It is all made up

"Without a Reason"

 Letting go of I
is not turning off me

It is a change of perception

Another way to see

Letting go of the distance

Between you and I

Awakening to connection

Gone is the constant my

Letting go the judgement

The placing of the blame

For we are one true Nature

All beings of a common name

Letting go the need

To define all moments in time

Allows us one true now

To make this simple rhyme.                 

       jeffkimsey-carroll.com

Caught Up In It!

Eye See

I keep finding myself

caught in the movement

of line and color.

Sometimes I define myself as the line,

probably a control thing.

The color seems so out of control.

Is it the line that defines the color

or does the color simply allow the line

a place to be?

The color says, "sure, outline me, 

run lines through me, 

shade me in, 

you can even black me out!"

The color does not care.

The color knows it is there

and in control,

I think.

Still caught up in it 

so I don't really know

what's going on.

Random thought brought to you by art play.

jeffkimsey-carroll.com

Collaboration

 On My Way Into Town

This is a new thing.

I let people paint what ever they want on a board or canvas.

Then I draw into it. 

I love this!

I am free of the color placement and surprised by where the line goes.

It is a collaboration.

Below is a section of the above work before I drew into it.

I started two friends off, with a few strokes of red and green and then walked away.

A true collaboration of play.

Breaking the Frame

Breaking the Frame

 I have had this experience before

making something out of a mistake

This piece started as a board I had laid 3x5 cards on to paint

It did not work and left the shadows of 8 -10 cards

I then layered random cut shapes on the board and hit it with spray paint

Removed the shapes and splattered some paint on and let it dry

Took my black and white paint pens and began to draw line

Thoughts from the piece: 

 -To break apart is not always to be broken

-from brokenness we can find new ways to express

-the boundary of the frame is not always necessary

jeffkimsey-carroll.com

Click Image to enlarge

 

  

A Whirling About

 Once we were blobs of paint on a canvas

Then line began to define

and before we knew it we were whirling about

and feeling quite divine

In the whirling one may find themselves 

feeling truly, I say, most free

yet activity of such a vigorous nature may call one

to occasionally take a knee

still when you're a blob you have no bone or knee

and when you stop, you just spread out

so with no way of stopping, go on with your blobbing

and continue to whirl about.

jeffkimsey-carroll.com

In This Way

 It is so far to the outside

where warmth lives between bodies

within this space

out of a need

we will touch

and in this way

we will be one

jeffkimsey-carroll.com

No One Thing

I am here

and there

approaching from every direction

I am circle

and square

and have randomly placed selection

so that you have no true idea

of my intent

for it is no way sane 

this world I represent

take it

crumple it 

or do nothing with it at all

or smooth it

and frame it

and hang it on your wall

I call this Image "no one thing"

cause i wrote those words on it 

(the one red spot)

when I was creating it.

Not sure why. The poem came from

trying to explain the piece.

jeffkimsey-carroll.com

 

In Relationship to the Vastness of the Universe

Undefined form and color

 

can cause the viewer distress

if the viewer requires clear structure 

to move through life.

My intent in creating this 

was not to define anything. 

The process

was to surprise or awaken me

leaving me with time spent 

in a state of play,

following the whims

of the movements of my hand and mind.

Is it art? 

In relationship to the vastness of the universe

the question and the image 

are just fun, to ask and see and to create.

Go out and play in your universe!

jeffkimsey-carroll.com

A Town

A town 

in mind

in time

in case

in and around

in search of another space

I put color on the paper

then penned in shapes

it made me feel like I had found the place

nowhere in particular

found by forming lines

in a town drawn by me

Imagine what one finds

Above is a word storm. I look at the picture I created and try to write thoughts as fast as I can. I do get stuck sometimes. Trying to make fluid movements between my art work and my writing. I started the artwork to undo writer's block. Then I stopped writing. Now I am trying to find a balance.

Jeff

jeffkimsey-carroll.com

In The Works

My brain is a machine

with a program

that runs constantly

The program is designed 

to keep me alive

The program's definition of alive

is survival

It is all it has ever known

When I ask it to show me true life

it says

it's in the works,

keep moving forward and you will work it out

 Let's think some more

Just keep thinking

You will work it out

Don't stop thinking

cause then you are dead,

just run the program 

It is in the works

I no longer think

this is true life.

jeffkimsey-carroll.com

Characters in The Room

 I was in this room

filled with others

waiting for something;

feel like I find these rooms a lot

As I wait

I imagine I can see myself

through the eyes of the others

in the room

Of course they are always amazed

I mean come on, it's me

I have been playing this role my whole life

I am really good at being me

Then they look sideways

and realize I am in their head

looking at me

things never go well after that

just not enough room

Painting at jeffkimsey-carroll.com

This is Where I Have Come To

This is where,

well not a where,

more like a how -

how when you think

of everything 

all at once

and it all runs together

into a puddle

left from a mental rainstorm.

