to replace the animal-revenge-mentality perpetuated by autocrats and kings.

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

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE HANDLE

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Filed under: Identity, KS Friday, Metaphor, Perspective | Tagged: Aeschylus, artistry, authoritarianism, chaos, civil society, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, democracy, justice, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, law, Law and Order, moral order, retribution, revenge, story, studio melange, the melange, The Oresteia | 1 Comment »

Shared [David’s blog on DR Thursday]

Posted on November 27, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

The waning sunflower stands vigil outside of the library, towering above us, perhaps nine or ten feet tall. Only a few short months ago it was vibrant, ablaze with yellow and viridian. Just as we had done in the summer, we stopped to say hello on our way into the building to check out a book. “It’s just as beautiful in decline,” she said, “only different.”

It is the day in these un-United States that we pause and give thanks. Although our tradition is based mostly on a myth, there are a few elements of the tale that are true. A horrible winter in which many of the settlers died was followed by a successful harvest made possible with the help of a native man named Tisquantum. “It is true that both the English settlers and Wampanoag people ate together…”

A successful harvest, shared.

Annie Dillard wrote, “Buddhism notes that it is always a mistake to think your soul can go it alone.” I have made that mistake in the past which is why, on this day, I am most grateful for my capacity to learn from my mistakes. I can trace my joy to the brilliant soul at my side and all the amazing souls who walk this walk with me. With us.

We celebrated early Thanksgiving with our children. We recently had dinner with our treasured Up-North-Gang. We regularly make dinner with 20. In recent times we’ve shared a meal with Dwight, with Arnie and Shelly, Kate and Jerry, Jen and Brad, Kelly…each a meal of thanks-giving.

It is a mistake on every level to think we can go it alone. Conservatives need progressives just as progress needs to be deeply rooted in tradition. Our tradition and our progress are the product – the abundant harvest – of ineradicable diversity. We are – as we have always been – a vibrant melange; people of various traditions learning how to eat together. We live in a global economy and are re-learning the hard way that there is no such thing as going it alone.

A successful harvest not only needs to be shared but is also made possible with the help and support of others.

Perhaps on this day we can be thankful for our capacity to learn from our mistakes. Perhaps we can, once and for all, drop the myth of rugged individualism and, as we prepare and enjoy our meals together, meals made possible by farmers and ranchers and truckers and bakers and grocers and inspectors…recognize that no one goes-it-alone. Gratitude shared.

read Kerri’s blog on this THANKSGIVING

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Filed under: DR Thursday, Gratitude | Tagged: Annie Dillard, artistry, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, Diversity, global, Gratitude, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, melange, progress, story, studio melange, thanks, Thanksgiving, the melange, tradition | 1 Comment »

The Evidence of Love [David’s blog on Not So Flawed Wednesday]

Posted on November 26, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

The evidence of love is all around us. Sometimes it’s easy to recognize. For instance, Dogga’s toys are scattered around the house. We track the movement as he daily re-positions his toys according to imperatives that only he understands. I imagine he practices his own version of sacred geometry or perhaps his toys are akin to chess pieces he adjusts in a game he plays with himself.

Sometimes, to the outside eye, love looks like poverty or an accident waiting to happen, furniture on the verge of collapse. This is the case with the BabyCat chair. BabyCat mostly ignored any other version of scratch post or scratch pad that we offered; he adored this chair. So we adore this chair.

In recent weeks we’ve entered a new phase in our epic house-purge-of-stuff. After BabyCat died Kerri moved the chair into her studio. I found her staring at the BabyCat chair. She said, “I think it’s time to let go of the BabyCat chair. I don’t need it anymore to remind me of BabyCat,” she said, pointing at her heart, adding, “He’s right here.”

After breakfast each morning, Dogga and BabyCat would retreat to the kitchen and nap together. It was their ritual. Although BabyCat has been gone for five years, Dogga continues to retreat to the kitchen after breakfast and settles into the same spot. We say to each other, “There he goes. He is communing with the BabyCat.”

The evidence of love is all around us. Sometimes it is easy to see. Sometimes it looks to others like a ruined wicker chair. Sometimes it looks like a dog sleeping in the middle of the kitchen floor.

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE BABYCAT CHAIR

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Filed under: Flawed Wednesday, Love | Tagged: artistry, BabyCat, cat, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, dogga, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, love, pets, story, studio melange, thankful, the melange | Leave a comment »

A Fragile Thing [David’s blog on Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on November 25, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

“A new idea is delicate. It can be killed by a sneer or a yawn; it can be stabbed to death by a quip and worried to death by a frown on the right man’s brow.” ~ Ovid

I continue to replay in my mind the moment that the young man, the expectant father, told us that he intended to home school his child. He said that he didn’t want his child’s mind filled with the wild ideas peddled in public schools. He wanted his child to know-only-the-facts. Just the facts. I’ve previously written about this so it clearly continues to bother me.

