vertical | The Direction of Intention

Break It [on KS Friday]

Posted on April 8, 2022 by davidrobinsoncreative

Breaking space with a line changes the dynamic of the entire composition. I played with those dynamics for years. Vertical breaks. Horizontal lines that read like confused measure bars, segments of inconsistent time. Sometimes the lines tilted and pulled to the past. Sometimes they leaned into the future, urging the image forward. All of those interpretations were, of course, in my mind; I have no idea how others interpreted the lines on my canvases.

We are in the season of fog. Sometimes it’s so dense that we stand on the rocks and cannot see the water. Lake Michigan is hard to hide! The fog is a worthy magician.

The fog-magician also has the capacity of pressing three dimensional objects into seeming flat two dimensional images. The sudden silhouetting of the world pulls Kerri out onto the deck every time. “Can you believe it?” she asks, grabbing her camera and stepping through the door and into the fog. Dogga and I watch. We are happy in three dimensions and resist the call of stepping into flatland.

When she returns to our dimension, she shows us her photographs. “I love this one because the wire made a line,” she says. “It breaks the image.”

I smile. Vertical breaks in the composition. I say, “It reads like an abstract painting.” Three dimensions becoming two, a line breaking space, capping or pulling or simply interrupting.

Jackson Pollock believed his paintings were recordings of movement. Paint dancing. Who really knows how others interpret his paintings. Beyond the curator or art historian, who cares, really? The relationship between art and audience is meant to be direct, pure. No third party interpretation necessary.

“What do you think?” she asks.

“I love it,” I say. “It makes me want to paint.”

kerri’s albums are available on iTunes & streaming on Pandora

read Kerri’s blogpost about FOG

Filed under: Art, Creativity, KS Friday, Seeing | Tagged: 2 dimensions, 3 dimensions, artistry, bars, composer, creativity, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, dimensions, fog, horizontal, Jackson Pollock, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, lake michigan, magician, measure lines, musician, painter, perception, photographer, seeing, story, studio melange, the melange, vertical | Leave a comment »

Choose Your Way [on Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on May 22, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

One of the ideas behind the melange was to invite you into our studio, to offer a peek behind the curtain into the messy art piles and chaotic processes that spark and give fuel to our creative lives.

We make it a practice to walk through life noticing things, appreciating moments. It is a muscle we consciously exercise. It is the reason we write. It is the reason we take photographs of the food arranged on our plates or the evening sunlight topping the trees or the funny sign posts on the paths we walk. Kerri recently said – and I think it is true – we are inspiring ourselves and perhaps, through our art, words, and designs, helping others live appreciative lives.

In a past incarnation, when working with teachers or corporate types or artists, I said again and again, “See what is there, not what you think is there.” Try and see beyond what you think. A full spectrum of beauty bubbles brightly right in front of our noses but largely goes unnoticed through the mind chatter that dulls our perceptions. It renders us sense-blind.

On this Two Artists Tuesday, a not-so-subtle reminder to slow down, choose a piece of quiet, open your eyes and appreciate your moment. Take a stab at seeing what is bubbling out there just beyond your oh-so-important-thinking. It just might take your breath away. Or, more to the point, it might bring you a deep creative breath. It just might give fuel to your creative life.

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