A Life Principal

I am not buying that

When I was young I played with dirt, rocks, sticks and sand

and I made worlds for my plastic animals and cars to dwell.

It was all called play, but at the time I worked at making the worlds 

a little bit better each time I engaged in the activity.

I think I can say that this is where my passion for building and creating

began: the sandbox.

The computer age was a whole new sandbox or place to play.

I have spent many hours exploring its applications to music, sound,

video and photography. The image above is a combination of two 

photographs. They are colorized, layered, cropped, smeared and had 

different filters added to them. I did this time and time again. The 

thought I keep coming to is, was this work or play? If I ever sell this 

image it becomes labeled as work, because I made a profit. As it lives 

here in the computer world (never having been printed) can it be called 

artwork or is it artplay? Even my computer spell check recognizes the 

word artwork but not artplay. I just added it to my dictionary. I will be 

contacting Mr. Webster. 

My whole struggle is play gets a bad rap. I see play as the foundation 

or starting point of work. You play with something until you build enough 

skill to consider it work. Then the word practice enters in. So maybe the 

life progression is play, practice, work. I guess what I am advocating for 

is a life long continual return to play. I believe it is important for the 

grown-up community to constantly find new experiences of play.

Life principal #(not yet established) - Find new materials to play with 

in a non-competitive manner. An activity that brings you joy with no 

specific result. That is Play.

jeffkimsey-carroll.com

 

Found This Today

 This is my drawing

and this is my photo

I layered them together

some time ago

I have no memory of doing this

but I found it today

I like it

Thought:

I am letting go the structure

that has held me strong.

There is truer strength

in a yellow flower dancing 

in the meadow's breeze

jeffkimsey-carroll.com

If We Don't Stop

 

Sticks and Stones - Art of Play

If We Don't Stop

If we don't stop

From time to time

Pick up stones

And put them in a line

Then a circle

Or a pile

Or move'm around

For just a little while

If we don't stop

We're gonna break down

Take some time

Move some stones around

If we don't stop

And go down to the water

Take our sisters and brothers

Sons and daughters

And splash about

Or also swim

Just dip our toes

Or go all the way in

If we don't stop

We're going to get hurt

Lay yourself down

ride out in the surf

If we don't stop

And walk into the woods

And remember it's here

That it's also good

Hold a leaf

Watch a little bug

Find a big old tree

A give'r a big old hug

If we don't stop

We will end up alone

Because we can't know where we are

Until we find our way home

jeffkimsey-carroll.com

So Who Am I

 Directional Mistake

 I use to listen to my brain.

Then I found out my brain is not me.

My brain is a machine

running a program.

A program designed to keep me alive

while in use of this body.

So who am I?

I am the true self.

The silent, the stillness.

The light that always burns.

I was there before this life began

and will continue on once this body stops,

but I will no longer be an "I" then.

Knowledge, selfless, no need to be.

Reconnected with the awareness

or love that has always been there.

So as I continue my experience

with this "I" and this body

I need to learn to manage this brain.

To know when to listen to it

and when to disregard its direction.

Also when to silence it

and visit with my true self.

Please Note: the above words are me thinking out loud. I am not telling you the reader what to do or how to live your life. This is my perception of my life at this moment. I am only sharing for the sake of broader understanding for myself and anyone who might share the thought, or one like it. Thanks for reading

jeffkimsey-carroll.com

Can You Imagine?

