the melange | The Direction of Intention

DR Thursday

Posted on March 8, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

This is a confession: for these blog posts, for these DR Thursdays, I’m finding the morsels of my paintings – a slice, a small detail – infinitely more interesting than the full painting. It’s not that I don’t love the whole painting, I do. But the morsels are helping me to see the original painting anew. The detail is illuminating the whole. Also, the morsel is spinning my artistic dials. I suspect my visual exploration is about to jump the fence into new pastures.

Kerri calls this morsel Cityscape. It comes from The Bass Player, a painting pulled from the deep recesses of my archive. It comes from a time when I was in love with vibrant color and the work of David Hockney. The Bass Player has lived in galleries, and coffee shops. It hung for many years in a now defunct bar in downtown Seattle. More people have inquired about this painting than any other horse in my stable but it’s never found a forever home. I’m delighted that through this morsel, Cityscape, my colorful Bass Player has found another moment to step into the light. Who doesn’t need some color-pow! on a Thursday in March?

The Bass Player, 24″ x 48″

CITYSCAPE merchanise

THE BASS PLAYER reproductions

Purchase the original painting

read Kerri’s thoughts on Cityscape

kerrianddavid.com

cityscape ©️ 2018 david robinson & kerri sherwood

The Bass Player ©️ 2002 david robinson

Filed under: Art, DR Thursday, Uncategorized | Tagged: art, artistry, cityscape, david hockney, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, paintings, Seattle, society6.com/davidrobinson, The Bass Player, the melange, vibrant color | Leave a comment »

Flawed Cartoon Wednesday

Posted on March 7, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

I am a practiced eavesdropper. And, in today’s world, who isn’t? If you are of a certain age you will remember the first time you saw someone walking down the street talking to themselves and realized that they weren’t demented but were on the phone. The world spins when old expectations meet new realities. It is now commonplace to hear private conversations in a public space. You are considered demented if you don’t carry a device that makes you appear to talk to yourself.

This Flawed Cartoon Wednesday from the melange is a celebration of the misalignment of expectations. How many times have you heard the request, “Text me when you land.” Well, what if…?

TEXT ME WHEN YOU LAND merchandise

Acrobats framed print copy

read Kerri’s thoughts on this Flawed Cartoon Wednesday

kerrianddavid.com

text me when you land ©️ 2016 david robinson & kerri sherwood

Filed under: Flawed Cartoon Wednesday, Perspective, Uncategorized | Tagged: acrobats, cell phones, circus, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, eavesdropping, expectations, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, near miss, public/private, society6.com/flawedcartoon, technology, text, text me when you land, texting, the melange | Leave a comment »

Two Artists Tuesday

Posted on March 6, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

Jim told me that he was suspicious of this culture that seems to need to plaster messages on the wall, on shopping bags, or indelibly tattooed on body parts. Begin Anywhere. Live Loud. This life is not a dress rehearsal. Peace. Home. “It’s too simplistic,” he says.

So. Brave.

Are we branding our lives, marketing our selves to ourselves? Are these ubiquitous expressions reminders? Encouragement? Aspirations? Desires? Statements of intent? Flags planted in the metaphoric sand? Are these flags too simplistic?

Joseph Campbell once said that to find more-than-ample evidence of the collapse of our unifying culture/story (our mythology) one need look no further than the daily news. Violence and division dominate our day. It is the seedy sensational story we tell to ourselves. It seems we’ve traded the commons for higher ratings. The common good falls apart in the face of the lobbyist’s payout. Can there be a center when another set of ubiquitous expressions dominate our dialogue: tribalism, polarization, fake news. Us. Them. Again, more flags planted in the metaphoric sand and are they also too simplistic?

On the stage, when actors have no direction and lose sight of the common story they might otherwise tell, they default to a condition lovingly (yet accurately) known as “Save-your-ass-theatre.” It is every man/woman for him/her self. It a group of artists on stage feeling isolated and all alone but pretending to be together. It is fear with a thin smile pasted on its face. It is awful to watch. And, it is easily remedied: save-someone-else’s-ass. Instead of pushing your drowning mate down so you can reach air, lift them up so they might breathe. They will immediately return the favor. Restore the commons. Step back into the common story.