You say 

so this is where I am,

how I've come to be?

where I've come to...

just that.

jeffkimsey-carroll.com

Waiting

"Waiting on the Awakening"

I am not sure if we are good at waiting. With the pandemic we are all being asked to wait. Even those who continue to work are waiting for things to get back to normal. I think the old "normal" is not ever coming back. So what we are waiting for is not clear. Perhaps it is the 'all clear' signal, telling us it is safe to venture out. Or maybe it's not having to live always staying six feet away from others.
I think we might really be waiting for something to change from inside. We now have an unspoken fear of each other. If a stranger drops something we do not rush to pick it up and hand it to them. So how do we connect? We are creatures who want to connect, to be a part of each other's lives. It seems like we are on the edge of a new way of being.

Pictured is a work I did right as the pandemic began. I cut the shapes out and then they lived in the shop for a few weeks before I began to give them individual character. Character in this case is defined by line and color. In case you cannot tell from the photo, these are individual half inch thick pieces of wood cut out, painted and remounted together on a black background, about 18 inches tall by 11 inches wide.

Waiting still,

Jeff

Reverse Coloring Book

About a year ago I had been cleaning out paint brushes on a scrap of ply wood when all of a sudden the ply wood with paint all over it, caught my eye. I started seeing abstract shapes in it that I liked. I used a Paint marker to create lines, allowing the painted board to define where the lines should go.

The lower part of the painting to the right is the board I cleaned my brushes out on. The top I added on to square out the piece. It is actually two separate pieces of wood.  
"Another Jungle" 
36"x 24"



These are more abstracts painted with color first and then out lined to create surprise images. Dream Scape Tiles 3.25"x 5" each

Jeff In Reverse

A Fragment of Process

"A Fragment of Process Done" 27"x16"

Shape has Power
surfaces are marred
in the process
of making.
blobs of paint,
grease, glue
and stain
tell the story
of a hundred projects 
or more.
Little stories
of moments 
left on a table top
I give it a shape
of no significance
attach flame
to symbolize
it being torn apart
Then I set it all
on a field of 
unintelligible glyph
intended to evoke
feeling rather than
understanding.


The Top Layer of
this sculpture was 
part of a work bench
that built many 
exhibits at the 
children's museum 
I work at. I drew little 
pictures into all the 
paint and glue blobs.

Two Close up shots showing some of the little drawn in
stories




Jeff Saving Stories

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 

Out of This

Out of this
Comes the fragment of a shadow
That whispers of light
I break forth
Into a shower of illuminating waves

Out of this

I carry fragments of dreams
That whisper of impossibilities
From the dark confusion

I hone a reality

Out of this

I carry fragments of being
That whisper to me of fullness
I hold rooted in the dark and stretch out into the light
And weave from this a self

Out of this,
Out of this
Again and again
I continue to reshape this self
Always anew
Into everyday.

"Out of This"  Sculpture/painting/ wall hanging - created to depict one rising from a night or darkness and bringing forth from that darkness new life. All that lives draws from the dark, that of rest and even from dark times.   Another location on the web to see this sculpture.

Jeff drawing out!

Layers

 "Off Set"
One more in my layers series of sculpture. Still not sure if the layer represent individuals in community or if the layers are emotions layered within an individual. I think it can go either way. If I am looking at it as a community of beings I am seeing how they move with and against one another. Then when an external force or event impacts one how it pushes one into another. Yet I also see the community resisting or supporting. 
If I see this as emotional layers of the individual it feels like the different emotions are impacted and respond with motion to absorb or deflect the event or force.
Either way I am trying to make visual something that is not visual. I am cutting more of these when ever I can. This is a study or exploration that I need to make visual.

These are painted wood cuts roughly 24" high x18" wide. 



A closer look. The sphere or event in this case is a community unto it self. Life in a drop of water or one solar system crashing into another.




Jeff  piling it up

wake up...



I wake up
step into a motion
there is no clarity
I am putting it together
as quickly
as it comes undone
I am good
with not understanding
I have practiced the state
for all the time
I've known life
I've not uncoverd the why
so I keep on working
the doing
and all its
motion
got good
at being in the motion
good with being
a drip
a blob
a swirl
finding my being
in there
way in there
willing to be
every part
at any given moment
this is where
I
wake up
wake up
wake...




One of my paintings photographed and computer enhanced. Below is the same painting enhanced in several different ways, I lost track of which is the original. Think it is the gray one at the bottom, I will need to find it out in the garage to make sure.

 



Jeff awake

Following the lines

Line Paintings - I have been doing these line paintings as a study and a form of meditation. The study is for gaining more control of the paint brush. The meditation comes from trying not to put to much thought into my next stroke but to just let the lines and dots and dashes fall where they may. I have done this style of drawing for many years, but now I am trying it with the brush.

The above painting is about 48"x 32" to the left is 32"x 32" The one below is much smaller only 12"x 12".
As I have said before when I think to much about how something should be I often never get around to doing it. This kind of art experience allows me to break from that thinking and just place line and shapes one after another until a space is filled and then step back to realize now I have something.

Jeff following the lines