 From Out of Her Head

If I could climb inside of you

I could meet God there

and in the hallways of your body

God and I would walk around

and we would gaze in awe

upon the gatherings of your soul

That you hang upon the inside

of this body where you live

and God would stop and say to me

Man I love this one

And I would have to agree

Can you imagine

God and me

Walking through you?

jeffkimsey-carroll.com

Fragments

Do you feel

Do you feel you are a fragment

A fragment of something bigger

When you gather

Gather in a room with many others

Do you sense the connection of the 

Moment

If you climb

Climb to the top of a mountain

Do you yearn to be a part

Of all you see

When you walk

When you walk upon the Earth

Do your steps seem to make 

The world turn

Is your dreaming

Dreaming of just you

Or are you all the characters

In the dream

Each time you breath

Breath in and then out

Does your truth move that 

Way too

When you talk

Talk to the ones you love

Are you letting them know

Who you really are

Do you feel

Feel like a fragment

A fragment with the power

To bring connection

      Gathered Fragments

jeffkimsey-carroll.com

How I Understand It

 A Schematic for Adam

Imagine somewhere in time

let's say back at the very beginning

there was an artist studio

That's all there was

and it was filled with piles of drawings and designs

The artist had visions scrawled on every inch of paper

There were even designs for 

visions, scrawling, inches, and paper

and what these things would look like

Everything was thought out

You could say this artist was obsessive

but you couldn't

because you didn't exist yet;

except you did somewhere in that pile of paper

You were in the design

Everything thought out and placed in the piles

Now as I have come to understand it

the artist would often take breaks

leave the studio to dwell in the darkness

to meditate

The artist would close all the windows

leave one candle lit

called the light of love

and close the door    

Now it is not clear if it was a bad candle holder

There were many different designs of candle holders

or maybe the artist closed the door too swiftly

 The light of love started it all

and there was a real big bang when pressure built up in that studio

Yes that artist had also designed the idea of combustion

That's the story as I understand it

I mean as I was designed to understand it

Please don't tell too many people about this

or it could become a conspiracy theory on the internet

I don't want to get this artist in trouble 

or maybe that's part of the design

jeffkimsey-carroll.com

Moments

 Fragments Lost in the Lost Story Place, Wherever That Is

A Thought created from looking at the Image above:

I collect moments

in and out of each and every day

sometimes even in the middle of the night

Moments gather

and fill my pockets

They are mostly made of air and light

These moments remind me that I am here

They look and say hey you were there

They are my baggage and too my joy

can be forgotten, but I cannot destroy

There are moments I hold close

and many I push away

To stop the moments from coming

would be to choose a dying day

You see moments multiply

to let you know you are living

As long as you keep collecting

time will keep on giving 

jeffkimsey-carroll.com

I have never seen this

The Place I Was Before

Digitally enhanced version 

I have never seen this

I mean, in reality, something that looks like this.

Well, maybe it is like a bunch of leaves crumpled under a bush.

I was not looking at the leaves as I drew.

I sloshed a bunch of paint on a canvas,

swirled it around and let it dry.

Then I drew into the shapes in the paint

and like the crumpled leaves it was just there.

Into some of the spaces I scrawled my emotional language,

the little lines and shapes

that are a graffiti of sorts that lets you know I was here, or there

and was trying to speak to a divine entity 

who may be able to interpret random scrawling.

I am calling this Abstract Art.

It is a practice, because I do it again and again

with the intent of getting somewhere.

The thought I keep coming to is: if I get to this somewhere some day,

will it still be abstract or will it all become clear?

jeffkimsey-carroll.com

In The Play

The Art Is In The Play

I created this activity for my exhibit The Art of Play the Play of Art. The purpose is for art gallery visitors to have opportunities for direct contact with a piece of artwork. The piece in this case was sculptural in nature. As a mixed medium sculpture it involved a variety of painted wood shapes, fabric, artificial foliage, wire, string, yarn, bamboo rods, paper and a variety of fasteners. Visitors were invited to look at what had been created previously and change it in some way. Many guests had to be convinced that it was alright to make these changes and that the structure was not the art, but that their engagement with the objects was actually the art. One woman said she was filled with emotion at the idea that in an art gallery she could do such a thing. She loved the opportunity and spent a significant amount of time rearranging the space. 