The opposite of fear is not courage. It is community. Bravery is nothing more than the choice to stand in fear and reach. Cowardice is the choice to stand in fear and pummel. Fear that flourishes in isolation dissolves in the common story. From the studio melange on this Tuesday we offer the only flag worth planting in the sand: be brave enough to turn to the center. Reach. Help someone find air. Is it too simplistic?

BRAVE merchandise

read Kerri’s thoughts on this Two Artists Tuesday

kerrianddavid.com

brave ©️ 2017 kerri sherwood & david robinson

Filed under: Story, Two Artists Tuesday, Uncategorized | Tagged: artistry, brave, common story, commons, community, courage, daily news, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, fear, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, mythology, polarization, service, society6.com/twoartists, the melange, theatre | Leave a comment »

Chicken Marsala Monday

Posted on March 5, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

“What do I see?” It is, perhaps, the most important and fundamental question any person can ask. Seeing is never passive. It is never pure. Interpretation begins the moment you open your eyes. The ‘see-er’ stories – gives meaning to – what is seen. It is a simple truth: the very act of opening your eyes is a creative act.

Every moment of our lives is new. What else? You have never lived this moment before. You will never live it again. We blunt ourselves when we tell ourselves the story of ‘same-old-same-old.’ We dull ourselves when we weave the belief that this day is routine, that this moment of life is nothing new.

We blur our seeing and muddle our moments by asking the wrong question(s): how do they see me? what do they think of me? These are impossible crazy-making questions to answer. They generate a directional challenge. It is not your superpower to determine what the world sees when IT looks at YOU – mostly because you can’t. The world is not looking at you. You are seeing it. IT is not giving meaning to you. You are giving meaning to IT. That is your genuine superpower.

The thought for today from the melange: open your eyes. See the new-ness. Create this moment as unique in every way.

THIS MOMENT UNIQUE IN EVERY WAY merchandise

read Kerri’s thoughts about this Chicken Marsala Monday

kerrianddavid.com

this moment unique in every way ©️ 2016 kerri sherwood & david robinson

Filed under: Chicken Marsala Monday, Seeing, Uncategorized | Tagged: art, artistry, chicken marsala, Chicken Marsala Monday, creation, creative act, creativity, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, giveing meaning, interpretation, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, meaning making, moment, moments, perception, presence, seeing, seer, society6.com/chickenmarsala, story, storying, the melange, The Seer | Leave a comment »

KS Friday

Posted on March 2, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

Many years ago, when I was riding around the country slaying dragons, thinking I might help save a troubled world, I wrote a post entitled You Make A Difference. A few days later, in my inbox, was an email with a link to a song from a musician I did not know. “I read your post,” she wrote, “and thought you might appreciate hearing my song with the same title.” I listened more than a few times. She was right! I loved her song. I jotted her a note thanking her. That was the first time Kerri and I communicated. It would be a few more years before our paths crossed again. Another post, another response, a surprising and casual email chain would lead me to this woman who would someday become my wife.

Over and over the lesson is the same: it’s the small stuff that matters. My life turned on an email. I never told her (until today because we are sitting together writing posts) that, on the day she sent her song to me, I was sitting in Seattle wondering if anything I did or had ever done in the world mattered. It was one of those days. And then I opened her email. She made a huge difference to me on that bleak day.

I have lived long enough to know that none of us truly understands the full impact our actions have on others. The smallest thing, opening a door, sharing song, ripples and ripples on.

Kerri was commissioned to write this song, originally for folks on the front line of the battle against cancer, though, like all great artists, she composed it from her very personal wellspring of experience; her brother died from cancer. Songs of inspiration can also be rallying cries and that is true of You Make A Difference. Kerri understands the profound difference between resisting the thing you don’t want (sickness) and moving toward what you desire (a cure). On this KS Friday, take in this blast of inspiration from the melange. You never know how one click might change the course of your day and life.

