Friday, January 29, 2010

over, under, around both ways

This is something I do from time to time. I will take an image or object and very quickly (quickly is my choice to keep me from over thinking) record every thought or word that comes into my head onto paper. I recommend you get one of these blank books and tape a photo or a magazine picture or even do your own doodling in it and then write down what jumps at you. never hold back on what comes, just put it down. Below is an example with one of my own photos and two minutes of output time. This is great exercise for both writing and just relaxing.Over, under, both ways around
look and go
know what we have done
wonder, awe
movement, power in cold steel
carried
I have been this way many times before

I have been all these ways.
across, through, below, above
stepping through sky
structure holds and gives
gives as needed
gives passage
I am crossing, over
to a distant point
any point too this
too, to
too moving, going
there
over, under, both ways around


Okay, first of all I do not time myself at this. I am only guessing it was about two minutes. This is one of those process activities. You are not trying to create a product, Just let the words flow out and be random. Our culture is so focused on product we forget to allow the process to have the time it needs and wants. If this was painting I was talking about these would be called studies.
What I am doing is a version of what is called Free Writing, but I've added the image thing to it. Here is a link to a page about Free Writing http://web.mst.edu/~gdoty/classes/concepts-practices/free-writing.html


Jeff is a word


Wednesday, January 27, 2010

First look at the edge


I crept to the edge
and looked over
and in that moment knew
the creator had dreamed me,
to fly.


I photographed this amazing creature last fall in northern New Jersey. The first thought that came to me when I looked at the photo is what I wrote above. It got me thinking about edges again. Yes I've thought about edges before. In fact we all do. It's not always conscious. The edge is that place or point in time where we have to make a choice.

I find in my woodworking I am dealing with edges on many levels. Sometimes I am knocking down edges to make a item more comfortable to touch. Other times I am multiplying edges to create more interesting detail. Often in my more abstract work I will draw a line (an edge) on the wood to cut with a saw. The grain of the wood will often try to walk the blade in a different direction than down my line. I have to then decide how much do I fight for control or do I let the blade come and go from the line. Sometimes I have let in flow and found I really like what came out. Other times I have fought for the edge I defined. The problem with fighting is that it creates more friction and that means a hotter blade and burns in the wood that then require time for sanding to heal the wounds. See any parallels to life here? The edge can be a place of conflict or joy. Although it is not always an either or situation.

As I see the world, there are those of us drawn to edges and those of us who would like to avoid them altogether. I may reach an edge before you do and leave you wondering why I am holding back. These edges are physical, emotional, intellectual as well as social and I feel the place where they all come together might be spiritual.

I think at this point I am going to make "edges" one of those returning focus point in my blog. From time to time I will try and share more of my thinking on this topic. For now I leave you with the link below to one of my favorite stories "Jumping Mouse" By Hyemeyohsts Storm. See if this story speaks to you of edges.


Please let me know if the link does not work.

Jeff on edge


Thursday, January 21, 2010

Look at it this way

"FallenI like to play with perception or is it perspective. I’m not sure, but these two words keep talking to me. I love to take images and duplicate them several times. I then like to change the color of these images so each one is different. I will also add different filters to distort or loose the original clarity of the image.

Why do I do this? It might be because I can.
"Painful color"
Having multiples of the same image and giving them different characteristics, for me, celebrates diversity. I once watched a handful of people walk into a newly created space where one wall had been painted an extremely vibrant color. As you would expect some hated it, some loved it, and some did not even respond to it until asked what they thought. This is why our world will always struggle to achieve harmony. We carry with us emotional cargo (it’s bigger than baggage) that effects our every perceptive moment.
I do not create the multiples in an attempt to make every one happy, but to simply remind myself to always look at everything and or moment from many different points of view.

"Clutch"

Just to make clear this is something I like to do. It is not a new idea.
If you go to the link below you can mess around with controls and change the colors of Andy Warhol’s famous image of “Marilyn”

http://www.webexhibits.org/colorart/marilyns.html


Jeff Jeff Jeff

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Feeling on an Image


I had to lay on my back to get this shot of an aging flower out in a field in Wisconsin last summer. Below is one of the stories (thought or moment) I draw from the image.