I know it is important for persons who toil as artists to be recognized for their craft. I also want all people to experience and embrace artful moments that energize their living and draw us all closer together. This concept is an important aspect of what the arts are all about.

jeffkimsey-carroll.com

The people in artful moments

 

Art of Sorts

Catastrophe of Sorts

Where were you when we lost control

and all these colors came out of the hole

The hole that was a result of a lack of attention

by all those present who we will not mention

It was cause for alarm and really quite distressing

The fact we survived is truly a blessing

I remember looking around, you were nowhere to be seen

and it was just at that moment red leapt upon green

Blue teamed with purple and made a move for the door

so I started drawing lines and connected them all to the floor

An artist's work is truly never quite done

If you can't control your colors they will all just run

Keep a hand on your brush and lids on your paints

With no holes in your canvas you should have no complaints

Musing on the image

jeffkimsey-carroll.com

Thoughts from a painting

Streams of Information Dreams of Devastation

We are not ready for the machines we have created.

We are still very much children screaming,

"it's not fair, he has more than me!"

or

"I was here first, so it's mine!"

We are

standing in the cradle

and we can reach the war room table.

DANGER

We are electing leaders who think this way:

me, mine, only us or U.S.

Let's build a wall!

The walls have already been built around our hearts and souls.

Fear has walled us up for thousands of years.

We are alone and afraid, walled up in our houses, 

our neighborhoods, towns, cities, villages, farms, 

businesses, churches, synagogues, mosques, temples

and sometimes standing in front of family members.

The machines we have created

are for a generation that has taken down the walls,

all the walls,

and understands fear is erased by living together,

communicating and sharing wealth and power,

 not hoarding it. 

I will stop here for now

and give some of myself away.

Yes I created the above image 

and as it formed it spoke to me of information,

streams of information.

We have massive amounts of information

bouncing all around the world.

It has the potential to save us or destroy us.

I see many using it to heal

and many using it to destroy.

Someday I would like to change the title of the piece,

but I, too, still have walls in my way.

jeffkimsey-carroll.com

 

Click image to enlarge

Finding Faces

Going Around and Coming Around

When I draw line

I tend to start to see faces.

Some faces I see right away,

Some not until I am done.

Most of the time it is a profile.

Then I add eyes or mouth and nose lines to draw out the character.

This piece seems to have about nine faces or profiles.

See if you find more.

This is a mixed media piece. It started with the leaf-like shapes in the center cut from art paper. They were glued on with clear paint and the water colors washed in around them. I then set to work creating the lines and discovering faces.

jeffkimsey-carroll.com

Click image to enlarge

Sense

Make Sense of This

I tried to talk to you but my words made no sense

I tried listening but only heard the sound colors make

I beat sticks on rocks, that only chased snakes from their hiding places

I danced around in circles till someone said this is a square dance

I have tried to make sense of this

but it seems like I am getting nowhere

and if you've followed my previous words

you will realize that even nowhere is somewhere

So there I am, there we are, got the sense of this?

Yes you are deep into my head

Welcome

Jeffkimsey-carroll.com

Paint Me a Picture

Emotional Circuitry 

So much

so many

altogether

overwhelming

          They keep coming

          compounding

          interacting

          electrifying

                  Somewhat disturbed

                  yet intrigued

                  I am laughing

                  then enraged

                             Layer upon layer

                             I want out

                             but without 

                             I am lost 

                                          Am I the story

                                          or words on a page?

                                          I have made connection

                                          now to engage

                                                      Moments?

                                                      emotions?

                                                      relationships?

                                                      Paint me a picture

jeffkimsey-carroll.com

Click Image to enlarge

 

One Day

One day I will fall

I will fall

in every drop of rain

and soak my way into the earth

to nourish every single grain

I will be the force

to break open the seed

and drive the roots down

and send the stems skyward 

I will unfold each leaf

and prepare the bloom to burst

I will leap off the petals 

and be the color

that will catch your eye

One day

This will be what I do

One day

When I fall

When I am again a part of the everything 

jeffkimsey-carroll.com