YOU MAKE A DIFFERENCE a single track available on itunes

read Kerri’s thoughts about YOU MAKE A DIFFERENCE

kerrianddavid.com

you make a difference ©️ 2003 kerri sherwood

Filed under: Heroes, KS Friday, Uncategorized | Tagged: actions, cancer, cancer research, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, impact, impact ripples, inspiration, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerri sherwood yamaha artist, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, mattering, offers, the melange, you make a difference | 1 Comment »

DR Thursday

Posted on March 1, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

Kerri calls them “morsels”: snapshots of a portion of one of my paintings. May You Be Peace is a morsel. I love watching her take the shots. I delight in how she helps me see my work anew. I appreciate how each morsel is a complete work of art in itself.

Shift the focus. Pull in the frame of reference. We live in a world of cameras and microscopes and telescopes and compartments; what we see and believe is very much determined by where we place our focus. Georgia O’Keeffe knew it; she was a master of the close-up.

A few years ago I began taking photographs of my paintings-in-process. The camera helps me sees aspects of the painting that would otherwise remain invisible. It’s odd. I stand before a canvas stapled to the wall and see one thing. I aim a camera at the canvas stapled to the wall and see a wholly different painting. Just imagine the infinite perceptions and perspectives at play in our world!

My photo-painting-practice is a constant reminder that my perspective, my perception is mine alone. You are most certainly looking through a different set of lenses.

Peace, I think, has nothing to do with sameness and everything to do with the celebration of difference, the capacity to help each other see our lives anew.

MAY YOU BE PEACE merchandise

read Kerri’s thoughts on MAY YOU BE PEACE

May You, 55″ x 36″

kerrianddavid.com

may you be peace and may you ©️ 2016, 2015 david robinson & kerri sherwood

Filed under: DR Thursday, Seeing, Uncategorized | Tagged: art, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, difference, focus, Georgia O'Keeffe, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, may you, may you be peace, painting, peace, perception, perspective, seeing, society6.com/davidrobinson, the melange | 1 Comment »

Flawed Cartoon Wednesday

Posted on February 28, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

“This surprise that reality is other than expected is weirdly tenacious.” Declan Donnellan

Of all the Flawed Cartoons, and there are many of them, this just might be my personal favorite. I giggle every time I see it – and I wrote it! And drew the image! It is a layer-cake of the human condition, a loving nod to our infinite capacity to generate, invest in, and then get lost in the life-stories of our own creation. I love our surprise that life is a festival of surprises.

Just ignore my snicker the next time you tell me that you know where you’re going.

A SNOWFLAKE WITH POSSIBILITIES merchandise

kerrianddavid.com

read Kerri’s thoughts on A SNOWFLAKE WITH POSSIBILITIES

a snowflake with possibilities ©️ 2016 david robinson and kerri sherwood

Filed under: Flawed Cartoon Wednesday, Identity, Uncategorized | Tagged: david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, declan donnellan, disappointments, existence, existential, flawed cartoon, Flawed Cartoon Wednesday, human condition, humanness, identity, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, life, life stories, possibilities, snowman, society6.com/flawedcartoon, Surprises, the actor and the target, the melange | 1 Comment »

Two Artists Tuesday

Posted on February 27, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

I knew from a very young age that I would never have children of my own. I knew. It was an intuitive knowing, not an intellectual resolve. My life, I knew, would be a wandering through the wasteland. I would tilt at windmills. I would seek for things that can never be found. Children, I believed (and still believe), needed the kind of stability that a restless seeker like me would never have been capable of providing.

Last night we went to the foreign film festival and saw an inspiring, funny and poignant Irish film called Sing Street. The ingenue explains to her suitor, an aspiring musician, that love is happy-sad. To love is to experience both.

I now have two amazing step-children. They were adults when I came into their lives and both live far away. I am slowly developing relationships with them, creating memories with them. I listen with fascination (and sometimes horror) as Kerri converses with her friends, mothers all, about their children. There is so much suffering, to want to be near their children and yet want them to fulfill their dreams and fly. They want to be present and available BUT not too present or available; those wacky offspring want full support AND they want mom to stay out of their business. Motherhood, I’m learning, is a bottomless yearning, a constant ache, and there is nothing better. There is nothing more fulfilling.

Fathers, I’m observing, are mostly confounded. They shake their heads, not so much in agreement, but in concession. Their spouses are capable of reconciling and celebrating the ambiguity of parenthood. Fatherhood, it seems, is a surrender to the unsolvable. A submission to the mystery. The ache is no less profound. The joy is no less intense.