I wanted to tell him that democracy is not a fact. It is an idea. It bothers me that I didn’t say what I was thinking. I wanted to tell him that he was being fooled by leaders who want to keep his child – and all people – ignorant. Learning – education – is about the pursuit of questions and active engagement with ideas. It is not about the-facts-in-isolation.

I wanted to tell him that the quickest way to numb a mind is to steep it in isolated facts. Solving difficult problems, facing complex challenges, is predicated upon the capacity to entertain ideas. It’s not so easy to gaslight a populace that regularly exercises their power to question. Gaslighting is a snap with people who’ve been schooled to rely on just-the-facts, especially when the “facts” are crafted by the wily fox. Facts-in-isolation permit folks to wield words like “socialism” like a weapon with no real understanding of the sword that they swing. It’s been a useful Republican scare-word since the 1950’s because very few who brandish the word understand what it actually represents. Understanding requires the ability to ask questions, to compare, to contrast, to consider. To doubt.

Ideas are dynamic. Facts are static. Minds are dynamic but can too easily be made static.

“Democracy’s a very fragile thing. You have to take care of democracy. As soon as you stop being responsible to it and allow it to turn into scare tactics, it’s no longer democracy, is it? It’s something else. It may be an inch away from totalitarianism.” ~ Sam Shepard

Relative to the history of the world, democracy is a new idea. Like a new-born, it is delicate and requires nurturing and constant attention. It requires the constant feeding and stimulus of a curious mind. Today, we find ourselves, the stewards of democracy, an inch away from totalitarianism. We are witness to the realization of a Republican dream: the dismantling of the Department of Education, a war against our colleges and universities waged to eliminate the pursuit of ideas in favor of the state-approved facts.

Democracy is a fragile thing. It’s a new idea and the new idea is delicate. Its genius is to question, to compare and debate. It renews itself through collaboration and compromise. It pursues a more perfect union knowing that it can never arrive there since it is an idea, not a place or achievement. Democracy, like all vital ideas, is a relationship that requires tending.

It haunts me, what I wanted to say to the new father but did not: it is no small choice to stifle a questioning mind in favor of a pre-approved fact. This might be a good time to question what you think.

read Kerri’s blog post about A FRAGILE THING

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Filed under: Awakening, Education, Two Artists Tuesday | Tagged: artistry, curiosity, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, democracy, education, facts, idea, ideas, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, learning, Ovid, questions, Sam Shepard, story, studio melange, the melange | 1 Comment »

Step Into The Light [David’s blog on Merely A Thought Monday]

Posted on November 24, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

The fear of speaking in public is consistently ranked number one above the fear of death. For the Epstein survivors, the two fears merge into one: for years they feared they would be harmed if they spoke out. Their fear is not unfounded. The most powerful men (people) in the world have conspired for decades to keep them silent. They still are. So, imagine the courage it has taken for them to stand in public and speak.

It is ironic that the entire Republican party, fearful of the light of truth, continue to believe that their silence-in-lock-step is strength. Although they feign support for the release of the Epstein files and pretend concern for the over-one-thousand victims, although they vomit words and words and more words… the noise they make is nothing more than cover for their complicity. It is loud silence. To misquote Shakespeare, Methinks thou doth protest too much.

Audre Lorde wrote, “Your silence will not protect you.” It is a truth that the Epstein survivors came to understand, a driving force behind their courage to step together into the public light and say, “This happened. It was wrong. It matters.” (Tarana Burke, Unbound)

Just as the survivors came to recognize that silence is not strength, we can only hope that the Republican party, the DOJ and the FBI soon arrive at the same conclusion: silence will not protect you. Obfuscating will not spare you. Silence, in this case, is nothing more or less than collusion with the perpetrators. Conspiracy inevitably arrives at a reckoning.

So, to the increasingly spine-free members, the sad remnants of the once Grand Old Party, we hope some among you address the elephant in the room, break the silence and find the courage to demand full disclosure of the files. Step into the light with the survivors. No matter how emphatic the noise you make, no matter how excessive the denial or empty declarations of concern you bellow, it might be prudent to arrive at the same conclusion as did the Epstein survivors: silence will no longer protect you.

read Kerri’s blogpost about SILENCE AND VOICE