Of The Beauty

Catch It

Grabbing hold of evening's final light

I can use it to glow in the last dance of the day.

I shall allow the evening's breeze 

to gently toss these limbs in circles around my stance.

I once raced to the sky

now I will bend back toward the earth

and be of the beauty all the way.
 

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

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

 

Fitting In or Out

No Name, No.4

Thoughts while looking at the image:

 I struggle to find out how I fit in

always wanting to get out

because the in can be overwhelming

and yet the out so deeply lonely.

To fit in becomes a commitment 

to which we surrender time 

and practice constantly

vulnerability, trust and compassion. 

There is no real out,

because by avoiding being in

you still impact those around you

because of their compassion

The desire of us all is to be together.

We struggle because of the want,

the want that calls to this oneness

that is exhilarating and also terrifying

jeffkimsey-carroll.com

with out form

I will let go of my form one day

what will I be then?

energy just bouncing around in the dust

a breeze blowing across damp metal creating rust

maybe a shimmer flashing in the hood of a car

or the haze in the distance blurring a rising star

two reeds sticking out of a pond one is wiggling back and forth

I'd be doing that. 

The gate in the backyard catches the wind, bangs the post

you know where I'm at.

let's say my form is gone

I will find ways to carry on

tiny little motions

or really big bangs

just when you think it's over

something somewhere starts again.

jeffkimsey-carroll.com

The Skins We Wear

The Individual Next to Me

On this plane of existence

we are each a very colorful entity

all living in the same universe

no matter how far we are from one another

We impact each other 

The variety of skins we wear

disguise our true nature

The true nature cannot be described

It is felt none the less

It is a feeling of oneness

that both excites us and terrifies us at the same time

It is this emotional polarity 

that causes us to in one moment wage war

and in another risk our own life to save another

I will continue this thought later on.

jeffkimsey-carroll.com

 

Right Now

 June 2020

"Right Now"

is the painting's name

It's a brain dump

just marks, shapes and faces

like free writing

with paint and paint pens

jeffkimsey-carroll.com

Click the painting to enlarge

Pandemic - Art

So here I am with all kinds of time. Laid off, trying to collect unemployment, told to stay at home, so why thousands of people are suffering and dying all over the world I am in my garage making stuff. Feeling guilty for having no real skill to aid the situation other than the ability to stay put. They are claiming it is the best way to help but it does not feel helpful. So I will continue to cut out chunks of wood cover them with paint and hold on to creativity for those who are fighting for there lives and all the people on the front lines in hopes that someday we can all get back to our dancing, painting, writing, or whatever we/they may do.

"One Moment In the Way"
Wood an Acrylic Paint 22"x13"

The color and shape of life 
are there...
obscured by a moment
We did not want,
expect,
or plan for.

I did not realize what I was creating until this was a few steps from completion. Distressed forms blocking vibrant color symbolizing life peaking through. All on a base of illegible scrawling designed to draw out feeling rather than understanding.

Jeff Holding on 

Tangled in a Memory

tangled in a memory
still reaching to the source, 
the source
from which life came, 
from which all life comes;
a source so dangerous 
that to reach too closely
will end the life it dealt;
we are in the right place
not too close
not too far
where we need to be;
but still we reach
out from the gift 
of place that we inhabit
to return
to a memory
to the time we can not remember
when we were the source
we were the light
before we were structure
with spark
we road the solar wind
it is a memory
but not clear
for if it were clear
we would not need to reach
until the day our structure crumbles 
and the spark goes home.

_________________________

I think there is more to this rambling thought, but i will stop here for now
Jeff

Nature Talks

 Nature is filled with form and texture that I see stories or image in. I see it from afar but mostly I like to get very close so you can touch it.

Dead trees speak of times past and always seem to be trying to direct me to something unseen. A tangle of old dry roots ripped from the ground and dried in the sun and wind reflect the       struggle they once took on to hold a truck up high into the sky 

 Old stumps take on the look of old magical creatures, frozen in time, or at least held in place until they are weathered away.

Water leaves its story in the rock. slowly carving away taking hundreds of years to get it all down. Then in another hundred or so totally rewriting or painting or carving it away into another chapter. 

All these lines and textures are from my summer vacation to Colorado and Utah, August 2016


Jeff Taking it in.

Notion # 17

 

 

I do not think about you now

In the way you think of me

Memories are not held here

But broken open and set free

All gathering and entangling

With every moment that has passed

They wait on the arrival

Of the moment to be last

For it is the final one

That will make it also clear

I do not think about you now

I am letting go the fear

 

-------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

 

 

Jeff

  

Moment #10

"Fiddle head Spirit"

Wall sculpture 4.5' tall

acrylic paint on plywood

notion #12

These were once hidden

The roots of a tree up ended

Now exposed

Washed clean of the ground

That held it in place

And gave it life

Formed in the darkness of the earth

A shape created by the movement of growth

And resistance of the soil

It tells a story

Of the struggle to hold on

The need to keep changing direction

Find the path

Through the dark

Of least resistance

Entangled around one another

Holding on still

Exposed to the wind, rain, sun

And all kind of vermin

But still telling the story

Of the sculpting

Of the struggle

And the glory

Of living

-------------------------

Jeff Looking

Back In Control & just notion #1

A few posts back, I claimed I was out of control and that I had started a new blog site. Well I have come to the realization that I do not have time in my life to manage two blogs. I will be shutting down my "Just Notions" blog and bringing the idea back to this site. From time to time, I will post a "just notions" post. These are random thoughts that come to me during the day or when I am asleep or both. So I'll start today with one of the posts from the now defunct "just notions" sight. As with all my work it will come with an image.
-----------------------------

just notion #1

I do not need to defend the existence of God

Because I am a madman

You see
God talks to me
You talk to me
And I do not dispute your existence
I hear God in the breath
That comes from your mouth
And crashes into my face
It says
I don’t care if you believe
In me
The idea of God needing to be worshiped
Is a human misconception
I hear God say
In the sound of your foot steps
Moving away
You are not here to obsess over my existence
You are here to be alive
In the sound of the door closing
God adds
Be that
Alive
You are a gift given to a moment
Believe in that

_______________________

The title I gave this on the old site was "be that"
Jeff Thinking

New Song

Everything

The rain to come
And the sun to shine
The branches on the ground
That shows me how to die
How many seasons
Have I reached for the sky?
Through the upstairs window
I hear my child cry
Every sky that looks down
On every Child waking up
Knows the seasons hold secrets
That they long to give up

Everything, everything, everything
Everything, everything, everything
Belongs with me

The bee in the hive
And the ant in the dirt
With my place in this order
I am a long way from first
I am worn by the rain
And moved by the surf
I will run from the cold
And from the heat I’ll know thirst
For every creature that seeks
And every soul that is found
There are cries in the forest
That have no audible sound

Everything, everything, everything
Everything, everything, everything
Belongs with me

There are Children in graves
And women in chains
Men behind bars
And souls without names
And how many gods
To thee we implore
Now my pockets are full
What is my life for?
Every hammer coming down
Sets a nail or seals a fiat
There are still answers in the wind
It is never to late

Everything, everything, everything
Everything, everything, everything
Belongs with me

-------------------------

New song, but it's been bouncing around in my note books for years. Songs are like children. You hold them close as long as you can, but at some point you've got to push them out the door. This one might get pushed out at the coffeehouse tomorrow.
I'll try and record it and post it on this blog, we'll see.
The Photo on this post is a collage of about 45 Photos from my living. It is also called Everything
Jeff singing

Here's a website of everything http://everything2.com/
To hear some of my songs http://www.myspace.com/jeffreykimseycarroll