Happy – sad. A full spectrum of living. Love. From studio melange on this Two Artists Tuesday.

CHILDREN ARE THE BEST THING merchandise

kerrianddavid.com

read Kerri’s thoughts about this Two Artists Tuesday

Filed under: Love, Two Artists Tuesday, Uncategorized | Tagged: ache, children, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, fatherhood, fathers, joy, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, love, motherhood, mothers, parenting, parents, society6.com/twoartists, suffering, surrender, the melange | Leave a comment »

KS Friday

Posted on February 23, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

In this age of brevity, tweets, freeways, fast tracks, efficiency and ubiquitous worship at the alter of time-is-money, I find this piece of music to be heart-full and hopeful. It reminds me of the simple truth in this life: the important stuff lives in the fields beyond the achievements and striving. It’s A Long Story is beautiful and evokes a profound paradox: each moment is a long story – especially if I choose to live IN it rather than rush to pass THROUGH it.

I listened to this album long before I met Kerri in person. I listened over and over again to this track, It’s A Long Story, and knew we were kindred. It asks you to stop and listen. It asks you to take time, to surrender any nagging efficiency, cost cutting race through life and sit in your moment. It’s a warm bath in the simple appreciation of living. It has made me smile and sometimes served as the soundtrack to my weeping. It always serves as a siren call into the present moment. That’s the heart of the artist’s gift and Kerri, my wife is a remarkable artist. On this KS Friday, hear her call from the melange, and fall into your Long Story.

ITS A LONG STORY from the album THIS PART OF THE JOURNEY (track 1) iTunes

KS FRIDAY

www.kerrisherwood.com – buy the album

read Kerri’s thoughts about IT’S A LONG STORY

www.kerrianddavid.com

Filed under: Awakening, KS Friday, Uncategorized | Tagged: appreciating life, appreciation, artist, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, Gratitude, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, life, living your moment, long story, moment, musician, paradox, piano, piano artist, presence, story, storyteller, the melange, yamaha artist | Leave a comment »

DR Thursday

Posted on February 22, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

Nap on the Beach, mixed media, 22.25″ x 55.5″

“I paint the way some people write an autobiography. The paintings, finished or not, are the pages from my diary.” Pablo Picasso

I’ve been selling my paintings from my studio, un-stretched and unframed. When potential buyers come to my studio they view the raw canvas tacked on the wall or spread on the floor. Many of my pieces are big. It’s how I like to paint: big canvas stretched and tacked to the wall. These days when I ship paintings to another state, when I ship paintings to those courageous people who take the leap of faith and buy an expensive (and very personal) painting based on an image from the internet, I roll them. They receive the piece in a tender unembellished state.

There are practical reasons for my seeming-shoddy showmanship. It saves my customers money to stretch and frame the canvases themselves. The cost of shipping a large framed canvas is breathtaking! If I stretch or frame it myself, if I sell a painting through any gallery, online or brick-n-mortar, the cost is easily inflated by 70%.

But, that’s not why I show the unfinished edges. Before moving from my Seattle studio I had studio open houses. People inevitably drifted to the paintings stapled to the wall. They touched the edges. They asked me about the drips and marveled over the charcoal lines. They gently brushed the bumps of paint. They entered the story and became a part of it, they took on a role greater than witness. Instead of approaching art – my art – as an untouchable abstract thing, they engaged with it, questioned it, touched it. I loved it. Art is supposed to be accessible. It is supposed to open and say, “Follow me.”

Recently a client slid this painting, Nap on the Beach, from the pile of paintings stacked on the ping pong table, touched its complex surface, and, with Kerri, he held it by the corners saying, “Oh, this canvas is heavy! This one makes me yearn for summer!” And then he asked, “Did you take a nap on the beach? Is this about something you did?”

Yes. And yes again.

On DR Thursday, on your visit to the melange, I hope this painting inspires you to embrace the raw edges, the drips and bumps, and perhaps give over to a quiet mid-winter yearning for sun and sand and a spontaneous nap.

A NAP ON THE BEACH reproductions