order sought

"putting a blanket on darkness"

I keep trying to remember to put the hammer back on the hook where it goes so when I need it again I'll know where it is. I'll know where it is while I am looking for my car keys. I'll know the hammer is there while I am trying to get my hands on last July's Mastercard bill that is somehow not in the file with all the others. I will see that hammer while I am looking for a matching pair of black socks. I am working to maintain order and then a big limb falls in the yard and lays there looking at me saying, "yes you need to pick me up, cut me up, stack me neatly with all the other wood that has fallen before. Keep this yard in order".

Okay, I have a lot of trouble with organization, not just spelling it but living with it. I keep trying, but it just becomes stress. There is the stress from things being out of order and the stress of trying to keep order. I keep trying to remind myself to just do the best I can. Organization after all is an illusion and that no matter how much structure and preparation I try and put into place there is always a chance things will go in a direction I had not intended.

The image above is an example of letting things go where they will. This is a photograph taken early one rainy evening as I was sitting at a traffic light. I picked up my camera/phone an while moving the camera (on purpose) took a picture. Put the camera down and drove on. Later another evening I dropped the images into my computer, found this particular one and started playing with it. Mostly it is over saturation of color and tone change that created the image. The swirls are the lights from the cars in the on coming lane and the rest I think is dash board and door frame, who knows?

So I claim it as art, my right as someone with feeling, and give it a name, and post it for the world to view. I guess even though I have trouble keeping my life in order, by capturing random fragments of time and claiming them as art I am some kind of organization freak. Aren't we all? 

Jeff giving order to chaos

just notion # 6

I'm not sure
but I might be living your life too
I have all these feelings about you
they make it hard to move around
these feeling are like streamers
trailing behind me
oh they are useful
they lead me back to you
but they also tangle
with all the other lives and feelings
I come across
I am not sure where
I begin or end
I carry and loose feelings
every where
I know I should be more organized
more like you
maybe I am
you
and I am watching me
thinking
he needs to be more in touch
with his feelings.

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 Wood cut is from my "swathe" collection
Jeff for now

Just Notion # 2

Lines

Are a language
Speaking to me
Be over there
Move through here
Duck under this
Twist around that
You have come to someplace
Stay here and be
Or break through the line
And attempt
To be free

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Cool video made with lines seen under a microscope
 http://www.youtube.com/user/infinity2infinity

Jeff in line

The Shop Chaotica

I realize I keep mentioning my shop in some of my blogs. So I thought it would be good to share a visual of my shop. I have tried all my professional life to maintain a well-organized workspace, but at this point in my life I have given that up. The reality is I work within a constant state of chaos. I make constant attempts to have a place for every tool, but rarely are the tools in those assigned places. I keep trying, I’ll have big organizing days, but it never seems to stick.

As someone with a dyslexic brain I often wonder how this brain affects the shop. The dyslexic often has trouble holding sequences. I have difficulty following a method or set pattern. As soon as the tool has finished its job it is set down without thought of where it will be when I’ll need it again. In fact before I’ve put it down in my mind I am already using another tool. So dropping the first tool on the first available surface needs to happen. I do try to use all the hooks and drawers I’ve created for holding my tools but I am now at a place where I am not punishing myself for my chaotic style.

I guess if I never got anything done this might be a problem, but I do manage to be productive in the mists of all my clutter. In some ways I think it reflects the clutter inside my mind. I can be working on a woodworking project and then get a poem or story idea, or all of a sudden get an idea for a photograph I want to run out in the yard and shoot. I work very hard each day to stay on task and to try and just make notes of the ideas that come in the middle of the project at hand.

So to all of you out there thinking order will increase your productivity keep at it I am sure it will and as soon as I figure it out, I’ll let you know how I did it; got organized that is. For now I will dwell in the shop or place I call Chaotica (I thought I created the word).

Jeff back in the shop!

Okay I did the google search for the word "Chaotica" and of course it is a Industrial Metal Band, so I had to link them. There song "Unstable" is the song my shop would write if it wrote on its own. Now I am not a big metal head music lover but I do like loud angry music when cutting wood. So if you don't like loud angry music just use your imagination. Think table saw, wood planer and dust system all running at once. For those of you of the younger gen., I know there is much louder and even more aggressive sounds than these guys, but many of my thousands of readers found the Beatles harsh! To those folks listen at your own risk.

Chaotica, "unstable" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhMSHUqQc8A