Now’s To Come

In the time that is now
I move closer to the earth
In the time that was once called now
I stood so tall
Face held open to the sun
I had dreams then
The butterflies brought them to me

They were whispers
Dreams are whispers
Whispers of the goings on in other places
Places I could not see
But could only imagine
The butterflies said
It is all playing out
Going the way it goes
It is well, nearer to wonderful
And you are a part of it
It cannot be without you

My dream that is left
Is that in the time to come
That will be called now
When it comes and I reach the dirt
All the whispers of the butterflies
Will be clear
In that now




Jeff in the meadow

Early Morning Walk in the Snow


I got up early one morning over the holiday break and took a walk with my camera. This is what I saw. To the purists I am sorry. I have messed with the color on some of these. I cannot keep myself from altering creation. Not sure if that's a human trait or some kind of god complex. I cannot be stopped. Once you embrace the power given to you by the computer there is no turning back, I have turned apples orange and oranges purple. Enjoy!



Okay these are not that harsh. Which do you like, original or blue?















"The Tree of Us" Hold on!






Left out to brave the elements. Dreaming of summer picnic















High atop a church was a place that seemed to see.




I like to look close at objects. There are so many little worlds
we do not see everyday. Places where others dwell. I like to think about and observe the moments in these places. In the winter they are very still.



No great insight just having fun with the macro.


I call this "Makes My Feet Cold". At this point in my
walk it was time to head home for the sake of my feet.
Jeff walking by

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Boxes Today, Only Boxes


I need to make drawers today. Yes 4 drawers to go in a cabinet I am working on. In my life as a woodworker I’ve made many drawers. But you see drawers are boxes and I get tired of making boxes. The excuse I’ll use for my procrastination is that boxes do not feed me artistically. This is not really true; building a box is a wonderful thing. Cause if you can build a box you can go on to build many things. The box is like the spiritual center of woodworking. Everything else the woodworker builds is somehow an extension of the box. The table is a box turned upside down with the sides cut out for our legs to slide under. The chair is the box with one side extended higher for a place to lean on. Most of our artwork is displayed in boxes, we call them frames. Boxes are for many of us our homes and dwelling places. So the box is sacred.


So here is my real problem. It’s just the getting started. In my mind are all those pieces and all the dimensions I have to figure out. I’ll come clean I’ve made mistakes before (only a few hundred, not a lot) and have had to redo parts or sometimes whole drawers. Now I know “measure twice cut once” I do that but the reality is a dyslexic can look twice and make the same visual error two times. I am at the mercy of the way my brain and eyes work together, so mistakes are common to me. This is why it is a proven fact that many dyslexics like to work in an environment by themselves so no one can see them make mistakes. Now this wouldn’t be a problem if we did not have a monetary system and I had no time constraints in my life. No worries about wasted material or reduction of my hourly wage, due to building something two times.

So perhaps the struggle is accepting my mistakes as part of the process. My mind is always going to be a hindrance so my spirit will need to compensate. This is my challenge today in starting my boxes. I am making a sacred thing. Can I allow myself to stumble in the process and still hold divinity? I might be thinking about this way too deeply. I’d better get to work.
Jeff then.

"I have not failed. I have just found 10,000 ways that won’t work!"

Thomas A. Edison


Jeffrey covered in dust!
Visit http://www.jkcwood.com/ to see all my wood working.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Fabricating Moments



Sometimes I fabricate moments digitally. Yes I take photos and combine them to create a new or completely unreal moment. This I call play. I started doing this as an exercise in spontaneity. The idea was to put images together quickly without really thinking about it and discover (or be surprised about) what I’d find in the combined images. My hope was this would impact my song writing, helping me to just write, not over thinking, and trust that I would find songs if I just wrote volume. It was kind of a cross training idea for art. I think it worked, but what I also got was images that evoked all kinds of ideas. The images themselves also provided ideas for writing songs and emotional exploration.


The key here I found was play. If you play with stuff you discover more and more ideas. Sometimes I layer video just to see what combined moving images come out of two or more clips. I love to take the scrapes of wood from my paid projects and create sculpture. This of course makes it difficult to throw anything away and that is a topic for another blog entry.

Play is a pathway to the creative spirit that connects us all.


Made up,
Jeff


Here is a link to more of my photo fabrications.
http://jlcarroll.webs.com/apps/photos/album?albumid=1999826

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

thinking on a picture


I was not present in the moment when the leaf came to rest on some shallow rocks at the creeks edge. When I arrived the only movement was the water passing by. The leaf was beached. It was going to take a rainstorm or a good breeze to get it moving again. So I snapped this moment and continued on my walk.

In the moment of taking the picture, which is a different moment than the camera portrays, I was drawn by the color enhanced by the dampness. Ooooo red! Once I had removed the image from the time in the forest with all that went with that, sound of water, birds, smell of the damp woods, etc…I had the imagery of the photo. Now this is no amazing photo it is just a leaf in the water with a nice shot of morning sun on it. It is how ever my capture: a fragment from a day in my life. So it is good with me.
So now I’ll make a list of what I see or feel from the photo. Why? Because that is what I just thought of doing. And I’m going with that. Now I could re-think this and say what a big waste of time. Making a list of what you feel from a photo. No don’t think about it just do it. I’ll need to do a blog on the danger of rethinking.

· There is the water, once carrying the leaf now it is hung up on the rock. Parallel to life carrying us along until something hangs us up. I get hung up. So I identify with the leaf at this moment. In this moment nature becomes a mirror to me.
· Another perspective the leaf is not hung up but resting. This implies the leaf thought of resting and steered itself on to the rocks. Thinking leaves are dangerous. They’re the ones who get together and damn up storm drains.
· The leaf reminds me of my childhood toy fire truck with its rust spots after sitting in the backyard for 6 years. Still have it.
· This brings me to the aging thing, with all the new spots I find every day, I feel like an old leaf being pulled farther and father down stream. I want to find some rocks and just stay in one place for a while. Is a while bigger than a moment or are they the same thing.
· I like the blue sky reflected in the water and I think you can make out the tree canopy as well. Look into that space long enough you’ll see more images
I have no idea where this is going I could go on with the list or pull elements from the list. Just a few elements are the “hang ups”; in creativity I get stuck all the time. There is the “nature as mirror” a favorite of mine. I think this is why I like the cameras (Video and still) I am not so much taking pictures to remember the events of my life, but to have these moments to observe again and again to see if I missed the chance to be as alive as I could have been in the moment. There is a danger in spending so much energy taking pictures. I have been places where I realize I saw the place and time only through the camera and forgotten all the other senses.
What’s happening now is I have so many thoughts leading me to other thoughts. I’ll just put one down and save the others for another time. Hope this makes sense. I’m just going with the creative process. Below are my quick thoughts, might be a song here or I’ll just leave it to be.

Caught
Caught by the rocks in the shallow water
I am missing the movement
But not enough to push free, if I could
I will remember the time
Twisting in the wind
Back up in the canopy
Below the blue sky
My purpose was clear then
It is not so now
I will wait
For the water to rise

Jeffrey, another time!
This link will take you to the album the photo is from on my website.

Monday, January 4, 2010

A New Begining

Ok, here goes! It is a New Year--time to start something new. Let’s see first my name is Jeffrey. You do not know me and I do not know you. Even if you think you know me you don’t. I mean you may know Jeffrey or a Jeffrey but you don’t really know me. I have been in existence as Jeffrey for a good number of years now. I know the role fairly well and have not yet tired of it. At this point in the role I’ve started to explore the relationships of individual moments to all the elements that go into creating a moment.


At this point in this first blog I should mention that if you do not understand what I am talking about that is okay, cause I do not know what I ‘m talking about either. You see this whole blog is going to be an exercise in process. In other words nothing will come from it. It’s all about me just streaming random thought on everything I think about, dream or feel. Why do this? Because this is what this Jeffery at this point in time has decided to do. Another warning is that I am a dyslexic and can’t spell well or use the language properly, so if you are responding to my blog to complain about my use of the English language I will probably not take the time to respond to your comments. Sorry.
Back to moments. If you have found my other website (http://www.jlcarroll.webs.com/) you know that I am looking to express as many moments as possible. This is the job of an artist. It’s what this Jeffrey has become in his life long evolution to date. There are always other things to become. I might get to those too, but for now I am focusing on the artist gig.
My exploration at this point is the moment. What goes into each moment that then defines it as one? Do moments have definable limits? How much can I draw from a single moment? What roll does space play in a moment? How many moments are needed to create a story? How many perspectives can there be in a single moment? If all this seems pointless or foolish then I am on the right track.
All right, this is just the starting place. Now I have another warning to any would be blog follower. This is all so an exercise in discipline. I will attempt to keep blogging but days, weeks, and even months may pass between entries. We will see.


The Dictionary defines a moment as “a very short space of time”, at least that’s the first of about 7 definitions.

We have this moment now
It is not forever
But will forever be
Held within the soul of light and sound
And carried upon a wave of memory

Lyric from a song I am working on.

That's all for now!

Jeffrey

see all my Photos at http://jlcarroll.webs.com/apps/photos/